Other new data sets include information on bullying and harassment, college-preparatory classes and teaching experience, according to a document on the department’s master Web site for information collections. The Civil Rights Data Collection is not done every year and does not usually involve every district. For school year 2009-10, about 7,000 LEAs will respond for themselves and their 77,000 schools, OCR said. Under OCR’s proposal, LEAs would submit three tables of data on restraint and seclusion -- one for all students, one for students with IEPs, and one for those without. That is consistent with what several groups, including the Council for Exceptional Children and the National Association of State Directors of Special Education, have said -- namely, that restraint and seclusion should not be seen as a special ed issue, per se.

OCR’s proposal contains no narrative justifying the additional data sets. Expanding the data collection will not be easy, said Bruce Hunter, associate executive director of the American Association of School Administrators. “There’s an expense with that . . . and like with all new data, the quality of the data will get better over time, so they ought not to hang their hat on what they get the first year or the second year,” he said. But with time, “that data will be of utility, and will probably be reasonably accurate.” Comments on the proposed revisions to Information Collection 4127 should be sent to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . The deadline is Nov. 10.