Recommendations for Civil Rights Data Collection during the COVID-19 Pandemic

On behalf of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, a coalition charged by its diverse membership of more than 220 national organizations to promote and protect the civil and human rights of all persons in the United States, and the 29 undersigned organizations, we urge you to make changes to the current plan to proceed with the process put in place by the previous administration regarding the Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC) timing and survey instrument. While there are certainly no great options, we believe there are choices that would more effectively advance the mission of the Department of Education (Department) to ensure equal educational opportunity and would more closely support President Biden’s January 20 Executive Order on Advancing Racial Equity.1