Education Dept. Proposes New Rules for Student Race and Ethnicity Data

For the first time, states and schools reporting data on student race and ethnicity to the U.S. Department of Education would be able to list students as being multiracial, under proposed federal guidelines unveiled this week.

Parents would also be able to select more than one racial category for their children—something already permitted by some states and districts.

The changes could have implications for civil rights enforcement, educational research, and the distribution of federal education aid, although they would likely have a relatively minor impact on the federal No Child Left Behind Act’s requirement that student achievement data be...