Still Separate/Still Unequal: 62 Years After Brown vs. Board, U.S. Schools Are Resegregating
Why GAO Did This Study
Recent literature shows that poor and minority students may not have full access t o educational opportunities . GAO was asked to examine poverty and race in schools and efforts by the Departm ents of Education and Justice, which are responsible for enforcing federal civil rights laws prohibit ing racial discrimination against students.
This report examined:
(1) how the percentage of schools with high percentages of poor and Black or Hispanic student s has changed over time and the characteristics of these schools ,
( 2) why and how selected school districts have implemented actions to increase student diversity, and
(3) the extent to which the Departments of Education and Justice have taken actions to identify and address issues related to racial discrimination i n schools.
GAO analyzed Education data f or school years 2000- 01 to 2013- 14 (most recent available) ; reviewed applicable federal laws, regulations, and agency documents; and interviewed federal officials, civil rights and academic subject matter specialists, and school district officials in three state s, selected to provide geographic diversity and examples of actions to diversify .
What GAO Recommends
GAO recommends that Education more routinely analyz e its civil rights data to identify disparities among types and groups of schools and that Justice systematically track key information on open federal school desegregation cases to which it is a party to better inform its monitoring. In response, both agencies are considering actions in line with GAO's recommendations.
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K- 12 EDUCATION
Better Use of Information Could Help Agencies Identify Disparities and Address Racial Discrimination
What GAO Found
The percentage of K-12 public schools in the United States with students who are poor and are mostly Black or Hispanic is growing and these schools share a number of challenging characteristics. From school years 2000-01 to 2013-14 (the most recent data available), the percentage of all K-12 public Coalition for Public Education/Coalición por la Educación Pública: Still Separate/Still Unequal: 62 Years After Brown vs. Board, U.S. Schools Are Resegregating: