Potential Factors Affecting Suspension at K-8 Schools in the United States
Suspension and expulsion are adversely related to negative outcomes of students, such as falling behind academically, an increased risk of absenteeism.
- Pub. date: May 15, 2021
- Pages: 279-288
- 385 Downloads
- 615 Views
- 0 Citations
Suspension and expulsion are adversely related to negative outcomes of students, such as falling behind academically, an increased risk of absenteeism or dropout from schools. Suspension discrepancy due to ethnicity is evident and well known in the United States. The proper understanding of factors affecting suspension may lead to intervention towards the reduction of suspension episodes in the schools. The aim of this study is to determine how student, parent and school characteristics affect the likelihood of K-8 school students’ suspension in the United States. We analyze the National Household Education Surveys of 2019 with a sample of 9,699 K-8 students to evaluate the risk factors of suspension. The study finds that 6% students receive K-8 school suspensions. Bivariate analysis suggests that gender, ethnicity, poverty, parental education, school type, repeated grades, contacted for behavioral problem and school type are significantly associated with the K-8 students’ suspension. An adjusted analysis of these factors via multiple logistic regression suggests that the odds of suspension of NH-black students are 2.7 times the odds of NH-white students. Odds of suspension for students with parental education below HS is 3.2 (95% CI: 1.77-5.80) compared those with parental education at Graduate or professional level. Likewise, students of public schools have higher odds of suspension compared to private schools. There is significant evidence that students with repeated grades, poor parents, school type and those contacted for behavioral problems have substantially higher odds of suspension.
Keywords: K-8 schools, predictors, chi-squared test, adjusted analysis, odds of suspension.
References
Advancement Project. (2005). Education on lockdown: The school house to jailhouse track. https://cut.ly/HiwINVg
Arcia, E. (2007). A comparison of elementary/k-8 and middle schools’ suspension rates. Urban Education, 42(5), 456-469. https://doi.org/10.1177/0042085907304879.
Atkins, M. S., McKay, M. M., Frazier, S. L., Jakobsons, L. J., Arvanitis, P., Cunningham, T., Brown, C. & Lambrecht, L. (2002). Suspensions and detentions in an urban, low-income school: Punishment or reward. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 30(4), 361-372. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1015765924135
Bal, A., Betters-Bubon, J., & Fish, R. E. (2019). A multilevel analysis of statewide disproportionality in exclusionary discipline and the identification of emotional disturbance. Education and Urban Society, 51(2), 247-268. https://doi.org/10.1177/0013124517716260
Balfanz, R., Byrnes, V., & Fox, J. (2015). Sent home and put off track: The antecedents, disproportionalities, and consequences of being suspended in the 9th grade. In D. J. Losen (Ed.), Closing the school discipline gap: Equitable remedies for excessive exclusion (pp. 17-30). Teachers College Press.
Balfanz, R., Herzog, L., & MacIver, D. (2007). Preventing student disengagement and keeping students on the graduation track in high-poverty middle-grades schools: Early identification and effective interventions. Educational Psychologist, 42(4), 223-235. https://doi.org/10.1080/00461520701621079
Bland, E., & Mitchell, C. (2018). Black students bear uneven brunt of discipline, data show. Education Week. https://cut.ly/2KmsWcu
Bryant, D., & Wilson, A. (2020). Factors potentially influencing discipline referral and suspensions at an affiliated charter high school. Journal of Educational Research and Practice, 10(1), 119–128. https://doi.org/10.5590/JERAP.2020.10.1.08
Camacho, K. A., & Krezmien, M. P. (2019). Individual- and school-level factors contributing to disproportionate suspension rates: a multilevel analysis of one state. Journal of Emotional and Behavioral Disorders, 27(4), 209-220. https://doi.org/10.1177/1063426618769065
Center for Social Organization of Schools. (2007). Falling off the path to graduation: Middle grade indicators in Indianapolis. John Hopkins University.
Everyone Graduates Center. (2011). Early indicator analysis of high school and post-secondary outcomes: Florida. Johns Hopkins University.
Fabelo, T., Thompson, M. D., Plotkin, M., Carmichael, D., Marchbanks III, M. P., & Booth, E. A. (2011). Breaking schools’ rules: A statewide study of how school discipline relates to students’ success and juvenile justice involvement. The Council of State Governments Justice Center.
Gopalan, M., & Nelson, A. A. (2019). Understanding the racial discipline gap in schools. AERA Open, 5(2), 1-26. https://doi.org/10.1177/2332858419844613.
