Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 assures that no person in the United States shall, on the grounds of race, color, or national origin, be excluded from participation in, or denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program of activity receiving Federal financial assistance. These requirements, which apply to all school districts receiving federal funding, prohibit discrimination in the assignment of students to schools or classes and discrimination in ability grouping or tracking students. The law does not require that each school within a district have a racially balanced population, but schools must be able to demonstrate valid and nondiscriminatory reasons for assignments to classes with a substantially disproportionate number of minority or nonminority students. School districts are responsible for ensuring that students are not misclassified as being disabled and that misclassification does not result in students being inappropriately placed in special education classes. School districts are also responsible for providing equal educational opportunity to students of minority national origin with limited English proficiency. Schools must ensure that all students are given nondiscriminatory counseling information, and that they have equal access to elective courses. School districts have a further responsibility to ensure that they do not use ability grouping or tracking practices that result in discrimination on the basis of race, color, or national origin. At all times, schools and districts must be careful to use appropriate criteria and evaluation and testing methods before assigning students to specialized classes or courses of study. Screening procedures must be nondiscriminatory, and periodic testing and re-evaluation of students may be necessary. (SLD)