The Collateral Damage of In-School Suspensions: A Counterfactual Analysis of High-Suspension Schools, Math Achievement, and College Attendance

• In Event: 31.042 - Disciplining Bodies, Educational Resistance, and Carceral Pedagogies

Abstract

This article demonstrates how high-suspension high schools negatively impact math achievement and college attendance for all students. Using a nationally-representative longitudinal study of students, this article uses propensity score weighting to control for selection into high-suspension schools. Findings demonstrate that when controlling for an individual’s suspensions, as well as a school’s overall level of social disorder, attending a high-suspension high school significantly decreases a student’s math test scores from freshman to junior year of high school, while also decreasing a student’s odds of attending college full-time. Subsequent analyses demonstrate that the decrease in math scores are directly related to the decrease in college attendance. This article closes with a discussion of how these findings can inform future policies and practices.

Author

• Jason F Jabbari, Washington University in St. Louis