Report finds race disparities in Massachusetts school discipline

Black and Latino students in Massachusetts are more than three times as likely as their white peers to receive suspensions, according to a study conducted by the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Economic Justice.

Using data submitted by school districts to the state’s Department of Elementary and Secondary Education for the 2012–2013 school year, the Lawyers’ Committee found that Massachusetts schools overall have an out-of-school suspension rate of 4.3 percent, lower than the national rate of 6.8 percent.

But one in eight black students and one in 10 Latino students in Massachusetts are suspended, according to the report. The rate of suspension for white students in Massachusetts is one in 27.

“These numbers must give us pause,” said Matthew Cregor, a staff attorney with the Lawyers’ Committee and a co-author of the report. “If we’re serious about closing the achievement gap and ending the dropout crisis in Massachusetts, we can’t do that while our students are out of school.”

In Boston, the rate of suspension — 6.2 percent — is slightly below the national average. But six Massachusetts cities have suspension rates above ten percent, including Fall River, Lynn, Brockton, Springfield, Worcester and Holyoke, where 21.5 percent of students received suspensions.

Charter schools in Boston and across the state account for a disproportionate number of students disciplined. In Boston, charter schools suspend 17.3 percent of their students. Roxbury Preparatory Charter School led the charters, subjecting 59.8 percent of students to out-of-school suspensions last year.

The data cited in the Lawyer’s Committee report was collected as part of Chapter 222, a law that requires school districts to submit data on school discipline to the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education and to provide educational services to students who are suspended. The law also mandates that suspensions be given only after other avenues to remedy disciplinary problems are exhausted.

The law was passed in 2012, but other than the requirement that schools report data, the provisions of the law did not take effect until this school year.

“We’re encouraged that after all these years, the Legislature passed a needed school discipline reform act,” said Thomas Mela, a senior project director with Mass Advocates for Children. “The law is good. Now the challenge is for school districts to comply with it.”

The Lawyers’ Committee report found that students of color, students with disabilities and charter school students were the most likely to face disciplinary measures in Massachusetts, including in-school suspensions, out-of-school suspensions and expulsion.

Of particular interest, the disparity for Latino student suspensions in Massachusetts is twice the national average. Latinos in Massachusetts are 3.1 times as likely as whites to be suspended, while nationally that figure is 1.5. Blacks in Massachusetts are 3.7 times as likely as whites to be suspended. Nationally, blacks are 3.6 times more likely than whites to be suspended.

The Lawyers’ Committee report found that racial disparities were at their greatest for disciplinary violations that were non-violent, non-criminal and not drug-related.

“Studies from other states show that while white students are more likely to be disciplined for objective behaviors like alcohol possession, students of color are suspended disproportionately for subjective offenses like disrespect,” Cregor said. “These data suggest the same thing is happening in Massachusetts. And it sends a message to students of color that they’re not as welcome as their peers.”

Racial disparities in school discipline have garnered attention at the national level over the last year. In March the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights released data showing blacks represent 18 percent of preschool students but 42 percent of all suspensions in preschools. Also in March, researchers at UCLA released a study that found that a sample of white female undergraduate students were less likely to perceive black children as innocent and more likely to mistake them for older children.

“Children in most societies are considered to be in a distinct group with characteristics such as innocence and the need for protection,” said UCLA researcher Phillip Atiba Goff in a March press statement on the study. “Our research found that black boys can be seen as responsible for their actions at an age when white boys still benefit from the assumption that children are essentially innocent.”

In Massachusetts, the overall majority of out-of-school suspensions — 64 percent — were for violations that do not involve acts of violence, weapons or drugs. Those violations vary by school district and can range from dress code violations to acts of disrespect. Fights, assaults and threats accounted for 17 percent of all disciplinary removals from class; illegal drugs, 3.8 percent; theft, 1.4 percent, weapon use and possession, 1.2 percent and bullying, 1.1 percent.

Boston Public Schools revised its code of conduct in the 2012 school year, adopting the reforms in Chapter 222.

“In the Boston Public Schools we worked closely with parents, students and experts to develop a new Code of Conduct well before the state laws changed,” said BPS spokesman Lee McGuire. “Our school cultures are focusing on conflict prevention so we can resolve issues well before they become problems. There is still a lot to do, but by addressing these root causes our teachers and school leaders can build up students’ confidence in themselves to ensure every student can focus on learning every day.”

Data the Lawyers’ Committee collected in Boston showed a slightly lower disparity in disciplinary sanctions. Black students in Boston are suspended at a rate (9.7 percent) slightly lower than the state average of 10 percent. Latino students are suspended at a lower rate (5.4 percent) than the state average of 8.4 percent. White students are suspended in Boston at the state’s average rate of 2.7 percent.

“They deserve a lot of credit for revising their code before they were required to,” Mela said of the Boston school department. “They’ve had the better part of the school year to essentially test to see how the changes work on the ground.”