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About EDOVERVIEW
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FOREWORD

It is my pleasure to present our *Annual  Report to Congress* for FY 2005, which marked the 25th anniversary  of the establishment of the U.S. Department of Education (ED).  In this report, the Office for Civil Rights  (OCR) is providing a summary of its FY 2005 accomplishments.  Also, in recognition of our 25th  anniversary, we are highlighting some of the significant cases that OCR has  resolved over the years.  

The last quarter century was eventful and  challenging for OCR.  Major U.S. Supreme  Court decisions, such as *Grove City*, *Fordice*, *Gratz,* and *Grutter*,  guided OCR’s civil rights enforcement responsibilities, while legislation, such  as the *Civil Rights Restoration Act of  1988* and the *No Child Left Behind Act  of 2001*, provided clarification of those responsibilities.  During this time, OCR resolved tens of  thousands of discrimination complaints and compliance reviews affecting  millions of our nation’s students through its vigorous enforcement of the civil  rights laws, while also providing technical assistance to millions of teachers,  administrators, parents, and students to encourage voluntary compliance.

| **The  task of educating our children requires us to take the long view, looking to  the future while learning from the past.   And the past has a lot to teach us....**
***Margaret  Spellings,******Secretary  of Education, 2005*** |
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OCR operates today in a changed world.  In comparison to the library facilities,  primitive filing systems, word processing equipment, and telephones in use when  ED was established in May 1980, OCR’s staff now use state-of-the-art computer  and telecommunications equipment and a Case and Activity Management System with  integrated document management functions.   In 1980, OCR was under federal court order to process its complaints in  a timely fashion; in 2005, no longer under court order, OCR resolved almost 92  percent of its cases within 180 days.   To help the public understand how OCR handles complaints and compliance  reviews, the *Case Resolution and Investigation Manual*, updated in May  2005, clearly sets forth the procedures used by OCR to investigate and resolve  cases of alleged discrimination.  You  can find the manual on OCR’s informative Web site, www.ed.gov/ocr. 

While OCR has successfully brought its  enforcement efforts into the 21st century, many of the discrimination issues  OCR has addressed over time still persist.   For example, OCR continues to work with schools to ensure that  scientifically based reading programs are used so minority students and  students with limited English proficiency are not misidentified and misplaced  in special education classes; that students with disabilities receive a free,  appropriate public education, and schools and colleges and universities provide  program accessibility; and that recipients of ED financial assistance comply  with the procedural requirements under sex discrimination regulations.

We have included in  this 25th‐anniversary *Annual Report to Congress* a few quotations and  case resolution stories from previous years to provide a flavor of the  continuing nature of OCR’s endeavors over the years, as well as information on  OCR’s substantive achievements in FY 2005 and the challenges facing us. 

Respectfully  submitted,

Stephanie Monroe  Assistant Secretary  for Civil Rights 

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