Important New Report: U.S. Department of Education Data on School Discipline

From The U.S. Department of Education
Office for Civil Rights

March 21, 2014

Education Secretary Arne Duncan speaks as Attorney General Eric
Holder, left, looks on as they discuss the need to reduce
“unnecessary and unfair school discipline practices
and other barriers to equity and opportunity at all levels of education”

The Report's Key Findings

• Disproportionately high suspension/expulsion rates for students of color: Black students are suspended and expelled at a rate three times greater than white students. On average, 5% of white students are suspended, compared to 16% of black students. American Indian and Native-Alaskan students are also disproportionately suspended and expelled, representing less than 1% of the student population but 2% of out-of-school suspensions and 3% of expulsions.

• Disproportionate suspensions of girls of color: While boys receive more than two out of three suspensions, black girls are suspended at higher rates (12%) than girls of any other race or ethnicity and most boys; American Indian and Native-Alaskan girls (7%) are suspended at higher rates than white boys (6%) or girls (2%).

• Suspension of students with disabilities and English learners: Students with disabilities are more than twice as likely to receive an out-of-school suspension (13%) than students without disabilities (6%). In contrast, English learners do not receive out-of-school suspensions at disproportionately high rates (7% suspension rate, compared to 10% of student enrollment).

>>> Read or download the 24-page "Snapshot," an executive summary of this important new research from the U.S. Department of Education.