for High School Equity, accurate and dependable data is essential to improving education policy and practice. The coalition also says the data affects critical decisions that can benefit students of color and low-income students by increasing graduation rates, improving teacher quality, and providing adequate and appropriate academic support.
“From a civil rights perspective, we have not done a good job at all of ensuring that students of color have the same unfettered access to high-quality education as white students,” says Wotorson. “If you require everyone to report information in the same way, you go a long way toward ensuring that we all have the right kind of information. We’re relying on accurate and consistent data so we can make the right kinds of decisions.”