Civil Rights Assistant Secretary to Address New York City ‘Closing the Achievement Gap’ Event

Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Russlynn Ali will deliver the keynote address Tuesday at an event sponsored by the New York City Department of Education aimed at closing the achievement gap among African American and Latino male students.

Ali will discuss her office’s recently released Civil Rights Data Collection in the context of discipline and college and career readiness.  The survey of 72,000 schools found that minority students across America face harsher discipline, have less access to rigorous high school curricula, and are more often taught by lower-paid and less experienced teachers.

Her remarks will take place as part of the New York schools’ Closing the Achievement Gap series which focuses on eliminating the achievement gap among African American and Latino male students through the identification, development and promotion of innovative and culturally competent support systems. The theme of this year’s effort is, “Engaging the Community: Supporting Young Men of Color in their Pursuit for a College Education.”

As assistant secretary, Ali's Office for Civil Rights enforces U.S. civil rights laws pertaining to education -- ensuring that the nation's schools receiving federal funding refrain from discriminatory conduct related to race, sex, disability or age.

For information on the Office for Civil Rights, visit http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/index.html, Facebook.com/EDCivilRights or follow on Twitter (@Edcivilrights).