Suspension is associated with long-term harms including higher risk of grade retention, dropout, and juvenile justice involvement¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · associational r2 · q2
Currency · newest study 2020 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q2 i? Studies show even once-suspended students are at much higher risk of repeating a grade, dropping out, and juvenile justice involvement; one study found a threefold increase in juvenile justice risk. → Losen 2020

Evidence¶

Losen 2020¶

Losen, D. J., & Martinez, P. (2020). Lost opportunities: How disparate school discipline continues to drive differences in the opportunity to learn. Learning Policy Institute; Center for Civil Rights Remedies at the Civil Rights Project, UCLA. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED608537

q2 · i? · associational · r2

The report's synthesis of prior research, citing a Texas study tracking middle school students over 7 years that found an association between suspension and a threefold increase in juvenile justice risk. Attributed secondhand; the reviewed studies' designs are not fully described here.

"studies have shown that even students who have only been suspended once are at much higher risk for repeating a grade, eventually dropping out, and/or becoming involved in the juvenile justice system."

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• Exclusionary discipline is ineffective at improving school safety and harms both suspended students and their non-suspended peers — related
• Prepolicy retained students dropped out earlier, but postpolicy retained students showed elevated dropout risk throughout their remaining years rather than at early ages — related
• Students of color benefit academically and behaviorally from having teachers of the same race. — related
• In Maryland, disciplinary removals (out-of-school suspensions and expulsions) declined over the past 10 years while discipline disparities persisted — related
• Schools implementing restorative justice report decreases in exclusionary discipline such as suspensions and expulsions — related
• African American boys received out-of-school suspensions at five times the rate of white/Asian boys in CPS high schools in 2013-14 — related
• School exclusionary policies paradoxically worsen dropout, delinquency, and achievement — a narrower finding that bears on this claim
• Youth offenders show greatly elevated rates of undiagnosed language disorder — related