Examination of Disproportionate Rates of School Discipline of Minority and Special Education Students in Maryland

• In Event: Roundtable Session 15
  In Roundtable Session: Examining School Policies Through the Lens of Underrepresented Student Populations

Abstract

For 35 years the research literature has highlighted an exclusionary discipline gap between racial/ethnic minority students and White students; recently, the literature has identified a gap in the rates of exclusionary discipline between students in special education and other students. This study used Maryland State Department of Education data on K–12 public school students from 2009/10 to 2011/12 to examine the minority disproportionality in student discipline of special and non-special education students. The study found that, statewide, Black students were more likely to receive out-of-school suspension or expulsion than were Hispanic or White students for the same type of infraction, and that special education students were removed from school at more than twice the rate of non-special education students.

Authors

• Rosemarie O'Conner, ICF International

• Allan Porowski, Abt Associates Inc.

• Aikaterini Passa, ICF International