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FY 2015 Annual Performance Report and FY 2017 Annual Performance Plan—U.S. Department of Education 75

Goal 4. Equity: 

Increase educational opportunities for underserved students and 

reduce discrimination so that all students are well-positioned to 

succeed. 

Goal Leader: Catherine Lhamon 

Objective 4.1: Equitable Educational Opportunities. Increase all students’ access to 

educational opportunities with a focus on closing achievement gaps, and remove barriers that 

students face based on their race, ethnicity, or national origin; sex; sexual orientation; gender 

identity or expression; disability; English language ability; religion; socioeconomic status; or 

geographical location. Objective Leader: Bob Kim 

Metric 4.1.A: National high school graduation rate 

Objective 4.2: Civil Rights Compliance. Ensure educational institutions’ awareness of and 

compliance with federal civil rights obligations and enhance the public’s knowledge of their civil 

rights. Objective Leader: Bob Kim 

Metric 4.2.A: Percentage of proactive civil rights investigations launched annually that 

address areas of concentration in civil rights enforcement 

Metric 4.2.B: Percentage of proactive civil rights investigations resolved annually that 

address areas of concentration in civil rights enforcement

Goal 4 Discretionary Resources

$0 $500 $1,000 $1,500 $2,000 $2,500

FY 2015

FY 2016

FY 2017

$1,409

$1,440

$1,684

(Dollars in millions)
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FY 2015 Annual Performance Report and FY 2017 Annual Performance Plan—U.S. Department of Education 76

Major Discretionary Programs and Activities88 Supporting Goal 4 Performance Metrics 

[Dollars in Millions] 

FY 2017 

FY 2015 FY 2016 President’s 

POC Account Obj. Program Appropriation Appropriation Budget

OCR OCR Office for Civil Rights 100 107 138

OESE ED 4.1 State agency programs: Migrant 375 375 375

OESE IE NA Indian Education: Grants 

education agencies 

to local 

100 100 100

OESE IE NA Indian Education: Special programs 

for Indian children 18 38 68

OESE SIP NA Alaska Native education 31 32 32

OESE SIP NA Native Hawaiian education 32 33 33

OESE SIP 4.1, 4.2 Training and advisory services 7 7 7

OESE/OELA ELA 4.1, 4.2 English Language Acquisition 737 737 800

OII I&I 4.1, 2.4 Stronger together (proposed) 0 0 120

OSERS SE NA Special Olympics education programs 8 10 10

TOTAL, GOAL 4 1,409 1,440 1,684

POC = Principal Office Component 

NA = Not applicable. 

NOTES: Many programs may have sub-activities that relate to other goals. Detail may not add to total due to rounding. 

Public Benefit 

Equity of opportunity is the foundation of the American dream, and equity in education is a 

cornerstone to building a strong, globally competitive workforce. From birth through adulthood, 

in institutions of early learning, P–12 schools, career and technical education, postsecondary 

education, adult education, workforce development, and independent living programs, the 

Department’s goal is to ensure that all of our nation’s students have access to the educators, 

resources, and opportunities to succeed. Accordingly, the Department is committed to improving 

outcomes for all students—regardless of income, home language, zip code, age, sex, sexual 

orientation, gender identity, race, or disability—through its major education initiatives. Moreover, 

the Department also recognizes the need to increase educational opportunities systemically for 

underserved populations, including by exploring ways to increase equitable access to resources 

and effective teachers within states and districts. 

To foster equitable access to early learning education, through the Preschool Development 

Grants program, the Department, together with the Administration for Children and Families at 

HHS, is providing access to high-quality preschool for thousands of children from low- and

moderate-income families in hundreds of communities across the nation. With the inclusion of 

this program in the ESSA, which reauthorized the ESEA, the Department will continue to foster 

increased access to high-quality preschool for the neediest children. 

