澳门跑狗论坛

Blog

Your Education Road Map

Politics K-12庐

Politics K-12 kept watch on education policy and politics in the nation鈥檚 capital and in the states. This blog is no longer being updated, but you can continue to explore these issues on edweek.org by visiting our related topic pages: , .

Federal

In Reversal, Feds Seek to Revive DeVos-Era Questions About Sexual Misconduct by Educators

By Andrew Ujifusa 鈥 December 14, 2021 4 min read
Illustration of individual carrying binary data on his back to put back into the organized background of 1s and 0s.
  • Save to favorites
  • Print
Email Copy URL

The Biden administration is seeking to restore questions about accusations of sexual misconduct by school staff to an upcoming Civil Rights Data Collection, after recently proposing to eliminate them, a move that drew high-profile criticism.

Last month, the U.S. Department of Education said it planned to eliminate several questions from the nationwide data collection for the 2021-22 school year dealing with allegations of sexual assault and rape committed by educators and other K-12 staff.

However, in materials released Monday, the Education Department said it was and issuing a new one for public comment that those questions about alleged sexual misconduct by K-12 staff.

The department said it reversed course after 鈥渇urther reflection鈥 but did not provide any additional explanation. News that the Biden administration wanted to stop collection information about such allegations , who alleged that the move amounted to covering up these incidents in schools.

It is unusual for the department to withdraw and revise a proposed Civil Rights Data Collection before the end of an initial 60-day public comment window. In response to questions from 澳门跑狗论坛 about the department鈥檚 reasons for the reversal, an Education Department spokesperson did not address the issue directly. 鈥淭he Department has reissued the proposed 2021-2022 Civil Rights Data Collection, with a new 60-day comment period, to allow for public comment on additional questions,鈥 the spokesperson said.

Following the revision to the proposed data collection, the has been extended until Feb. 11.

The questions asking districts for information about allegations of sexual misconduct by school staff, as well as outcomes related to these allegations, were included in the data collection by the Trump administration for the 2020-21 school year.

How schools respond to and seek to prevent sexual misconduct, including sexual assault and rape by staff, has been a controversial and painful topic in the K-12 world for years. In 2018, roughly 1 in 3 educational administrators said that an employee a case of sexual assault or harassment to them, according to an EdWeek Research Center survey. However, the same survey found that the vast majority of educators did not think sexual harassment and assault was especially common in their workplace.

In 2019, Chicago Public Schools agreed to overhaul its policies governing its response to sexual violence and harassment, after a federal investigation found major shortcomings.

Due-process rules governing the circumstances in which teachers lose their jobs can also vary significantly by state.

Former U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos made combating sexual assault and rape in schools, particularly incidents involving staff, a top priority. In an October 2020 statement about the 2017-18 Civil Rights Data Collection showing a rise in reported sexual assaults in K-12 settings, , 鈥淲e hear all too often about innocent children being sexually assaulted by an adult at school. That should never happen. No parent should have to think twice about their child鈥檚 safety while on school grounds.鈥

DeVos also spoke out in late November against the Biden Education Department鈥檚 proposal to strike the questions about allegations of sexual assault and rape by staff,

Many advocacy groups say the Civil Rights Data Collection, which normally takes place every two years, provides crucial data about troubling disparities across the nation鈥檚 public schools. It also represents a significant obligation for districts when it comes to the time and effort required to collect the data. And concerns have persisted for years about the accuracy of the data when it comes to things like and segregation.

Over the summer, citing the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Education Department announced that it would conduct the data collection for the 2021-22 academic year, instead of sticking to the biennial cycle and waiting until 2022-23 to run the next CRDC. (The 2019-20 collection was delayed until the 2020-21 school year due to the pandemic.)

As revised on Monday, the data collection would now ask districts to detail the number of allegations of sexual assault, rape, or attempted rape by school staff at school that resulted in a staff member鈥檚 resignation or retirement before 鈥渇inal discipline or termination.鈥

The collection would ask similar questions about such allegations that led to a determination that the staff member was responsible; instances when the staff member was found not to be responsible; instances when the staff member鈥檚 culpability was still pending; and instances when the staff member was reassigned prior to final discipline or termination.

In other proposed changes, the 2021-22 data collection issued by the department last month would ask districts to count the number of students who consider themselves nonbinary with respect to gender. The proposal also wants districts to provide information about preschool discipline, teachers鈥 experience, and teacher certification.

A version of this news article first appeared in the Politics K-12 blog.

Events

Artificial Intelligence K-12 Essentials Forum Big AI Questions for Schools. How They Should Respond鈥
Join this free virtual event to unpack some of the big questions around the use of AI in K-12 education.
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of 澳门跑狗论坛's editorial staff.
Sponsor
School & District Management Webinar
Harnessing AI to Address Chronic Absenteeism in Schools
Learn how AI can help your district improve student attendance and boost academic outcomes.
Content provided by 
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of 澳门跑狗论坛's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Science Webinar
Spark Minds, Reignite Students & Teachers: STEM鈥檚 Role in Supporting Presence and Engagement
Is your district struggling with chronic absenteeism? Discover how STEM can reignite students' and teachers' passion for learning.
Content provided by 

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide 鈥 elementary, middle, high school and more.
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.

Read Next

Federal 3 Ways Trump Can Weaken the Education Department Without Eliminating It
Trump's team can seek to whittle down the department's workforce, scrap guidance documents, and close offices.
4 min read
Then-Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump smiles at an election night watch party at the Palm Beach Convention Center, Nov. 6, 2024, in West Palm Beach, Fla.
President-elect Donald Trump smiles at an election night watch party at the Palm Beach Convention Center on Nov. 6, 2024, in West Palm Beach, Fla. Trump pledged during the campaign to eliminate the U.S. Department of Education. A more plausible path could involve weakening the agency.
Evan Vucci/AP
Federal Opinion Closing the Education Department Is a Solution in Search of a Problem
There鈥檚 a bill in Congress seeking to eliminate the U.S. Department of Education. What do its supporters really want?
Jonas Zuckerman
4 min read
USA government confusion and United States politics problem and American federal legislation trouble as a national political symbol with 3D illustration elements.
iStock/Getty Images
Federal Can Immigration Agents Make Arrests and Carry Out Raids at Schools?
Current federal policy says schools are protected areas from immigration enforcement. That may soon change.
9 min read
A know-your-rights flyer rests on a table while immigration activist, Laura Mendoza, speaks to the Associated Press' reporter at The Resurrection Project offices in Chicago's Pilsen neighborhood on June 19, 2019. From Los Angeles to Atlanta, advocates and attorneys have brought civil rights workshops to schools, churches, storefronts and consulates, tailoring their efforts on what to do if U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers show up at home or on the road.
A know-your-rights flyer rests on a table while immigration activist, Laura Mendoza, speaks to the Associated Press' reporter at The Resurrection Project offices in Chicago's Pilsen neighborhood on June 19, 2019. Immigration advocates advise schools to inform families about their legal rights as uncertainty remains over how far-reaching immigration enforcement will go under a second Trump administration.
Amr Alfiky/AP
Federal Opinion 'Education Is Not Entertainment': What This Educator Wants Linda McMahon to Know
Her experience leading a pro wrestling organization could be both an asset and a liability
Robert Barnett
4 min read
A group of students reacting to a spectacle inside a ring.
Vanessa Solis/澳门跑狗论坛 + Getty Images