
Editor’s note: Russlynn Ali is the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Education. She was a teacher, an attorney and worked at the Children’s Defense Fund, and she has also taught law at the University of Southern California Law Center. Ali was appointed to the Department of Education by President Barack Obama in 2009.
By Russlynn Ali…
What is so refreshing is that under the direction President Obama’s and Education Sec. Arnie Duncan, Attorney Russlynn Ali as Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights of the U.S. Department of Education has substantially increased the enforcement of all anti-discrimination laws that relate to education — including the unprecedented step of proactively opening 60 investigations based on the agency’s own research, utilized and made accessible specific data to highlight areas of concern, and allowed individual states to be rewarded for innovation and accountability by receiving federal grants through the President’s Race to the Top program.
In other words, President Obama put his “money where his mouth was.” I applaud him and his staff, including Russlynn Ali and do not believe this administration is getting enough positive attention for their steadfast protection of the right to quality education in this nation.