In P–12 education, through the SIG program, ESEA, and other federal programs, the 

Department is providing significant resources to dramatically improve the nation’s lowestachieving schools by using turnaround interventions and strategies and identifying the lowachieving schools that are showing strong evidence of successfully turning around. The 

Department is focused on supporting innovation, not just compliance monitoring, and is focused 

on spurring growth in achievement, not just absolute achievement measures as done in the 

past. In FY 2015, Department launched programs and initiatives designed to study and address 

chronic absenteeism and high school dropouts as well as to promote best practices in improving 

 

88 All the programs listed are discretionary programs, as distinct from mandatory programs. These include both competitive and 

noncompetitive programs.
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FY 2015 Annual Performance Report and FY 2017 Annual Performance Plan—U.S. Department of Education 77

the rates of high school completion and graduation. The Department also started interagency 

planning to encourage greater socioeconomic diversity in schools and to provide greater 

educational opportunity for disconnected youth. 

The Department worked to increase the number of low-income high school students who are 

prepared to enter and succeed in postsecondary education. Building on partnerships with the 

Department of Labor and other federal agencies, the Department continued to expand career 

pathways for youth and adults by increasing access to high-quality secondary and 

postsecondary CTE programs, registered apprenticeship programs, and other forms of 

advanced technical training. 

In higher education, the Department developed the President’s America’s College Promise 

proposal to make two years of community college free for eligible students. Through the First in 

the World program, the Department also awarded grants to IHEs to promote evidence-based 

strategies and practices for college access and completion, focusing on low-income students. 

Through SIP, the Department is supporting IHEs to help them become self-sufficient and 

expand their capacity to serve low-income students through improvements in academic quality, 

institutional management, and fiscal stability. 

Civil rights data collection, policy development and enforcement are the tools for ensuring that 

recipients of federal funding provide educational opportunities absent discriminatory barriers. 

The Department’s OCR continues to address issues of equity in educational opportunity through 

both its policy and enforcement work by issuing detailed policy guidance; conducting vigorous 

complaint investigations; procuring strong systemic remedies; pursuing aggressive monitoring of 

resolution agreements; launching targeted and proactive compliance reviews and technical 

assistance activities; collecting and publicizing school-level data on important civil rights 

compliance indicators; and participating in intra- and interagency work groups to share expertise 

and best practices. 
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FY 2015 Annual Performance Report and FY 2017 Annual Performance Plan—U.S. Department of Education 78

Goal 4: Details

U.S. Department of 

Education

Indicators of Success

Baseline

Actuals

Current 

Year 

Target Current 

Year 

Results

Actual-to-Target

2015 Out-Year Targets

Trend Line

(Actuals)

2013 2014 2015 2015

Missed Exceeded

2016 2017

4.1.A. National high school 

graduation rate89

SY: 

2011–12

80.0%

SY: 

2011–12

80.0%

SY: 

2012–13 

81.4%

SY: 

2013–14

82.3%

83.0%90 NOT MET

83.0

% 82.3

%

65.0%

67.5%

70.0%

72.5%

75.0%

77.5%

80.0%

82.5%

85.0%

4.1.A

84.5% 85%

75.0%

77.0%

79.0%

81.0%

83.0%

2013 2014 2015

New APG Metric: Gap in 

the graduation rate between 

students from low-income 

families and all students91

SY: 

2013–14 

7.7%

SY: 

2011–12

8.3%

SY: 

2012–13 

8.1%

SY: 

2013–14

7.7%

NA NA 7.6%92 7.4%

New APG Metric: Number 

of schools that do not have a 

gap or that decreased the 

gap between students from 

low-income93 families and 

the state average of all 

students94

SY: 

2013–14 

80%

SY: 

2011–12

77.6%

SY: 

2012–13 

78.8%

SY: 

2013–14

80%

NA NA 81.2%95 82.4%

 

89 Metric is aligned with an APG. 

90 SY 2013–14 actuals are being used to compare against the FY 2015 target. 

91 Metric is aligned with an APG. 

92 SY 2014–15 actuals are being used to compare against the FY 2016 target; FY 2016 (SY 2015–16) data not available until 2017. 

93 For purposes of this metric, eligibility for Free or Reduced Price Lunches (FRPL) under the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) is the primary source of data for identifying 

economically disadvantaged (low-income) students for reporting on student outcomes, including graduation rates. The Department is currently considering options for redefining 

“economically disadvantaged” students for student outcomes reporting and other uses. Should the Department make such a change, data on economically disadvantaged students 

may not be entirely comparable with data for previous years. 

