Discipline Disparities Persist

Discipline Disparities for Black Students, Boys, and Students with Disabilities

The US Government Accountability Office has recently released a new report evaluating the disproportionality in discipline in K-12 grades.  The racial and gender gap persists in spite of efforts to remediate.  African-American youth, boys, and individuals with disabilities are more likely to receive any type of discipline than are individuals in our sub-groups than would be predicted on the basis of their percentage of the population. In this evaluation, the disproportionality existed even though economic level of the student was controlled for.  Previously, it had been argued that the disproportionality was a function of poverty rather than race and gender.  This study challenges that argument.  These data highlight that as a society we still have a great deal of work to do to overcome racial and gender biases in this country.

Citation: United States Governmental Accountability Office (2018).  K-12 education: A guide for schools (GAO publication-18-258).  Retrieved from https://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-18-258

Link: https://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-18-258