Enforcement Responsibilities

• The Office of Civil Rights (OCR) of the U.S. Department of Education is charged with enforcing all of the federal civil rights laws that prohibit discrimination on the bases of age, race, color, national origin, disability and sex. The self-stated mission of the OCR is "ensuring equal access to education and promoting educational excellence throughout the nation."

• OCR receives complaints directly from students, their parents, and faculty. In addition, OCR performs compliance reviews to assure that all students are receiving fair treatment. For example, OCR may conduct a compliance review by tracking the demographics of students in special education courses in order to determine whether an inappropriate number of English-as-a-second language students are on the attendance rolls for those courses.

• In an effort to dissuade future acts of discrimination, OCR also sponsors or holds a wide variety of workshops, refresher courses, and other educational seminars on education discrimination.

Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964

• This portion of the Civil Rights Act prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, or national origin in educational institutions that receive federal financial grants or assistance.

• Complaints received by OCR dealing with this law may involve ability grouping, disciplinary practices invoked by schools, the prevalence or acceptance of inter-district student transfers, school desegregation, housing concerns, and racial harassment, among many others.

• According to the Department of Education, the introduction of Title VI is beginning to appear to be having a positive effect.

  • In 1976, the dropout rate of African American students ages sixteen to twenty-four was 20.5 percent. In 1990, that number had declined to 13.0 percent.

  • Another statistic reveals that in 1982, minorities comprised only 11 percent of the students in advanced placement courses. In 1997, that number had risen to 29 percent.

  • In a final statistic, a study revealed that since 1990, the number of Latino students enrolled in higher education facilities has increased by 47 percent. African American student enrollment increased by 20 percent. The number of American Indian enrollment increased by 30 percent.