94 Metric is aligned with an APG. 

95 SY 2014–15 actuals are being used to compare against the FY 2016 target; FY 2016 (SY 2015–16) data not available until 2017. 
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U.S. Department of 

Education

Indicators of Success

Baseline

Actuals

Current 

Year 

Target Current 

Year 

Results

Actual-to-Target

2015 Out-Year Targets

Trend Line

(Actuals)

2013 2014 2015 2015

Missed Exceeded

2016 2017

4.2.A. Percentage of 

proactive civil rights 

investigations launched 

annually that address areas 

of concentration in civil rights 

enforcement 

FY: 2013

7% 7% 21% 16% 10% MET

10.0

%

16.0

%

0.0%

2.0%

4.0%

6.0%

8.0%

10.0%

12.0%

14.0%

16.0%

18.0%

4.2.A

12% 15%

0.0%

5.0%

10.0%

15.0%

20.0%

25.0%

2013 2014 2015

4.2.B. Percentage of 

proactive civil rights 

investigations resolved 

annually that address areas 

of concentration in civil rights 

enforcement

FY: 2013

8% 8% 15% 20% 10% MET

10.0

%

20.0

%

0.0%

5.0%

10.0%

15.0%

20.0%

25.0%

4.2.B

12% 16%

0.0%

5.0%

10.0%

15.0%

20.0%

25.0%

2013 2014 2015

NA = Not applicable. 

TBD = To be determined. 

Academic Year (AY) is a collegiate year spanning August–May; School Year (SY) spans August–July and is aligned with a P–12 school year; Fiscal Year (FY) corresponds to a federal 

fiscal year; Calendar Year (CY) spans January–December.

Data Sources and Frequency of Collection: 

4.1.A. EDFacts; annually

4.2.A. Office for Civil Rights’ (OCR) Case Management System (CMS) and Document Management (DM) systems; quarterly 

4.2.B. OCR CMS and DM systems; quarterly 

Note on performance metrics and targets: These metrics were established as a part of the FY 2014–18 Strategic Plan. Metrics may be updated or revised to 

reflect awareness of more accurate data or clarifications. Such updates or revisions are identified in footnotes. 
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FY 2015 Annual Performance Report and FY 2017 Annual Performance Plan—U.S. Department of Education 80

Analysis and Next Steps by Objective

Objective 4.1: Equitable Educational Opportunities 

Explanation and Analysis of Progress: 

Throughout FY 2015, the Department continued its efforts to expand equitable educational 

opportunities through its budget priorities, grants, and initiatives in the P–12 and postsecondary 

spaces, as well as through interagency collaborations and taskforces. 

The Department has placed increased emphasis on ensuring educational equity through 

forward-looking strategies, such as FY 2016 budget development. For example, the Department 

proposed investing in equity measures in its FY 2016 budget, with $2.7 billion or almost 

12 percent increase for ESEA programs and substantial increases across many programs. 

P–12 Education 

The Office of Early Learning in the Department’s OESE and the Administration for Children and 

Families at HHS awarded grants to launch high-quality preschool for 33,000 children from lowto moderate-income families in over 200 communities in the 18 Preschool Development Grants 

states. The 20 Race to the Top-ELC states have finalized their Annual Performance Reports 

showing their states’ progress in developing or enhancing their early learning systems. OCR 

also worked with HHS to develop a policy statement on discipline in early learning 

environments. 

The Department continued to support the SIG program, ESEA Flexibility renewal, and the 

Excellent Educators for All initiative. On February 9, 2015, the Department published a notice of 

final regulations (NFRs) for SIG, incorporating changes from the FY 2014 appropriations act and 

lessons learned from implementation, so that SIG can better support turnaround efforts in the 

lowest-performing schools. The SIG NFR made slight adjustments to the four historical SIG 

models and includes three new SIG models: an early learning model, an evidence-based, whole 

school reform model, and a state-determined whole school reform model. 

The Department released guidance for the Excellent Educators for All initiative during FY 2015. 

