Does Federal Civil Rights Enforcement Mitigate Disparities in the Use of Restraint and Seclusion in Schools?

• In Event: Reimagining Justice Inside Schools

Abstract

Protecting students from discriminatory school discipline is a key responsibility of the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights and the Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division. When these agencies intervene with school districts, the parties sign a resolution agreement to bring the district back into compliance. But are these resolution agreements producing change? The effectiveness of federal civil rights enforcement is evaluated by comparing each of the 66 districts investigated for disability discrimination through inappropriate restraint and seclusion to a nearby district matched on demographics and size before and after the agency notified the district of its investigation. Using data from the Civil Rights Data Collection from 2009 to 2022, rates of restraint and seclusion for disabled and non-disabled students of different race and gender groups are evaluated and compared to those for a more traditional form of school discipline - out-of-school suspensions. The findings of this study will inform future interventions for cases of discrimination related to the use of restraint and seclusion and shed light on how restraint and seclusion may fit into the school-to-prison pipeline framework.

Author

• Kristin Lurie, University of Cincinnati