From AACRAO: American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers

U.S. Department of Education Issues PROPOSED Guidelines on Race and Ethnicity Reporting: Comments Due September 21, 2006

The U.S. Department is proposing to modify standards and aggregation categories for collecting information on race and ethnicity.

YOUR INPUT IS SOLICITED BY THE DEPARTMENT

By: Thursday, September 21, 2006
How: By Internet — At http://www.regulations.gov
By e-mail — At comments@ed.gov

NOTE: You must include the phrase “Guidance for Data on Race and Ethnicity” in the text of your e-mail or paper document.

By mail: Patrick J. Sherrill
U.S. Department of Education
200 Maryland Avenue, S.W.
Room 6C103
Washington, DC 20202-0600

SUMMARY OF PROPOSED NEW REPORTING REQUIREMENTS

For postsecondary institutions, including IPEDS reporting, the highlights are as follows:

1. Categories
Two-part format: First, the individual respondent will be asked to indicate whether he or she is Hispanic/Latino.

Then, those respondents and all others will be asked to identify themselves under one of the five original racial categories, or under one new category, “Two or more races:”

• American Indian or Alaska Native
• Asian
• Black or African American
• Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander
• White
• “Two or more races” — First time such a category is allowed.

NOTE: For IPEDS, the category of “nonresident alien” will remain as an alternative to collecting race/ethnicity information from non-resident aliens.

ALSO NOTE: “States will continue to have discretion in determining which racial and ethnic groups will be used for accountability and reporting purposes under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA),” as reauthorized by the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB).

2. By When Implemented? How Long Must Data Be Kept?

Once this guidance is issued in final, institutions will be required to implement it by no later than the Fall of 2009, for data regarding the 2009-2010 school year.
Supporting data must be kept for at least three years, unless litigation is involved, in which case the data must be retained until the completion of the action.

3. “Race Unknown” category

In IPEDS and in Rehabilitation Services Agency (RSA) data collections, institutions may use a “race unknown” category. In elementary and secondary settings, however, the “race unknown” category is not permitted.

4. Identification by personal observation (”observer identification”)

This is required in elementary and secondary settings, when a respondent refuses to self-identify by race or ethnicity. The practice is merely permitted at the postsecondary level, if the institution has made sure that the respondent has not merely overlooked the question.

5. History

a. 1997 OMB Standards — The changes as proposed above would implement the Office of Management and Budget (OMB)’s 1997 “Standards for Maintaining, Collecting and Presenting Federal Data on Race and Ethnicity.” Those 1997 Standards had “strongly encouraged” an initial question as to Hispanic/Latino identity, followed by a choice of five racial categories. There had been no possibility, however, of indicating an identification with more than one race.

b. November 2005 EEOC implementation plan — The U.S. Department of Education has waited for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which collects race/ethnicity data on staff in elementary and secondary schools and districts, to announce its reporting scheme.

c. The categories proposed above are the same as those used in the U.S. Census of 2000.

Federal Registrar: August 7, 2006 (Volume 71, Number 151), pages 44865-44871
“Proposed Guidance on Maintaining, Collecting and Reporting Data on Race and Ethnicity to the U.S. Department of Education; Notice”