This document contains the record of a hearing designed to review the policies of the Office for Civil Rights of the U.S. Department of Education toward minority school children, with a particular focus on the practice of ability grouping and the labeling of children as "slow" or "dumb" by placing them in particular classrooms. The document includes the prepared statements of Senator Paul Simon (presiding), Senator Edward Kennedy, Senator Brock Adams, Michael L. Williams (Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights, Department of Education), and Franklin Frazier (Director of Education and Employment Issues, Human Resources Division, U.S. General Accounting Office). The document also contains an index of documents in the Office of Civil Rights Codification System (as of April 3, 1991), communications directed to Senator Simon and others concerning the problems at issue, and questions and answers between Senator Simon, Michael Williams, and Franklin Frazier. (DB)