Weekly Update: A Wake-up Call to Education

Minority students across America face harsher discipline, have less access to rigorous high school curricula, and are more often taught by lower-paid and less experienced teachers, according to new data from the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights (OCR).

The Department released the data this week from a national survey of more than 72,000 schools serving 85% of the nation’s students.  The self-reported data, Part II of the 2009-10 Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC), covers a range of issues including college and career readiness, discipline, school finance, and student retention.

More info:

• Press Release
• Blog Post
• Visit the CRDC Website

Photo of the Week: 

Secretary Duncan joined New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, together with their school superintendents last week, for a forum titled, “Education Now: Cities at the Forefront of Reform,” and hosted by MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell. Watch the video here.

Weekly Highlights:

• The arts are an important part of a well-rounded education for all students, Secretary Duncan wrote in a recent blog post about arts education. Read the entire post here.

• ED announced new steps to help close the achievement gap for students with disabilities by moving away from a one-size-fits-all, compliance-focused approach to a more balanced system that looks at how well students are being educated, in addition to continued efforts to protect their rights.

• The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is now accepting complaints from borrowers having difficulties with their private student loans. Read more here.

• The Department launched the Why Open Education Matters Video Competition, a partnership competition that will award cash prizes of up to $25,000 for the best short videos that explain the use and promise of free, high-quality open educational resources and describe the benefits and opportunities these materials create for teachers, students and schools.