The initiative is directly tied to the goal of closing achievement gaps and ensuring equal 

educational opportunities; it is a three-pronged attempt to support states and districts as they 

work to ensure that low income students and students of color have equal access to effective 

and qualified educators. First, the Department required states to submit new Plans to Ensure 

Equitable Access to Excellent Educators (State Plans) in June 2015 and has reviewed and 

approved the plans of all 50 states, DC, and Puerto Rico. Second, the Department is currently 

implementing a $4.2 million effort to support an Equitable Access Support Network (EASN) that 

provides meaningful technical assistance to states in developing and then implementing high 

quality plans. The Department also created and released state-specific Educator Equity Profiles. 

The Department sent each state a copy of its CRDC file to facilitate additional state-level data 

analysis. The Department held a number of webinars with states to ensure they understood how 

the data could help in developing equity plans. 

Also, several offices across the Department continue to be involved in the White House My 

Brother’s Keeper initiative, which aims to improve educational and other outcomes and reduce 

involvement with the juvenile and criminal justice systems for boys and young men of color. 

OSERS worked with OESE to identify districts with the highest numbers of males of color 

dropping out of school with the goal of providing these districts with technical assistance to 
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support high needs students. OSERS also led a multistate convening to address 

disproportionate discipline rates for students of color. “Rethink Discipline,” a day-long 

conference at the White House, was convened by the Department and DOJ in July 2015, 

bringing together education professionals from across the country to work on strategies for 

creating positive school climates and implementing effective discipline practices to reduce the 

overuse of unnecessary out-of-school suspensions and expulsions and replace these practices 

with positive alternatives that keep students in school and engaged in learning, but also ensure 

accountability. 

OESE helped launch a new White House Administration initiative, Every Student, Every Day: A 

National Initiative to Address and Eliminate Chronic Absenteeism. Led by the White House, the 

Department, HHS, HUD, and DOJ, the administration announced new steps to combat chronic 

absenteeism and called on states and local communities across the country to join in taking 

immediate action to address and eliminate chronic absenteeism by at least 10 percent each 

year, beginning in the current school year (2015–16). 

OELA has been working with the White House Task Force on New Americans, particularly on 

highlighting promising practices for serving ELs, immigrants and refugees. In April, the Task 

Force released a new report that outlines the federal government’s goals to strengthen its 

integration efforts nationwide and build welcoming communities. Additionally, the Task Force 

has launched an “Educational and Linguistic Integration Webinar Series,” which has highlighted 

the work of researchers and practitioners who are working to support these populations. OELA 

has also partnered with the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for African 

Americans to launch a set of fact sheets on Black ELs to develop awareness for targeted 

actions to ensure that group of student receive appropriate attention and support. 

The Office of the Secretary supported the White House Initiative on American Indian and Alaska 

Native Education in its efforts to coordinate across federal agencies to execute Generation 

Indigenous, or Gen I, an interagency initiative to support Native youth. 

OCTAE continued to coordinate the implementation of the P3 initiative, a unique cross-agency 

initiative that gives state, local, and tribal governments greater flexibility in using their 

discretionary funds to test innovative strategies for improving results for disconnected youth. 

The first nine pilots were announced in October 2015. For the next round of P3, OCTAE has 

published a Notice of Proposed Priorities (NPP). The NPP includes proposed priorities for 

disconnected youth who are unemployed and not enrolled in education; ELs; individuals with 

disabilities; homeless; in foster care; involved with the justice system; or immigrants or refugees. 

While ESSA will certainly impact much of the Department’s work to promote equity in 

educational opportunity, the ultimate impacts of the new law are still being evaluated, and plans 

for implementation have yet to be fully developed. The FY 2016 APR will provide additional 

detail on the impact of the ESSA. 

Higher Education 

In FY 2015, OPEPD worked with the Office of the Under Secretary and other offices to develop 

the America’s College Promise to make two years of community college free for eligible 

students. OCTAE worked on preparing two solicitations related to reentry education. 

The Department published a notice announcing a First in the World grant competition on 

May 11, 2015. The program is designed to promote evidence-based strategies and practices for 

college access and completion, focusing on high-need students. The $60 million appropriated 
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for this program was used to make 18 grants to IHEs, including 9 grants to minority-serving 

institutions totaling $30 million. Two of the awards were Validation grants designed to replicate 

strategies proven to be successful in earlier evaluations. 

