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Breaking Schools’ Rules: A Statewide Study of How School Discipline Relates to Students’ Success and Juvenile Justice Involvement

Reports & Report Series
Author(s): 
Tony Fabelo, Michael D Thompson, and Martha Plotkin at CSG Justice Center
Dottie Carmichael, Miner P. Marchbanks III, and Eric A Booth at PPRI
Publisher: 
The Council of States Governments Justice Center and the Public Policy Research Institute
Release Date: 
July 1, 2011
Areas of Focus: 
Meaningful Learning
Vibrant Communities
Read the Report

 

The CSG Justice Center, in partnership with the Public Policy Research Institute at Texas A&M University, has released a statewide study of nearly 1 million Texas public secondary school students, followed for at least six years. Among its findings are that the majority of students were suspended or expelled between grades 7-12.

Funded by the Atlantic Philanthropies and the Open Society Foundations, this study also found that when students are suspended or expelled, the likelihood that they will repeat a grade, not graduate, and/or become involved in the juvenile justice system increases significantly. African-American students and children with particular educational disabilities who qualify for special education were suspended and expelled at especially high rates.