News

This section includes press releases and statements about education and racial justice issues.

New research reveals U.S. charter schools exhibit higher racial segregation compared to magnet schools in same districts

New research from the UCLA Civil Rights Project finds that the fast-growing charter sector is associated with more segregation than the magnet sector. The report examines schools in a sample of more than 100 districts that hosted at least five charter schools and five magnet schools in any year since 2000. This sample is key for evaluating choice policies and for enabling comparisons of locations where policymakers decided to implement both school choice models.

UCLA Civil Rights Project Assesses School Segregation 70 Years After Brown

Brown v. Board of Education was a turning point in American law and race relations. In a country where segregated education was the law in seventeen states with completely separate and unequal schools, Brown found that segregation was “inherently unequal” and violated the Constitution. A new report published today by the UCLA Civil Rights Project, The Unfinished Battle for Integration in a Multiracial America – from Brown to Now, discusses the present realities of school segregation and the patterns of change over 70 years.

New Report Describes Developmental Education, Reform Efforts and Implementation in CA Community Colleges

This new CRP paper honors the memory of CRP collaborator Tatiana Melguizo and her vision of greater equity for students of color, low-income students and English learners, who often reach higher education underprepared for the courses they need to take to progress toward their degrees. We hope that the account presented here is useful to community college educators across the nation.

New report details extensive segregation in suburban schools of largest U.S. metros amid policy vacuum

Almost one-third (30%) of students in public schools in the United States are enrolled in suburban schools in the nation’s largest 25 metro areas, where two-thirds of metro children are being educated. According to a new study by the Civil Rights Project/Proyecto Derechos Civiles, these suburban schools are experiencing a substantial proliferation of school segregation, underscoring an urgent need for a civil rights agenda that addresses the challenges to educational opportunity and lasting integration.

New Data show CA school administrators dramatically increased disciplinary exclusion of homeless youth to highest rate in 6 years

Research does not support the long-standing practice of kicking students out of school for minor misconduct. Unfortunately, after years of declining rates, new data in this update to the Lost Instruction Report -- released in Oct. 2023 — shows that school administrators are increasingly denying students who are homeless access to school.

New UCLA Brief Sheds Renewed Light on Immigration Enforcement’s Devastating Impacts on Latinx Students

A new collaborative research brief from UCLA’s Latino Policy and Politics Institute, Center for the Transformation of Schools, and Civil Rights Project/Proyecto Derechos Civiles examines the harmful impact of immigration enforcement actions on Latinx children of undocumented immigrants. Building on a 2017-18 survey finding two-thirds of those surveyed reported a negative impact of immigration enforcement in their schools, this new research brief updates the analysis and spotlights the urgent need for comprehensive policy reforms that ensure the well-being of all students, regardless of their parents’ immigration status.

New Demographic Studies: Increasing Diversity of School-Age Population, Complexity of Native American Population Data Have Implications for Civil Rights

Demography, may not, as the famed French philosopher Auguste Comte once wrote, “be destiny,” but two new analyses, a demographic simulation of the school-age population of the United States and a projection of the racially-identified American Indian and Alaska Native population to 2050, make clear that rapid changes in the racial and ethnic composition of the population have and will continue to reshape the nation, with significant implications for education and the future of civil rights.

New CRP Research Examines Impact of Gentrification on Schools, Potential for Reducing Segregation

A new study, published today by The Civil Rights Project/Proyecto Derechos Civiles, examines the growth of gentrification in California and its impact on schools and educational opportunities in the state.

New research details lost instruction time in CA schools, underscores disparate harm of post-pandemic punitive suspensions

Two groups of children with the most unstable home environments - foster youth and those experiencing homelessness - are the two groups that educators are most likely to send home by meting out punitive "out-of-school" suspension, according to this new research.

CRP Co-Director Patricia Gándara Elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences

The Civil Rights Project/Proyecto Derechos Civiles congratulates CRP Co-Director Patricia Gándara for her election to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, in recognition of her life's work pursuing equal educational opportunity on behalf of immigrant students and families.

New Civil Rights Project Research Urges Schools Do More to Address Racism

As conservative governors and legislatures across the nation seek to limit learning and discussion in schools about race and racial history, this new research published by the Civil Rights Project/ Proyecto Derechos Civiles, calls on schools, educators and policymakers to do just the opposite – challenging them to positively address racism and its impact on learning and opportunity.

New publication explores challenges of a rapidly emerging, multiracial population for future civil rights law and policy

As the nation marks the civil rights milestone of the 60th anniversary of the March on Washington, a new research paper published by the UCLA Civil Rights Project/Proyecto Derechos Civiles explores the rapid growth of a multiracial population in the United States, highlighting new challenges and possibilities for the future of the civil rights movement.

Statement on Today's Affirmative Action Ruling

Today’s ruling on affirmative action makes the Supreme Court’s majority the nation’s college admissions office and sharply reduces opportunities for students of color in the institutions that train America’s leaders. The decision is a major step backward toward a more rigidly stratified society where Black, Latino, and Native students face seriously unequal opportunities and American leadership will become more segregated. It is a purely political decision, and one in which the Court has ignored legal precedent, research-based evidence, and the advice of leading civil rights groups.

Bilingual Education IS America's Future

New report synthesizes rigorous research to make the case for establishing bilingual education as the standard of instruction for students classified as English learners and outlines policies needed to achieve that standard. At a time of growing interest and grassroots support for bilingual education, the U.S. lags behind most other nations where bilingual education is the norm.

New Analysis Reconsiders the Role of College Admissions Testing

A new analysis by noted researcher in college admissions, Rebecca Zwick, examines the role of standardized testing in college admissions and raises questions about whether the concept of merit in admissions should continue to be dominated by test scores.

The Civil Rights Project Praises Today’s Supreme Court Voting Rights

CRP Co-director Gary Orfield issues a statement on today's 5-4 Supreme Court decision in the Allen v Milligan voting rights case upholding Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act.

New CRP Study Urges Expansion of CA's Community College BA Programs

Calling California Community College Baccalaureate (CCB) degree programs, “the best vehicle to transform who accesses and succeeds in California’s higher education and labor market,” the UCLA Civil Rights Project today released new research detailing the progress and potential of the CCC baccalaureate degree programs and arguing for their strategic expansion across the state.

CRP Codirector Orfield Elected as Fellow of AAAS

Gary Orfield, distinguished research professor of education, law, political science and urban planning at UCLA and the co-director of the UCLA Civil Rights Project, has been elected as a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).

Feature article and Q&A spotlights new book, The Walls Around Opportunity

The Fall 2022 issue of the UCLA Ed&IS Magazine features an excellent article and Q&A with Gary Orfield, spotlighting his new book, The Walls Around Opportunity: The Failure of Color Blind Policy for Higher Education.

Join Us: Tuesday, September 13 at UCLA or Virtually

Don't miss the book launch of The Walls Around Opportunity: The Failure of Color Blind Policy for Higher Education! For many young people, racial inequality puts them at a disadvantage from early childhood. The Walls around Opportunity argues that colorblind policies have made college inaccessible to a large share of students of color and reveals how policies that acknowledge racial inequalities and set racial equality goals can succeed where colorblindness has failed.