By Mary Anne Skinner

One of the boldest moves made is telling a room full of Administrators the Feds are re-opening the CRDC-OCR reporting for another round of data collection. Here begins the start of months long indigestion, anxiety, frustration, and stress. While for most of us, the reporting period passes by unnoticed and seamlessly. For some of us, a few of us, we get an adrenaline rush from sleuthing the data. 

For more than 5 decades, the U.S. Department of Education has made an attempt to collect and analyze data from all 50 states to evaluate educational opportunities and school's compliance with civil rights laws. The focus of this is to ensure all students regardless of race, color, ethnicity, sex, disability, or gender receive an equal opportunity at a chance to receive an education. This stemmed from the 1964 Civil Rights act also known as Title VI. While the first nationwide collection didn't happen until 1976 (Happy Birthday America!), the collection has diligently been held every 2 years except during the Covid-19 pandemic. Who knew a pandemic could cause so much chaos?

Most of the 2 year reporting periods were only from a sample of Districts across the United States, 2000 ushered in the second Nation-wide collection and began the age of technology. This process was conducted entirely on paper from the 1970's through the millennium. Thank goodness for technology because 2004 brought in the electronic process. About the time this blog writer was deciding to settle down and start a family, the OCR decided to make the nationwide solicitation of data permanent.   

Think about this:
-Over 17,000 educational agencies report data
-97,000 plus schools
-1000's of bottles of tums and aspirin are purchased  

The numbers don't lie. The OCR Reporting shows areas of improvement within our educational community; however, they also show the disparity between schools and states. Current questions ask about corporal punishment of PK students and how many instances of ISS or OSS a student with an IEP or 504 has received. The English Learning population also plays a huge role in this data as which courses and opportunities are available to them. This isn't just about the demographics and the numbers. It's about the opportunities offered to all students regardless of what they look like, how they speak, who their parents are. It's the one time a nationwide collection can be taken of whether or not minors are receiving essentially their constitutional right to an education. 

This may not be a popular opinion, but I love this time of collecting. The data is beautiful; the collection is arduous. As someone who facilitates this process, it's almost a calling. I see the data for what it is and can say, sometimes it's not pretty. Sometimes it tells a story that truly shows the disparity between communities. Sometimes, very rarely, it shows how great we are. Working with Administrators, front office staff, and technologists across the great state of Montana, we all have a moment of clarity. We aren't doing this just because it's required. We're hoping the data proves we are doing the right thing for every student.