Background Information
Since 1968, the U.S. Department of Education (ED) has conducted the Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC) to collect data on key education and civil rights issues in our nation's public schools. ED formerly administered the collection as the Elementary and Secondary School Civil Rights Survey.
The CRDC gathers a variety of information including student enrollment and student access to educational programs and services, most of which is disaggregated by race or ethnicity, sex, English learner, and disability. The CRDC is a longstanding and important aspect of the ED Office for Civil Rights (OCR) overall strategy for administering and enforcing the civil rights laws for which OCR is responsible. Information collected by the CRDC is also used by other ED offices as well as policymakers and researchers outside of ED.
For further general information about the CRDC, visit the CRDC FAQ page.
2025-26 and 2027-28 CRDCs NEW!
In October 2024, OCR sought comments on a proposed Information Collection Request for the 2025-26 and 2027-28 CRDCs. Members of the public may review the proposed data elements here.
2021-22 and 2023-24 CRDCs
On April 18, 2023, OCR received approval from the U.S. Office of Management and Budget to require all local educational agencies (LEA) in the country that receive federal financial assistance from ED, including every public school district, charter schools, juvenile justice facilities, alternative schools, and schools serving only students with disabilities, to respond to the CRDC for the 2021-22 and 2023-24 school years. The 2023-24 CRDC data submission period is tentatively scheduled from December 9, 2024 through March 7, 2025.
Survey Forms
The 2023-24 CRDC school- and LEA-level survey forms contain instructions, definitions, and table layouts for the 2023-24 CRDC items.
Data Elements
- Detailed List of 2023-24 CRDC Data Elements PDF (143K)
Questions and Answers
- 2023-24 CRDC Questions and Answers PDF (181K)
Guide
- Forum Guide to State Education Agency Support for LEAs in Civil Rights Data Reporting – This guide presents a variety of effective methods through which state education agencies (SEA) can support their LEAs in reporting civil rights data to OCR and provides several detailed case studies from SEAs that currently support their LEAs with Civil Rights Data Collection reporting.
To access additional technical assistance resources, please visit the CRDC Resource Center web site at https://crdc.communities.ed.gov.
Access CRDC Data
Civil rights data are available on the OCR CRDC website.
2020-21 CRDC Reports and Data Snapshots
For OCR reports on the 2020-21 CRDC (released in November 2023), visit the CRDC 2020-21 page.
2020-21, 2017-18, 2015-16, 2013-14, 2011-12, and 2009-10 CRDCs
The CRDCs for the 2020-21, 2017-18, 2015-16, 2013-14, and 2011-12 school years collected data from every public school and school district in the country that received federal financial assistance from ED. The 2009-10 CRDC collected data from a sample of approximately 7,000 public school districts and over 72,000 public schools. Resources for the 2020-21, 2017-18, 2015-16, 2013-14, 2011-12, and 2009-10 CRDCs are presented below.
Survey Forms
- 2020-21 CRDC School Form PDF (1.6M)
- 2020-21 CRDC LEA Form PDF (458.8K)
- 2017-18 CRDC School Form PDF (389K)
- 2017-18 CRDC LEA Form PDF (1.7MB)
- 2015-16 CRDC School Form PDF (1.5M)
- 2015-16 CRDC LEA Form PDF (425K)
- 2013-14 CRDC School Form MS WORD (1.2M)
- 2013-14 CRDC LEA Form MS WORD (205K)
- 2011-12 CRDC School and LEA Form MS WORD (695K)
- 2009-10 CRDC School and LEA Form MS WORD (687K)
Data Elements
- Detailed List of 2020-21 CRDC Data Elements PDF (313.7K)
- Detailed List of 2017-18 CRDC Data Elements PDF (89K)
- Detailed List of 2015-16 CRDC Data Elements PDF (97K)
- Detailed List of 2013-14 CRDC Data Elements MS WORD (35K)
- List of 2011-12 CRDC Data Elements PDF (55K)
- List of 2009-10 CRDC Data Elements PDF (60K)
Questions and Answers
- 2020-21 CRDC Questions and Answers PDF (423.46K)
- 2017-18 CRDC Questions and Answers PDF (118K)
- 2013-14 CRDC Questions and Answers MS WORD (87K)
- 2011-12 CRDC Questions and Answers
- 2009-10 CRDC Questions and Answers
Data Products
2020-21 CRDC:
- Civil Rights Data Collection page (for 2020-21) here
2017-18 CRDC:
- Civil Rights Data Collection page (for 2017-18) here
2015-16 CRDC:
- Civil Rights Data Collection page (for 2015-16) here
2013-14 CRDC:
- Civil Rights Data Collection page (for 2013-14) here
2011-12 CRDC:
- Data Snapshot: Discipline (March 2014) PDF (2.10M)
- Data Snapshot: Early Learning (March 2014) PDF (1.6M)
- Data Snapshot: College and Career Readiness (March 2014) PDF (2.7M)
- Data Snapshot: Teacher Equity (March 2014) PDF (2.1M)
2009-10 CRDC:
- The Transformed CRDC: Data Summary (March 2012) PDF (805K)
- Gender Equity in Education (June 2012) PDF (436K)
- Gender Equity in Education: Data Note (June 2012) PDF (208K)
How to Submit a CRDC Data Quality Concern with OCR
The CRDC data can be accessed at https://civilrightsdata.ed.gov. If anyone has concerns about the accuracy of the data reported, then please contact us by emailing ocrdata@ed.gov. Please include "CRDC Data Quality Concern" in the subject heading.
For additional information about the CRDC, please e-mail OCR at ocrdata@ed.gov.