Fluctuations in School Discipline: Understanding Patterns of Recent Declines in Suspensions

• In Event: Lightning Talk: School Approaches to Reduce Delinquency and Improve Safety

Abstract

Nationally, there was a dramatic and sustained increase in the numbers of students suspended from schools beginning in the 1990s. But by the mid-2010s this trend changed, as the national rate of suspensions leveled off and even declined, particularly for Black students, who have much higher rates of school punishment than others. In this presentation I analyze multiple bi-annual data reports on school suspensions by the Office of Civil Rights to explore this fluctuation. I report on an initial effort to look for patterns in terms of region of country, type of school, and groups of students, in order to understand where and in what kinds of schools suspensions declined more than others and where suspensions were consistent or increasing. Given the ineffectiveness and harmfulness of out-of-school suspensions and the fact that their use contributes to racial inequity, it is important to understand how some schools are able to lower their rates of school suspensions.

Author

• Aaron Kupchik, University of Delaware