HB1541 and Interim Black/African-American Disaggregation

by Community Center for Education Results

Road Map Project region communities of African descent and K-12 school districts want to know more about Black/African American outcomes, disaggregated by student ethnicity. However, as of the release of this report, when Black families enroll their children in school there is only one box to check “Black/African American”. This one racial category is insufficient to capture the diversity of the region’s Black communities. While state house bill 1541, which requires subracial disaggregation, is a huge victory and progress point for the visibility of the African-American, Somali, and other communities in state education data, the availability of K-12 subracial data may take years to implement across all grades.

In late 2015 and early 2016, there were many community and district data requests for education outcomes about the region’s Somali and African-American children and youth. With the clear need for subracial disaggregation of “Black/African American” and concurrent work at the state on subracial data per HB1541, CCER developed an interim disaggregation method. This report sets out to describe this simple methodology and provides student outcomes to support future community inquiry and dialogue.

Lastly, we acknowledge the long legacy of activism and action in the Black community as well as the more recent work of cities and districts to focus on Black students, specifically Black male youth. These analyses are in service to regional efforts and aim to support continued alignment and collaboration by elevating shared community questions.

Suggested citation:

Cooley, S. (August 2016). Washington State House Bill 1541 and Interim Black/African American Disaggregation. Seattle, WA: Community Center for Education Results.

Posted in: Other