School suspensions drop, but black students still disciplined at higher rate
Student suspensions decreased 20 percent between 2014 and 2012, but many students lack access to advanced classes, early education, federal data released Tuesday shows.
Public schools across the country suspended nearly 20 percent fewer students in 2014 than they did in 2012, according to new federal data released Tuesday, a positive sign amid a mixed picture on how the nation’s school serve students of color.
Some 2.8 million students were suspended from public schools nationwide during the 2013-14 school year, a sign that efforts by the Obama administration to curb the use of suspensions, which activists say are linked to higher dropout rates and a greater likelihood of entering the criminal justice system, are working.
But there are also significant racial disparities, both in the use of discipline and in students’ access to experienced teachers and advanced math and science classes, according to the Civil Rights Data Collection, released every two years by the US Education Department.
Black students were nearly four times as likely to be suspended as white students, and twice as likely to be expelled. The same pattern was apparent in preschools, where black children represent 19 percent of all preschoolers, but 47 percent of pre-schoolers receiving an out of school suspension.School suspensions drop, but black students still disciplined at higher rate - CSMonitor.com: