Definition
The Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC) is a mandatory survey of public elementary and secondary schools conducted biennially by the U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights. The collection gathers data on key education and civil rights issues, including student access to courses (such as Algebra I, AP, and IB programs), staffing levels (school counselors, nurses, security), and school discipline practices (suspensions, expulsions, corporal punishment).
How K12 Atlas uses it
K12 Atlas integrates CRDC school-level staffing counts and discipline observations to provide a holistic view of the school environment. Key columns like counselor FTE (full-time equivalent), nurse FTE, and reported suspensions are joined to CCD directory profiles using NCES IDs.
Source caveats
Because the CRDC is a massive national census covering nearly 100,000 public schools, it is subject to extensive collection, cleaning, and validation periods. As a result, CRDC releases run on a significant multi-year lag (for example, the SY 2021-22 collection is the latest available national data). Furthermore, CRDC counts are self-reported by school districts and may contain clerical errors.
Implementation rule
Our ingestion engine processes CRDC data using strict zero-vs-null rules. If a school reports '0' counselors, it is counted as a staffed school with zero counselors. If a school does not participate or fails to report the metric, the field is left blank (null) to avoid treating silence as a zero count.
Organic role
This glossary page defines the federal civil-rights data layer. Users can link to the counselor deserts data story, the school discipline overview, or browse explainers detailing how to read counselor ratios.
What not to infer
CRDC staffing and discipline counts describe administrative filings, not school safety grades or staff performance ratings. High suspension rates or low counselor ratios must be interpreted within local community contexts. K12 Atlas presents raw, citable counts without editorial opinion.
Related buyer path
Complete school-level counselor FTE, nurse FTE, and discipline slices are available in our paid packs. The free Austin ISD sample shows how these metrics appear in an interactive, clean format.