Dive Brief:
- African-American students and students with disabilities are suspended at “hugely disproportionate rates compared to white students,” states a new report by the Discipline Disparities Research-to-Practice Collaborative. The study was conducted by 26-experts with a range of backgrounds, including advocacy, policy, social science and law.
- The report found black students were 1.78 times as likely to be suspended as white students and Latino students were 2.23 times as likely to be suspended than white students. 25% of African American students with disabilities received at least one out-of-school suspension in the 2009-2010 school year.
- Touching on the school-to-prison pipeline, the study asserts suspension increases the risk of drop-out and pushes the most troubled and at-risk children out of the classroom — and into the juvenile and criminal justice systems.
Dive Insight:
The school-to-prison pipeline discussion has increased in relevance this past year, making this study highly pertinent. In response to the Sandy Hook school shooting last year, many schools doubled down in their efforts to improve security; in numerous cases this took shape in an increased police presence. This rise in campus police sparked scrutiny of the way punishment is handled inside our schools.
To deal with the national trend of inequitable and ineffective discipline, the Obama administration rolled out its first “school discipline guidelines” in January. “Racial discrimination is school discipline is a real problem today,” Arne Duncan stated before telling schools they could be held legally responsible for the impact of their actions on different races and that they are culpable for all disciplinary actions on campus.
Adding to the timeliness of the study is Obama’s newly announced initiative My Brother’s Keeper. The initiative—backed with $200 million from foundations—intends to create opportunities for African-American males by helping them succeed and finish school and keeping them out of the criminal justice system.