SIP supports eligible IHEs in becoming self-sufficient and expanding their capacity to serve lowincome students by providing funds to improve and strengthen the institution’s academic quality, 

institutional management, and fiscal stability. 

In an effort to scale up successful practices that lead to completion, especially in the area of 

remedial education, the Department developed communities of practice among minority-serving 

community colleges. Lead institutions have been identified, recruited, and trained. Two 

communities of practice have been launched as of October 2015. The Department convened 

these communities of practice and others in November 2015 for the Student Success at Minority 

Serving Institutions conference. 

OCR and FSA continue to support the President’s Sexual Assault Task Force to improve 

coordination, transparency, and effectiveness in responding to sexual violence in colleges and 

universities. The Task Force released a Resource Guide in September 2015, and is developing 

plans for the coming months, including a focus on technical assistance/regional convenings, 

research initiatives, and training/prevention at the P–12 level. 

OCTAE and OCR are developing joint guidance to assist high schools, community colleges, 

other CTE providers, and state agencies in meeting their obligations under federal law to 

administer and oversee CTE programs, without discriminating on the basis of gender. OCTAE is 

working as well with FSA to promote greater awareness of new ability to benefit provisions that 

enable adults who lack a high school diploma or its equivalent to access student financial aid if 

they are enrolled in qualifying career pathway program. 

Subpopulation Breakout for Metric 4.1.A: National high school graduation rate by 

race/ethnicity, other characteristics* 

SY Total

American 

Indian/

Alaska 

Native

Asian/

Pacific 

Islander

Hispa

nic Black White

Economically 

Disadvantaged

Limited 

English 

Proficiency

Students 

with 

Disabilities

2011–12 80% 67% 88% 73% 69% 86% 72% 59% 61%

2012–13 81.4% 69.7% 88.7% 75.2% 70.7% 86.6% 73.3% 61.1% 61.9%

2013–14 82.3% 69.6%** 89.4% 76.3% 72.5% 87.2% 74.6% 62.6% 63.1%

* Data are reported based on the requirements for individual states in the Consolidated State Performance Report (CSPR). 

** The United States 4-year ACGR for American Indian/Alaska Native students was estimated using both the reported 4-year ACGR 

data from 49 states and the District of Columbia and using imputed data for Virginia. Available at: 

http://nces.ed.gov/ccd/tables/ACGR_RE_and_characteristics_2013-14.asp. 

Data Source and Frequency of Collection: EDFacts universe collection, annual reports; annually 

Challenges and Next Steps: 

The following items delineate future challenges and next steps as the Department works to 

enhance educational opportunities for underserved populations. 

As with all budget requests, the new and continuing proposals related to equity described above 

are dependent on final appropriations. Offices across the Department will maximize alignment 

with the Department’s issues of equity. 
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FY 2015 Annual Performance Report and FY 2017 Annual Performance Plan—U.S. Department of Education 83

Staff worked diligently to approve state educator equity plans and to oversee implementation of 

the Excellent Educators for All initiative, addressing the urgency of progress on educator equity 

and the capacity of states to meet new data and planning requirements. OESE is managing a 

large technical assistance effort around the plans that will allow all states to receive intensive 

support. A cross-agency group is working to ensure this technical assistance includes 

stakeholders from the civil rights community to help states improve consultation efforts. 

In FY 2015, the Department also promoted this goal through continued implementation of ESEA 

Flexibility. The ESEA Flexibility renewal guidance, issued on November 13, 2014, focused on 

improving educational outcomes for all students, closing achievement gaps, increasing equity, 

and improving the quality of instruction. As part of the SEA’s process of ensuring that schools 

were accountable for the performance of all subgroups of students, in its renewal request, each 

SEA had to demonstrate that a school could not receive the highest rating in the SEA’s 

differentiated recognition, accountability, and support system if there are significant 

achievement or graduation rate gaps across subgroups that are not closing in the school. States 

were also encouraged, through the renewal process, to identify and address existing opportunity 

gaps that may contribute to achievement gaps. 

