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New Study Shows Students Of Color Face Tougher Disciplinary Action

March 6, 2012

A survey conducted by the Department of Education’s Office Of Civil Rights (OCR) has revealed that a larger number of Black and Hispanic public school students face more frequent bouts with suspensions and expulsions than their white counterparts. Education Secretary Arne Duncan has made the department’s reasons for the study very clear in a telephone briefing addressing the newly compiled data.

“Education is the civil rights of our generation,” said Secretary Arne Duncan, in a telephone briefing with reporters on Monday. “The undeniable truth is that the everyday education experience for too many students of color violates the principle of equity at the heart of the American promise.”

According to the survey’s findings, although Black students only made up 18 percent of the polled 72,000 schools across 7,000 districts in the 2009-2010 Civil Rights Data Collection numbers, higher numbers of incidents were found with students of color. One out of every five and over one of ten black girls faced an out-of-school suspension. In school districts with zero-tolerance policies, Hispanic and Black students made up 56 percent of the reported incidents, according to an added law enforcement component in the survey.

Further numbers show that Hispanic and Black students numbers combined for 44 percent of the student base, with just 26 percent of that group performing and gifted and talented levels. Organizations, such as the American Civil Liberties Union, are taking notice of the OCR survey.

“Those are extremely dramatic numbers, and show the importance of reinstating the civil rights data collection and expanding the categories of information collected,” said Deborah J. Vagins, senior legislative counsel at the ACLU legislative office in Washington. “The harsh punishments, especially expulsion under zero tolerance and referrals to law enforcement, show that students of color and students with disabilities are increasingly being pushed out of schools, oftentimes into the criminal justice system.”

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