Deterring discrimination with data

Abstract

Discrimination on grounds of race, sex, and handicap persists in many local school districts in spite of nearly twenty years of sustained attention from federal poticymakers. Because litigation proceeds slowly and expensively, and because administrative attacks on discrimination have been stymied by political controversy, additional policy strategies merit careful consideration. We studied the operation of one such strategy in nine local districts: the mandatory collection of data concerning civil rights matters in schools. Data collection and reporting shaped local compliance with civil rights laws in four ways: by threatening local officials with future penalties, by providing political ammunition to constituencies that care about civil rights, by allowing local districts to learn about their own performance, and by framing school practices in ways that heighten awareness about equity. In this policy setting, data collection has advantages and disadvantages that complement those of other enforcement strategies. In this and other policy settings, data collection has power to elicit compliance even in the absence of conventional enforcement.

The effectiveness of regulatory disclosure policies

“…Regulatory transparency also differs from, but overlaps with, organizational report cards (Weiss & Gruber, 1984;Gormley & Weimer, 1999). Gormley and Weimer (p. 3) define organizational report cards as "a regular effort by an organization to collect data on two or more other organizations, transform the data into information relevant to assessing performance, and transmit the information to some audience external to the organizations themselves."…”

Data to Support Scholarship on Nonprofit Organizations

“…Because of the costs involved, many of the data sets described in these two issues are collected by government agencies or professional associations. Aside from a handful of federal statistical agencies (such as the Census Bureau or the National Center for Education Statistics), government data gatherers usually collect information for legal or policy purposes of monitoring and control (Weiss & Gruber, 1984). The Internal Revenue Service requires the submission of information on Form 990 not out of any general curiosity about the differences between organizational forms but because the data are intended to provide accountability for compliance with the tax code.…”

Data to Support Scholarship on Nonprofit Organizations

“…Moreover, data collection imposes reporting costs on nonprofit organizations, which must devote staff time to maintaining information systems capable of providing mandated data (Gormley & Weimer, 1999;Weiss & Gruber, 1984). These costs fall most heavily on smaller organizations, with less capability and limited expertise in information systems.…”

“…Aside from a handful of federal statistical agencies (such as the Census Bureau or the National Center for Education Statistics), government data gatherers usually collect information for legal or policy purposes of monitoring and control (Weiss & Gruber, 1984). Aside from a handful of federal statistical agencies (such as the Census Bureau or the National Center for Education Statistics), government data gatherers usually collect information for legal or policy purposes of monitoring and control (Weiss & Gruber, 1984).…”

“…Because of the costs involved, many of the data sets described in these two volumes are collected by government agencies or professional associations. Aside from a handful of federal statistical agencies (such as the Census Bureau or the National Center for Education Statistics), government data gatherers usually collect information for legal or policy purposes of monitoring and control (Weiss & Gruber, 1984). The IRS requires the submission of information on Form 990 not out of any general curiosity about the differences between organizational forms but because the data are intended to provide accountability for compliance with the tax code.…”