Deterring discrimination with data

Discrimination on grounds of race, sex, and handicap persists in many local school districts in spite of nearly twenty years of sustained attention from federal policymakers. Because litigation proceeds slowly and expensively, and because administrative attacks on discrimination have been stymied by political controversy, additional policy strategies merit careful consideration. We studied the operation of one such strategy in nine local districts: the mandatory collection of data concerning civil rights matters in schools. Data collection and reporting shaped local compliance with civil rights laws in four ways: by threatening local officials with future penalties, by providing political ammunition to constituencies that care about civil rights, by allowing local districts to learn about their own performance, and by framing school practices in ways that heighten awareness about equity. In this policy setting, data collection has advantages and disadvantages that complement those of other enforcement strategies. In this and other policy settings, data collection has power to elicit compliance even in the absence of conventional enforcement.This paper is based on research supported by the National Institute of Education, Grants NIE-G-81-0037, NIE-G-81-0038, and NIE-G-83-0008. We acknowledge with gratitude the research assistance of Rosa Yvonne Herrera, Elizabeth Greenberg, and Lauren Rothfarb, and the encouragement of Grace Mastalli.