INSTITUTE INDEX: Civil rights in the classroom

Date on which U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan delivered a speechat the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Ala. calling for stepped up civilrights enforcement in schools: 3/8/2010

Number of years earlier that the infamous "Bloody Sunday" civil rightsconfrontation took place there, an event that Duncan's speechcommemorated: 45

Number of civil rights investigations that Duncan's department plans to open this year: 38

Number of states in which the department plans to examine school districts' disciplinary practices: 5

Since 1980, percentage by which the staff in the Education Department's civil rights unit has been reduced: 50

Number of times by which white students are more likely than blackstudents to be college-ready in biology at the end of high school: 6

Number of times by which white students are more likely than black students to be prepared for college algebra: 4

Number of times by which black students with disabilities are morelikely than their white counterparts to be expelled or suspended: more than 2

Number of times by which black students without disabilities are more likely than white students to be expelled: more than 3

Percentage by which students from low-income families who graduated inthe top testing quartile are more likely to attend college than thelowest-scoring students from wealthy families: 0

Percentage of U.S. high schools that produce half of all U.S. dropouts: 12

Percentage of African-American and Latino students who come from those schools: 75

Percentage of teachers who had been let go and had trouble findinganother job who were placed in high-poverty schools, according to onenewspaper investigation: 75

(Click on the figure to go to the original source.)

(Photo of Secretary Duncan speaking in Selma from the U.S. Department of Education's website.)