Measuring Access to Learning Opportunities

Since 1968 the Elementary and Secondary School Civil Rights Compliance Report (known as the E&S survey) has been used to gather information about possible disparities in access to learning opportunities and violations of studentsrs" civil rights. Thirty-five years after the initiation of the E&S survey, large disparities remain both in educational outcomes and in access to learning opportunities and resources. These disparities may reflect violations of studentsrs" civil rights, the failure of education policies and practices to provide students from all backgrounds with a similar educational experience, or both. They may also reflect the failure of schools to fully compensate for disparities and current differences in parentsrs" education, income, and family structure. The Committee on Improving Measures of Access to Equal Educational Opportunities concludes that the E&S survey continues to play an essential role in documenting these disparities and in providing information that is useful both in guiding efforts to protect studentsrs" civil rights and for informing educational policy and practice. The committee also concludes that the surveyrs"s usefulness and access to the survey data could be improved.National Research Council (U.S.), Committee on Improving Measures of Access to Equal Educational Opportunity Staff is the author of 'Measuring Access to Learning Opportunities' with ISBN 9780309088978 and ISBN 0309088976.