Written by: YMPowe
According to Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDR), students of color, in particular, African American students are disproportionately suspended and expelled from elementary and secondary education. In addition, from a gender perspective, African American girls are disproportionately suspended and expelled more than any other group[1].
Race and ethnicity has been proven as an exclusive factor for disciplinary action in institutions of education. The United States Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, concur with the CRDR findings. According to Duncan, students of color and with disabilities are disproportionately suspended or expelled from school for “minor and nonviolent behavior”[2]. For instance, African American students are more likely to be suspended and expelled for engaging in the identical behavior that others are allowed to remain in school and continue their education unobstructed.
The Council of State Government’s (CSG), conducted research in Texas and revealed the suspension and expulsion rates of students, as well as the disproportion rates relating to students’ ethnicity, gender, and disabilities. The Council of State Government also revealed that students who are suspended or expelled “are three times as likely to be in contact with the juvenile justice systems within the following year of suspension or expulsion”[3].
In 2011, Education Secretary Arne Duncan and United States’ Attorney General, Eric Holder, launched the Supportive School Discipline Initiative. The Supportive Discipline Initiative is a partnership between the U.S. Departments of Education and U.S Department of Justice[4]. The purpose of the initiative is to “coordinate federal actions to provide schools with effective alternatives to exclusionary discipline while encouraging new emphasis on reducing disproportionality for students of color and students with disabilities”3.
[1] U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights. Civil Rights Data Collection: Data Snapshot (School Discipline) March 21, 2014. Retrieved from http://www.ed.gov/ocr.
[2] Duncan, A. (n.d.). School Climate and Discipline. Law and Guidance/General. Retrieved from http://www2.ed.gov/policy/gen/guid/school-discipline/index.html.
[3] Press releases: http://www.ed.gov/news/press-releases/secretary-duncan-attorney-general-holder-announce-effort-respond-school-prison-p and http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2011/July/11-ag-951.html.
Collins Hill, P. (2009). Another kind of public education: Race, schools, the media, and democratic possibilities. Boston, MA: Beacon Press.
Freire, P. (2000). Pedagogy of the oppressed. New York, NY: Bloomsbury Academic.
Woodson, C. G. (2000). The mis-education of the Negro. Chicago, IL: African American Images, Inc.