The ESSA continues the ESEA’s focus on ensuring that states and school districts account for 

the progress of all students, take meaningful actions to improve the lowest-performing schools, 

and ensure equitable access to excellent educators. However, the provisions and ultimate 

impact of the new law are still being evaluated, and plans for implementation have yet to be fully 

developed. The FY 2016 APR will provide additional detail on the impact of the ESSA. 

Objective 4.2: Civil Rights Compliance 

Explanation and Analysis of Progress: 

The Department, in consultation with OMB, has determined that performance toward this 

objective is making noteworthy progress. OCR has dramatically increased the efficiency and 

accuracy of the CRDC by launching a newly developed and improved data collection tool. Many 

new features of the data collection tool contributed to the increased efficiency and data 

accuracy, including the ability of LEAs and schools to (1) preview future CRDC questions that 

will be mandatory for the 2015–16 CRDC and to submit data voluntarily (optional) for these 

questions early, as part of the 2013–14 collection; (2) receive automated, customized edit 

checks of data entries prior to final data submission/ certification; (3) obtain individualized 

district feedback reports that summarize the 2013–14 data submitted; and (4) benefit from the 

prepopulation of some survey data items from 8 SEAs to reduce approximately 2,000 LEAs’

reporting burden. As a result, 17,000 LEAs can receive real-time summary reports of their 

2013–14 CRDC data up to 8 months earlier and at least 2,000 LEAs’ burden to comply with 

data violation to launching an investigation by as much as one year, thus bringing speedier relief 

to complainants. Data for the 2013–14 CRDC will be available in the spring of 2016. 

In FY 2015, OCR, in collaboration with OELA, supported major investments in the quality of the 

CRDC data, including the disaggregated data for ELs in all public schools. This new feature of 

the CRDC website allows access to individual district or school level EL profiles that include 

information about the demographics of EL students and their participation in early childhood, 

gifted and talented, AP, SAT, college and career readiness, math and science courses, and 

discipline. OCR worked with OELA to develop and publish the EL Toolkit to support the 

implementation of EL Guidance. The toolkit was launched nationally at the end of April and all 

ten chapters are now available online. OCR continues to promote the EL guidance and toolkit 

through speaking engagements and technical assistance. 
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FY 2015 Annual Performance Report and FY 2017 Annual Performance Plan—U.S. Department of Education 84

In the policy arena, in FY 2015, OCR released nine guidance documents of critical importance 

to the Department, schools, civil rights stakeholders and the public—the most issued in one 

fiscal year in OCR history—concerning: (1) the Title VI requirements around resource equity 

and resource comparability; (2) obligations of elementary and secondary schools to respond to 

the bullying of SWDs; (3) schools’ obligations surrounding effective communication for SWDs; 

(4) questions and answers on Title IX and single-sex elementary and secondary classes and 

extracurricular activities; (5) applicability of federal civil rights laws to juvenile justice residential 

facilities; (6) implementing the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Ebola guidance for 

schools; (7) schools’ obligations to ensure that EL students can participate meaningfully and 

equally in school and to communicate information to limited English proficient parents in a 

language they can understand; (8) addressing the risk of measles in schools and school 

obligations to SWDs medically unable to obtain vaccinations; and (9) the importance and role of 

Title IX coordinators.

In order to further disseminate and deliver the message of these policy guidance documents to 

communities nationwide, OCR provided more than 220 technical assistance sessions to 

recipients and other stakeholders. These sessions were conducted by employees from all of 

OCR’s twelve regional and enforcement offices throughout the nation, and from headquarters, 

including Program Legal Group staff.

In FY 2015, OCR received a new record-high number of complaints (10,394, vs. 9,983 in 

FY 2014) and resolved 9,232 complaints (compared to 9,864 in FY 2014)—including a higher 

number of complex and systemic case resolutions than in FY 2014—despite experiencing the 

lowest staffing levels in OCR history (average of 539). 

