This document is a transcript of a Congressional oversight hearing on the Department of Education's enforcement of Federal Civil Rights laws. Testimony, letters, and prepared statements are included from representatives of the department's Office for Civil Rights (OCR), the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the National Women's Law Center, and the Disability Rights Educational and Defense Fund. According to a final statement by the committee chairman, major findings of the hearing were: (1) although the OCR seeks voluntary settlements of all discrimination complaints before the investigation begins, many cases are apparently not settled on a sound legal basis; (2) the OCR has moved to a good-faith standard in measuring the effectiveness of desegregation plans; (3) the Justice Department has taken little action on the nearly two dozen discrimination cases referred to it by OCR since 1981; (4) despite serious staff shortages at OCR, the office routinely returns funds it had been allocated for law enforcement activities; and (5) discrimination in the United States continues to be a problem. (KH)