 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
Sign up to receive PND e-newsletters. |
|
|
| |
|
Elementary and Secondary Education
Suspended Education in California
Despite research showing school suspensions to be counterproductive, more than four hundred thousand California students — 7.1 percent of all students in the state — were suspended at least once during the 2009-10 school year, a report from the Civil Rights Project finds. According to Suspended Education in California (15 pages, PDF), 18 percent of African-American, 11 percent of American Indian, and 7 percent of Latino/Hispanic students were suspended, compared with 6 percent of white and 3 percent of Asian-American/Pacific Islander students. Indeed, suspension rates for African-American, American Indian, and Latino/Hispanic boys in certain districts were as high as 38 percent, 28 percent, and 19 percent, respectively, while students with disabilities were twice as likely to be suspended as students without disabilities. Funded by Atlantic Philanthropies and the California Endowment, the report, which includes data from nearly five hundred school districts, points to evidence that frequent suspensions do not deter misbehavior and actually worsen educational outcomes of both the suspended students and their classmates. The report's authors call for implementing evidence-based alternatives that involve data monitoring, shifts in school culture and policy, and a tiered system of supports.
|
|
|
