America's School Discipline Crisis
Jacklin Solomon & Sandra M. Donnay, Ph.D.
April 2022
Top 14 States (and Washington D.C.) with the Highest School Suspension Racial Disparities1
![](https://www.theracialequityinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Screenshot-2023-11-28-190340-1024x561.png)
Northeast and Midwest states are disproportionately represented with the highest racial disparities in school suspensions
- Black children are more likely to be disciplined for minor infractions than White children.2
- Exclusionary disciplinary practices cause psychological harm and are ineffective.2,3 They are linked to low academic performance even for non-suspended students4,5, increased behavior problems2, school dropout5, arrests, and incarceration.6
- These disciplinary practices ignore and exacerbate Black children’s traumatic responses to concurrent intergenerational and environmental stressors.3,7,8
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1. U.S. Department of Education Office of Civil Rights Data Collection. (2017-2018) State and National Data Estimations. https://ocrdata.ed.gov/estimations/2017-2018.
2. Amemiya, J., Mortenson, E., & Wang, M. (2020). Minor infractions are not minor: School infractions for minor misconduct may increase adolescents’ defiant behavior and contribute to racial disparities in school discipline.
American Psychologist, 75, 1, 23-36.
3. Gerlinger, J., Viano, S., Gardella, J.H., Fisher, B.W., Curran, F.C., & Higgins, E.M. (2021). Exclusionary school discipline and delinquent outcomes: A meta-analysis. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 50, 1493- 1509.
4. Perry, B.L., & Morris, E.W. (2014). Suspending Progress: Collateral consequences of exclusionary punishment in public schools. American Sociological Review, 79,6, 1067-1087.
https://doi.org/10.1177/0003122414556308.
5. Morris, E.W., & Perry, B.L. (2016). The punishment gap: School suspension and racial disparities in achievement. Social Problems, 63, 68-86.
6. Barnes, J.C., & Motz, R.T. (2018). Reducing racial inequalities in adulthood arrest by reducing inequalities in school discipline: Evidence from the school-to-prison pipeline. Developmental Psychology, 54, 12, 2328 -2340.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/dev0000613
7. Dutil, S. (2020). Dismantling the school-to-prison pipeline: A trauma-informed, critical race perspective on school discipline. Children & Schools, 42, 3, 171-178.
8. Huguely, J.P., Wang, M.T., Pasarow, S., & Wallace, J.M., (2021). Just Discipline in schools: An integrated and interdisciplinary approach. Children & Schools, 42, 3, 195-1