Starting Early: Integrated Student Support and the Long-Term Reduction in School Suspensions

• In Event: Academic Outcomes Shaped by Home and School Experiences

Abstract

Exclusionary discipline practices disrupt student learning and disproportionately affect
marginalized youth, yet little research connects early school-based supports to long-term
reductions in suspension. This study examines whether integrated student support (ISS) delivered
through City Connects lowers the risk of high-school suspensions. Using administrative records
from one Massachusetts district, we estimate logistic and negative binomial models to assess the
effects of ISS exposure during elementary and middle schools on later disciplinary outcomes.
Results suggest that earlier and sustained access to ISS, especially starting in elementary school,
significantly reduces in-school suspension in high school. These results suggest that upstream
interventions like City Connects

Authors

• Xiaohan Qian, Boston College

• Haibin Jiang, Boston College