This study examines whether exposure to novice teachers and risk for identification for special education predicated suspension rates. Identification as having emotional disturbance and specific learning disabilities were found to predict an increase in suspension rates for Black male students. The report's findings draw from 72,168 schools in nearly 7,000 school districts from nearly every state

Cheri Hodson

Daniel Losen

Jongyeon Ee

Tia Martinez

English

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Disturbing Inequities: Exploring the Relationship Between Racial Disparities in Special Education Identification and Discipline

This study used negative binomial regression to investigate whether exposure to novice teachers and risk for identification for special education predicted suspension rates. Data from the 2009-2010 Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC) was used. The sample was comprised of 72,168 schools from nearly 7,000 school districts from nearly every state. Identification as having emotional disturbance and specific learning disabilities were found to predict an increase in suspension rates for some subgroups across some school levels. Conversely, identification as being autistic was found to predict a decrease in suspension rates for some subgroups across some school levels. Policy implications are discussed

Losen, Daniel

Hodson, Cheri

Ee, Jongyeon

Martinez, Tia

DigitalCommons@The Texas Medical Center

Students with disabilities are entitled by law to receive special education, which includes individualized supports and services, including behavioral supports if needed, to help them succeed in school. So it is especially disturbing that nationally, in 2011-12, their out-of-school suspension rate for grades K-12 was more than twice as high as their nondisabled peers. They are also more likely than their non-disabled peers to be suspended repeatedly.2 Furthermore, in 2011-12, across K – 12, the rates were much higher for students with disabilities who were Black and male, with one out of every five having been suspended at least once.   The data from different school levels (elementary, middle, and high) reveal even deeper disparities. For students with disabilities, the risk for suspension at the elementary school level is 4.1%. This rises to 19.3% at the secondary level.3 While students with disabilities are about twice as likely as their nondisabled peers to be suspended at each level, the 2 percentage point gap at the elementary level increases fivefold at the secondary level to a 10 percentage point gap. When we look at the intersection of race, disability, and gender at the secondary level, we find that 24% of Black secondary students, 31% of Black secondary school students with disabilities, and 36% of Black secondary school males with disabilities were suspended from school in 2009-2010.   It is worth noting that these national averages mask even more extreme situations. For example, using U.S. Department of Education data for the 2009-2010 academic year, of the 1,136 U.S. school districts that have at least 50 Black males with disabilities, 211 had suspension rates for Black males with disabilities at the secondary level of over 50%. These are averages for large districts, which means there are individual schools in each of these high-suspending districts with even higher suspension rates

Disturbing Inequities: Exploring the Relationship Between Racial Disparities in Special Education Identification and Discipline

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