Disproportionality in School Discipline: An Assessment of Trends in Maryland, 2009-12

In the United States exclusionary discipline (suspension and expulsion) is commonly used to remove disruptive students from the classroom or school. While any disciplinary action should be applied fairly and consistently to all groups, for more than 35 years the research literature has highlighted a discipline gap between racial/ethnic minority students and White students. Recently, the literature has identified a gap in the rates of exclusionary discipline between students in special education and other students. These disparities are a concern because exclusionary discipline has been linked to poor academic achievement, grade retention, recurrent misbehavior, dropout, juvenile delinquency, and other undesirable outcomes. This study examines whether disproportionate rates of suspensions and expulsions exist for racial/ethnic minority students and special education students in Maryland K-12 public schools during the period 2009/10 to 2011/12. Findings during these three school years include: (1) The percentage of Maryland students receiving out-of-school suspension or expulsion dropped from 5.6 percent in 2009/10 to 5.0 percent in 2011/12; (2) Because rates of out-of-school suspension and expulsion decreased more rapidly for White students than for Black students, disproportionality between Black and White rates increased in 2011/12, the most recent year examined; (3) For the same type of infraction, Black students had higher rates of out-of-school suspension or expulsion than did Hispanic and White students; and (4) Statewide, students in special education were removed from school at more than twice the rate of other students. Even though the number of out-of-school suspensions and expulsions decreased for both groups over the three years, it decreased more slowly for students in special education than for other students. Two appendices present: (1) Data sources and disciplinary infraction codes; and (2) Relative rate ratios for students not in special education receiving out-of-school suspension or expulsion, by school system, 2009/10-2011/12. [For the summary of this report, see ED544771.]