Estimating the Risk of School Suspension Using Continuous-Time Survival Analysis

• In Event: 63.084 - Roundtable Session 22
  In Roundtable Session: 63.084-2 - Methodological Approaches to Examining Behavior and Student Outcomes

Abstract

In this case study, I explored out-of-school suspensions of middle-school students in one school district. Using continuous-time survival analysis, I describe whether, and if so, when students were at comparably higher and lower risk of experiencing their first suspension during middle school. Boys were at highest risk of first suspension at the beginning of 6th grade, with the risk diminishing over time. The risk for girls was consistently lower, but was relatively constant throughout middle school. The risk of first suspension for Black students averaged about eight times the risk for White students, varying by gender over students’ middle-school career.

Author

• Stephen Hoffman, Harvard University