School Characteristics Related to the Use of Suspension.

Abstract Concerns about school safety and disruptive behavior, as well as increasing use of zero tolerance policies, have resulted in escalating rates of exclusionary disciplinary practices (out-of-school suspension and expulsion) in America's schools. The present study examined suspension rates in Kentucky middle schools (N = 161), using both quantitative and qualitative procedures. Pearson product moment correlation coefficients were computed to identify those school-level variables that showed strong relationships to suspension rate. A sample of 20 schools with the highest suspension rates was compared to a sample of 20 schools with the lowest suspension rates using a multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA). In addition, four schools from each group were selected as case examples. Information gathered from administrator surveys, staff interviews, and on-site observations provided detailed descriptions of the characteristics of schools with high and low suspension rates. The findings of this study demonstrated that a number of school variables are differentially related to suspension rates. Implications of these findings for school discipline reform are discussed. ********** Suspension (i.e., a disciplinary sanction that requires the student to be excluded from the school building for a specified period of time) is one of the most common disciplinary consequences used in schools for student problem behaviors. Ironically, the research on suspension indicates that, despite its frequent use, it is not effective in reducing the behavior problems it is intended to address (Civil Rights Project, 2000; McCord, Widom, Bamba, & Crowell, 2000b; McFadden & Marsh, 1992). High stakes accountability policies such as the No Child Left Behind Act and "zero tolerance" policies may explain why so many school administrators resort to exclusionary measures, such as suspension from school, in dealing with disruptive students (Imich, 1994; Leone, Mayer, Malgren & Meisel, 2000; Skiba, Peterson, & Williams, 1997). While evidence suggests that a history of suspension from school may accelerate youths' progress along a pathway to delinquency, rates of its use continue to rise. For example, Kentucky schools reported 68,523 school suspensions for the 2000-2001 academic year, 74,054 suspensions for 2001-2002, and 76,886 suspensions in 2002-2003 (McCoy-Simandle & May, 2004). Research also indicates that suspension is used disproportionately with students who are: (a) male, (b) from low socioeconomic families, (c) of a minority ethnic background, and (d) identified as having a disability or low academic competence (Skiba et al., 1997). Nichols (1999) found that males were twice as likely to be suspended than females and that students receiving free or reduced cost lunch (an indicator of low socioeconomic status) were suspended three times more often than students paying full price. Townsend (2000) found that African American males were suspended three times their proportion of the population. Mallard & Seybert (1996) reported that students with disabilities were twice as likely to be suspended than students without disabilities, and that students identified as having an emotional or behavioral disability were 11 times more likely to be suspended. Students with learning and behavior disabilities are more prone to displaying behaviors that may lead to disciplinary actions (e.g., inability to self-regulate, misinterpretation of social cues). According to the Committee on School Health of the American Academy of Pediatrics (2003), students who are suspended often are least likely to have supervision at home, are from single parent families, and are those most in need of professional help. In addition, those students who frequently are suspended are more prone to dropping out of school and are more likely to become involved with the juvenile justice system (Baker et al. 2001). In fact, among Kentucky's population of incarcerated youth, it is unusual to find a youth who had not been previously suspended from school (V. …