Gregory, A., Skiba, R. J., & Noguera, P. A. (2010). The achievement gap and the discipline gap: Two sides of the same coin? Educational Researcher, 39(1), 59-68. https://doi.org/10.3102%2F0013189X09357621
Hanson, R., & Pugliese, C. (2020). Parent and Family Involvement in Education: 2019. U.S. Department of Education. National Center for Education Statistics. https://nces.ed.gov/pubs2020/2020076summ.pdf
Kennedy-Lewis, B. L., Murphy, A. S., & Grosland, T. J. (2016). Using narrative inquiry to understand persistently disciplined middle school students. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 29(1), 1-28. https://doi.org/10.1080/09518398.2014.974718
Loveless, T. (2017, March 22). Brown center report on American education: race and school suspensions. Brookings. https://cut.ly/Ua1sK4K
MacIver, M., Balfanz, R., & Byrnes, V. (2009). Advancing the “Colorado graduates” agenda: Understanding the dropout problem and mobilizing to meet the graduation challenge. Johns Hopkins University.
Marchbanks III, M. P., Blake, J. J., Booth, E. A., Carmichael, D., Seibert, A. L., & Fabelo, T. (2015). The economic effects of exclusionary discipline on grade retention and high school dropout. In D. J. Losen (Ed.), Closing the school discipline gap: Equitable remedies for excessive exclusion (pp. 59-74). Teachers College Press.
Morris, E., & Perry, B. (2017). Girls behaving badly? Race, gender, and subjective evaluation in the discipline of African American girls. Sociology of Education, 90(2), 127–148. https://doi.org/10.1177/0038040717694876.
National Center for Education Statistics (2019). Indicator 15: Retention, Suspension, and Expulsion. https://cut.ly/fSdNKxC
National Household Education Surveys Program (2019). Parent and Family Involvement in Education Survey Public Use Datafile Codebook. https://nces.ed.gov/nhes/data/2019/pfi/cbook_pfi_pu.pdf
Noguera, P. A. (2003). Schools, prisons, and social implications of punishment: Rethinking disciplinary practices. Theory Into Practice, 42(4), 341-350. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15430421tip4204_12
Owen, J., Wettach, J., & Hoffman, K. C. (2015). Instead of suspension: Alternative strategies for effective school discipline. Duke Center for Child and Family Policy and Duke Law School. https://cut.ly/dZfl4XM
Rafa, A. (2018). Suspension and expulsion: What is the issue and why does it matter? Policy snapshot. Education Commission of the States. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED581500.pdf.
Riddle, T., & Sinclair, S. (2019). Racial disparities in school-based disciplinary actions are associated with county-level rates of racial bias. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 116(17), 8255-8260. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1808307116
SAS Institute. (2017). SAS/STAT® 14.3 User’s Guide: Introduction to survey sampling and analysis procedures. SAS Institute Inc. https://support.sas.com/documentation/onlinedoc/stat/143/introsamp.pdf
Sheryl, A. H., Stephanie, M. P., Herrenkohl, T. I., Toumbourou, J. W., & Catalano, R. F. (2014). Student and school factors associated with school suspension: A multilevel analysis of students in Victoria, Australia and Washington State, United States. Children and Youth Services Review, 36(1), 187–194. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2013.11.022
Skiba, R. J., Michael, R. S., Nardo, A. C., & Peterson, R. L. (2002). The color of discipline: Sources of racial and gender disproportionality in school punishment. The Urban Review, 34(4), 317-342.
Skiba, R. J., Shure, L., & Williams, N. T. (2012). Racial and ethnic disproportionality in suspension and expulsion. In A. L. Noltemeyer & C. S. McLoughlin (Eds.), Disproportionality in education and special education (pp. 89–118).
Sparks, S. D. (2018, April 24). Suspension rates higher for students of color with disabilities, data show. Education Week. https://www.edweek.org/policy-politics/suspension-rates-higher-for-students-of-color-with-disabilities-data-show/2018/04
Sparks, S. D., & Klein, A. (2018, April 24). Discipline disparities grow for students of color, new federal data show. Education Week. https://cut.ly/d6Ki5If
Staats, C. (2014). Implicit Racial Bias and School Discipline Disparities Exploring the Connection. Kirwan Institute Special Report. https://cut.ly/qU8w8Vc
Taylor, J., Cregor, M., & Lane, P. (2014). Not measuring up: The state of school discipline in Massachusetts. Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Economic Justice.
Toldson, I. A. (2011). Breaking barriers 2: Plotting the path away from juvenile detention and toward academic success for school-age African American males. Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, Inc.
U.S. Commission on Civil Rights (2019). Beyond Suspensions: Examining School Discipline Policies and Connections to the School-to-Prison Pipeline for Students of Color with Disabilities. https://cut.ly/YCk1uP8
U.S. Department of Education. (2014). Civil rights data collection, data snapshot: School discipline. U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED577231.pdf
U.S. Department of Education (2016). School Climate and Discipline: Know the Data. https://cut.ly/hYx0TYd
U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights. (2016). 2013–2014 Civil rights data collection: A first look. U.S. https://cut.ly/9dkxB9u
Weissman, M. (2015). Prelude to prison: Student perspectives on school suspension. Syracuse University Press.