The federal government released the latest Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC) for the 2023-24 school year, offering one of the most comprehensive looks at how American students are treated in public schools. The report, covering approximately 49.7 million students across more than 97,000 schools, highlights changes in enrollment, a growing population of students with disabilities, and enduring racial disparities in discipline.
Published by the Trump administration on August 31, six months after its original deadline, the data release lacked the “First Look Report” typically provided to help the public interpret complex statistics. That summary document was made available separately on September 30. Additionally, while data on nonbinary students was collected during the previous Biden administration, the current administration chose not to include it in the public release.
Experts analyzing the findings note several key trends. The number of children enrolled in public preschool programs rose to 1.5 million, marking a 12% increase from the 2021-22 school year. However, this figure remains slightly below pre-pandemic levels from 2019. Maithreyi Gopalan of the University of Oregon and the research group AdvancED Equity described the trend as both recovery from pandemic lows and expansion driven by state investments in early childhood education. State-funded pre-K enrollment increased nearly 15% between 2021-22 and 2023-24, with California expanding its universal transitional kindergarten program during this period.
Concurrently, K-12 public school enrollment declined, while the number of students with disabilities grew. The data also reaffirmed stark racial inequalities: Black students continue to be suspended at higher rates than their peers of other races. Another notable aspect of this year’s collection is that it provides detailed information on the teacher workforce for the first time in decades, revealing a teaching staff that is significantly less diverse than the student population it serves.
The CRDC has been gathered by the federal government for over 50 years to help the U.S. Education Department hold schools accountable for protecting student civil rights. Independent analyses by Gopalan and Dan Losen of the National Center for Youth Law underscored these disparities, providing educators and policymakers with critical insights into the current state of equity in American public schools.
Preschool enrollment is climbing, which is great, but the lack of a First Look report makes this data harder to use.
The suspension gap for black students hasn’t budged. Data collection means nothing without real accountability measures.