Beginning in January of 2018 the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) began publishing a list of all schools under investigation for disability discrimination. As reported then in an article in Disability Scoop, “The searchable listing includes cases alleging discrimination based on disability in addition to race and national origin, sex, age, and equal access.”

In the past, the only way to find out if your school was involved in a disability-related investigation was to inquire at the DOE’s Office of Civil Rights (OCR). In an effort to be more transparent, the DOE made the list available to anyone at www.ed.gov.

According to ProPublica, The new Trump Administration initially paused investigating discrimination complaints at schools and colleges, but the freeze has now been partially lifted to allow disability investigations only to proceed. “That means that thousands of outstanding complaints filed with the department’s Office for Civil Rights related to race and gender discrimination — most of which are submitted by students and families– will continue to sit idle.

the Individuals with Disabilities Act–the federal law that protects students against discrimination–to the Department of Health and Human Services, where advocates are concerned that this type of information will be lost among the larger priorities of DHHS.

What You’ll Find

Should you find your school in this data base, keep in mind the following OCR disclaimer:

The inclusion of an institution on this list does not mean that the institution violated a federal anti-discrimination statute; rather, it means that a complaint was filed with OCR and the agency determined the complaint should be opened for investigation, or the agency has opened a compliance review. OCR is still investigating the cases included on this list, or is otherwise working to resolve the cases (e.g., OCR may be in the process of negotiating a resolution agreement).