Race & Ethnicity Data Reporting
To give a better snapshot of the ethnic and racial diversity of students, the U.S. Department of Education (USED) issued new guidelines for the collection of student information. Beginning with the 2010-2011 school year, divisions and states are required to follow new federal standards for collecting and reporting individual-level race and ethnicity data. The information will be used for federal reporting.
By fall 2010, school divisions are required to collect and report data from students using a two-question format. To prepare for these new standards, school divisions should do the following:
- Ensure that the student management data system is capable of storing the new data
- Create a questionnaire using the two-question format
- Develop processes to implement the use of the new questionnaire
- Establish a policy to determine whether to:
- Re-inventory the entire student body
- Apply guidelines to new students when they enroll AND use a division-devised crosswalk to apply new standards to existing student race and ethnicity data
- Adjust division enrollment forms to include the new race and ethnicity questions
- Identify and assign third-party observers for those students who are unable (or are unwilling) to complete the questionnaire
- Train staff – especially those that assist new students in enrollment – on the new processes and forms
- Modify any computer programs or applications used to generate reports or maintain ancillary data sets that contain race or ethnicity information to accommodate new data structures and reporting formats – including those that generate data files required by VDOE for various data collections
- Implement new forms and processes for Summer 2010 testing session and Fall 2010-2011 Student Record Collection
Resources
- Sample letters to parents for school divisions’ use ( Word)
- Sample two-part format questionnaire (Word)
- Frequently Asked Questions
- Managing an Identity Crisis: Forum Guide to Implementing New Federal Race and Ethnicity Categories (PDF) – Publication by the National Forum on Education Statistics