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March 02, 2015 Practice Points

Are We Closing the School Discipline Gap?

By Cathy Krebs

The Center for Civil Rights Remedies at the Civil Rights Project of UCLA has released the report Are We Closing the School Discipline Gap?. This report analyzes discipline data at elementary and secondary schools for every district in the nation and estimates 18 million days of lost instruction in just one year. The report highlights the individual states and districts with the most egregious discipline records, with Florida found to be the highest suspending state for all students at both the elementary and secondary levels. However the report also found that many districts have made progress at improving discipline in their schools.

This report provides companion spreadsheets enabling anyone to compare or analyze data from every district in the nation. Further, there is a simplified web tool available that allows visitors to compare—through graphic depictions—the elementary and secondary suspension rates for any two districts. The web tool is updated with the data from the report.

Cathy Krebs is the committee manager of the Children's Rights Litigation Committee at the ABA Section of Litigation in Washington, D.C.


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