Are expelled students more likely to drop out?
After two years of research, two Washington social-justice groups failed to determine just how many students are expelled from school or suspended for more than 10 days. The lack of data, however, underscored their concern that there are tens of thousands of students who end up in educational limbo, with no clear path to finish their schooling.
Seattle Times education reporter
Information
The full report, "Reclaiming Students," can be found at: http://www.waappleseed.org/Reclaiming-Students.html
Two years ago, two social-justice groups set out to answer a seemingly simple question: How many students in Washington state are expelled from school each year or are suspended for more than 10 days?
They still don't have a clear answer. In a report released Tuesday, Washington Appleseed and TeamChild were able to identify 9,329 incidents involving an unknown number of students in the 2009-10 school year. Because of inconsistent and incomplete reporting by school districts and the state, they think that number greatly understates the total.
Yet their failure to find a complete answer only underscored their concern that tens of thousands of Washington students, once expelled or suspended, may end up in an educational limbo
The educational and economic costs of exclusionary discipline in Washington State
Every year, tens of thousands of children are removed from Washington State schools through exclusionary discipline. While some students are excluded from school for just a few days, there is a hidden subset of students who are pushed out on a long-term or indefinite basis. Washington Appleseed, TeamChild, the ACLU of Washington and Garvey Schubert Barer came together in 2010 out of a mutual concern about the negative impact of these exclusions on Washington students.
Together, we began to investigate the impact of state laws, state regulations, and school district policies and practices that remove students from school due to behavior or violations of school codes of conduct. Our investigation sought to answer these questions:
1. How many children are affected by exclusionary discipline in any given school year?
2. Who is being removed from the school setting? Do these exclusions disproportionately impact students of a particular race or socioeconomic status?
3. How does the use of exclusionary discipline vary across the state?
4. What happens to these children once they are removed from the school setting? Do they receive educational services?
2. Who is being removed from the school setting? Do these exclusions disproportionately impact students of a particular race or socioeconomic status?
3. How does the use of exclusionary discipline vary across the state?
4. What happens to these children once they are removed from the school setting? Do they receive educational services?
Reclaiming Students
After more than two years of research, Washington Appleseed and TeamChild are happy to present the state-wide report, Reclaiming Students. The report presents five key findings from our team's research and a series of recommendations for addressing the challenges identified in each finding. Each section discusses a finding at length based on analysis of our own qualitative and quantitative data, as well as data available through the Office of Superindendent of Public Instruction. We have made efforts to include real stories from students around the state to bring the numbers to life and illustrate the tangible impacts of our findings. These stories are coupled with stakeholder feedback in each section.
The report also includes appendices with additional data tables, more detailed information from stakeholder interviews, and profiles of districts that are meeting the challenges of rethinking exclusionary discipline in innovative and successful ways.
Download a free copy of the report:
