WASHINGTON, D.C., August 7, 2025—Eleven leading education research organizations commended the U.S. Department of Education for taking action to finalize the Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC) for the 2025–26 school year and in preparation for the 2027–28 school year collection.
Today’s Federal Register includes a notice from the Department of Education seeking approval from the Office of Management and Budget and 30-day public comment period for the next two cycles of the CRDC. The notice comes after a July 8 letter from education research associations urging immediate action to implement an update to the CRDC after an earlier effort had been withdrawn in February.
“In accordance with the signatory organizations, we applaud the actions that the Department of Education has taken to ensure that this important data collection continues in a timely manner,” said AERA Executive Director Felice J. Levine. “The CRDC is an essential resource for parents; school, district, and state leaders; federal policymakers; and researchers who use and examine these data to understand and determine how to best address disparities across all facets of PK-12 education.”
The education research community is encouraged to submit comments on proposed updates to the CRDC as part of this 30-day comment period.
The CRDC is an essential federal tool that gathers data on educational access and equity in every public school district in the country. These data are crucial for understanding student experiences and educational opportunities across race, gender, disability status, and other key demographics. The research community, school districts, and families all rely on the CRDC to support student access and participation in curricula and programs, educational outcomes, and other levers of educational opportunity that are used for continuous improvement and evaluation purposes.
In the July 8 letter to Secretary Linda McMahon and Acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Craig Trainor, the groups warned that the timeline for approving and implementing the collection has become critically short. Despite early steps toward finalizing the 2025–26 data collection last fall and winter, the Education Department withdrew the most recent proposed collection in February 2025. The Federal Register notice today represents the first public action taken to advance future CRDC implementation since then.
Signatories of the letter included the leaders of the American Educational Research Association, Association for Education Finance and Policy, Division for Research at the Council for Exceptional Children, International Society of the Learning Sciences, Literacy Research Association, NARST: A global organization for improving science education through research, National Academy of Education, Society for Research in Child Development, Society for Research on Educational Effectiveness, and University Council for Educational Administration.
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About AERA
The American Educational Research Association (AERA) is the largest national interdisciplinary research association devoted to the scientific study of education and learning. Founded in 1916, AERA advances knowledge about education, encourages scholarly inquiry related to education, and promotes the use of research to improve education and serve the public good. Find AERA on Bluesky, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, X, and Threads.