Additionally, OCR increased the transparency of its work to the public by making available a list 

of colleges and universities currently being investigated under Title IX related to sexual violence; 

posting hundreds of resolution agreements with educational institutions on its website; and

overhauling the website to make more easily accessible information about OCR’s civil rights 

enforcement work (including resolution letters and agreements from FY 2014 forward); policy 

guidance documents; frequently asked questions about the laws OCR enforces; and a robust 

reading room with publications, pamphlets, and other materials. In total, there are now more 

than 800 cases available on the website. OCR’s customer service team responded to 

7,430 hotline calls, answered 3,397 public inquiries, and fulfilled 8,775 publication requests for 

OCR documents to ensure the public has accurate information about civil rights laws and policy 

to promote equity in education. 

Challenges and Next Steps: 

In FY 2015, OCR again received a new record-high number of complaints despite experiencing 

the lowest staffing levels in OCR history—continuing a trend that has existed for decades and 

has accelerated during this administration.

To create greater efficiency in our work, OCR overhauled its case processing guidelines, 

increased use of technology, eliminated peripheral practices such as reviewing appeals of 

dismissals or retaining cases over which other agencies have joint jurisdiction, and successfully 

used its internal audit program to foster greater consistency, quality and systemic relief in its 

enforcement efforts. 

The complaint volume and lack of resources continue to have an impact on OCR’s ability to 

conduct and resolve proactive investigations and to conduct proactive technical assistance. 

OCR’s ability to conduct proactive activities is also impacted by limited staffing and resources. 
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FY 2015 Annual Performance Report and FY 2017 Annual Performance Plan—U.S. Department of Education 85

Selected Strategies to Achieve Goal 4

The Department will continue to work in FY 2016 to expand access to high-quality preschool, 

close achievement and graduation gaps, foster equitable access to educational resources and 

excellent educators, ensure all students have the opportunity to attain a high-quality education 

in a supportive and nondiscriminatory environment, and foster greater college access and 

completion. In doing so, the Department will continue to integrate the support for underserved or 

at-risk students, children and youth—including high-need students, students of color, ELs, and 

children and youth with disabilities—across its programs and initiatives. 

As mentioned above, ESSA continues the ESEA’s focus on ensuring that states and school 

districts account for the progress of all students, including students from low-income families 

and students of color; take meaningful actions to improve the lowest-performing schools; and 

ensure equitable access to excellent educators. The Department is developing approaches to 

best support the implementation of the ESSA, and the FY 2016 APR will provide additional 

detail on the impact of the ESSA for the Department’s work.

The Department will continue to support a robust early learning agenda that includes building 

state and local capacity to expand access to high-quality preschool programs, improving the 

workforce, aligning preschool systems, and supporting comprehensive assessment systems. 

The Department will work with the White House, other agencies, states and local communities 

to implement Every Student, Every Day: A National Initiative to Address and Eliminate Chronic 

Absenteeism. 

The Department will implement the National Professional Development program to increase well 

prepared teachers and other educators to serve ELs. 

The Department will advance programs that serve homeless, foster, disconnected, incarcerated, 

and migrant youth, including through implementing the P3 program.

The Department will support the My Brother’s Keeper initiative to improve educational and other 

outcomes and reduce involvement with the juvenile and criminal justice systems for boys and 

young men of color, and to address disproportionate discipline rates for students of color and 

SWDs. 

The Department will work with the White House Initiative on American Indian and Alaska Native 

Education to implement Gen I. 

The Department will explore ways to work collaboratively with other federal agencies to increase 

socioeconomic and racial integration and diversity in schools. 

The Department will continue to issue civil rights policy guidance documents that address 

schools’ obligations to ensure equity for students, investigate civil rights complaints, launch 

targeted and proactive civil rights compliance reviews and technical assistance activities, 

provide more transparency about civil rights processes and resolutions on its website, and issue 

new CRDC data that illuminate equity and opportunity gaps in our nation’s schools. 

The Department will foster more equity in career, technical, and adult education programs, 

including through the Advancing Equity in CTE project to reduce inequities in CTE access, 

participation, completion, and post-program outcomes for girls and women, individuals with 

disabilities, and students of color. 
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FY 2015 Annual Performance Report and FY 2017 Annual Performance Plan—U.S. Department of Education 86

The Department will promote evidence-based strategies and practices to increase college 

access and completion and expand colleges’ capacity to support low-income students through 

the First in the World program and SIP.