Federal officials are eyeing changes to the types of information that schools nationwide must report about the experiences of students with disabilities.

The U.S. Department of Education is updating plans for its upcoming civil rights data collection. The effort, which generally takes place every two years, gathers information on enrollment, student access to courses and teachers, discipline, restraint and seclusion and much more.

The data collection is significant because it captures information from all public school districts as well as charters, alternative schools, justice facilities and others receiving federal financial assistance.

“It is the only comparative data collected from each school, disaggregated to include (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act) and 504 eligible students,” said Denise S. Marshall, CEO of the Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates, or COPAA, a nonprofit that advocates for the rights of students with disabilities and their families.

Findings from the most recent civil rights data collection, which were unveiled last year, show that children with disabilities accounted for a larger percentage of students and they were more likely to experience restraint and seclusion, be suspended or expelled or referred to law enforcement.

Now, the Education Department is looking ahead to its data collection for the 2025-2026 and 2027-2028 school years. The agency is weighing whether to start collecting information on so-called “informal removals,” or situations when schools ask students to leave a program or activity without making any record of the incident or providing written notice. The move comes at the request of disability advocates.

A 2022 report from the National Disability Rights Network found that hundreds of kids with disabilities each year, if not more, are affected by informal removals, but there is no way to know exactly how many because school districts are not required to report this information.

“We know that there are many ways that kids are removed from class: sent home, to the office, to the hall, and other ways that they are denied the opportunity to learn that don’t raise to the level of suspension,” Marshall said. “However, students nonetheless are not receiving instruction, implementation of their individualized programs or related services. That needs to be counted.”

The Education Department is also considering whether to ask about the experiences of students that districts have placed in private schools, including whether they are subject to restraint and seclusion. And, the agency may inquire about the presence of threat assessment teams in schools.

The Education Department is accepting comments on the proposed changes through Dec. 16.

“The civil rights data collection provides crucial information for evaluating students’ experiences in America’s public schools,” said Catherine E. Lhamon, assistant secretary for civil rights at the Education Department. “We look forward to receiving and reviewing public comments on the proposed data elements and to working with schools and districts to collect these essential data.”