The United States Department of Education (ED) and the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) (collectively, the Departments) are issuing this guidance to explain how, consistent with existing law, elementary and secondary schools can voluntarily consider race to further compelling interests in achieving diversity and avoiding racial isolation. This guidance replaces the August 28, 2008 letter issued by ED’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) entitled “The Use of Race in Assigning Students to Elementary and Secondary Schools.”