Issue
The Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC) obtains vital data related to the civil rights laws’ requirement that local educational agencies and elementary and secondary schools in the U.S. provide equal educational opportunities to all students. Prior iterations of the CRDC have included incidents of gender-based harassment as forms of sex-based harassment.
Impact
Research shows that gender minority youth experience significant disparities in harassment while in school, which is associated with a high prevalence of anxiety, depression, substance abuse, and suicidality. Failure to collect data on incidents of gender-based harassment would deprive the Department of Education, public policymakers, educational agencies, and the public of an invaluable resource for understanding and addressing the patterns of harassment that make our schools unsafe for significant numbers of students.
Summary
The Supreme Court’s recent decision in Bostock v. Clayton County makes it clear that OCR’s enforcement responsibilities under Title IX require it to take action to address discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity as forms of sex discrimination. The CRDC exists as a means of ensuring that OCR is meeting those enforcement obligations, and therefore should collect information on harassment based on all areas covered by the law.