School discipline statistics show that disciplinary actions affect millions of U.S. public-school students, but not all groups experience them at the same rate. In 2017–18, schools reported more than 2.5 million students receiving out-of-school suspensions and more than 100,000 expulsions. Federal datasets also show large differences by race, sex, disability status, and the presence of law enforcement in schools.
Contents
- How many students receive each major discipline action
- Suspension and expulsion patterns by sex and race
- Discipline disparities for students with disabilities
- Police referrals and school-related arrests
- Discipline statistics for Black girls
- Corporal punishment and physical restraint
How many students receive each major discipline action
The 2017–18 national figures provide a useful baseline for the scale of school discipline. Public schools enrolled 50,922,024 K–12 students. During the same school year, schools reported 2,636,363 students receiving in-school suspensions, 2,508,595 students receiving out-of-school suspensions, and 101,652 students expelled. Out-of-school suspensions represented 11,205,797 missed school days. These figures come from the U.S. Department of Education’s Suspensions and Expulsions in Public Schools.
The earlier national series also shows a decline in the number and share of students receiving out-of-school suspensions. In 2011–12, about 3.4 million K–12 public-school students, or 6.9%, received an out-of-school suspension. In 2013–14, the count was about 2.8 million students, or 5.7%. The 2013–14 data also reported that expulsion, law-enforcement referral, school-related arrest, and corporal punishment each affected less than 0.5% of K–12 public-school students. These comparisons are from the same Department of Education analysis.
| Discipline measure | National figure | Measurement period |
|---|---|---|
| Public-school K–12 enrollment | 50,922,024 | 2017–18 |
| In-school suspensions | 2,636,363 students | 2017–18 |
| Out-of-school suspensions | 2,508,595 students | 2017–18 |
| Expulsions | 101,652 students | 2017–18 |
| Missed days from out-of-school suspensions | 11,205,797 days | 2017–18 |
Counts in the table are not interchangeable rates. The sources report students or instances according to each report’s definitions, so a count of disciplinary actions should not be treated as a directly comparable percentage without the relevant denominator.
Suspension and expulsion patterns by sex and race
Boys made up 51.4% of public-school enrollment in 2017–18, but they represented 69.5% of students receiving in-school suspensions, 70.5% of students receiving out-of-school suspensions, and 72.7% of students expelled. The enrollment and discipline shares therefore differed substantially by sex in each of the three categories. These figures are from the Department of Education’s Suspensions and Expulsions in Public Schools.
The same report gives detailed race-and-sex comparisons. Black boys were 13.9% of enrollment but 20.1% of in-school suspensions, 15.3% of enrollment but 24.9% of out-of-school suspensions, and 15.8% of enrollment but 25.9% of expulsions. White boys were 24.4% of enrollment and 28.7% of in-school suspensions; they were 24.9% of enrollment and 24.9% of out-of-school suspensions; and they were 25.9% of enrollment and 36.5% of expulsions.
Black girls were 7.4% of enrollment but 10.2% of in-school suspensions, 7.9% of enrollment but 13.3% of out-of-school suspensions, and 8.4% of enrollment but 11.8% of expulsions. Hispanic girls were 22.9% of enrollment and 13.3% of in-school suspensions. Asian girls were 1.9% of enrollment and 0.5% of out-of-school suspensions, while Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander girls were 0.2% of enrollment and 0.4% of out-of-school suspensions.
These are shares of enrollment and shares of disciplinary groups, not individual-group discipline rates. Percentages may not sum to 100% because of rounding and the reporting categories used in the source.
Discipline disparities for students with disabilities
The U.S. Government Accountability Office examined national Civil Rights Data Collection information in Discipline Disparities for Black Students, Boys, and Students with Disabilities. Its analysis covered nearly all public schools for 2013–14. Students with disabilities were about 12% of public-school students but about 25% of students referred to law enforcement, arrested at school, or suspended.
Race differences were also visible in the same period. Black students were 15.5% of public-school enrollment but about 39% of students suspended. The enrollment-versus-suspension gap was about 23 percentage points. GAO reported that Black students were suspended at higher rates regardless of whether a public school had high or low poverty.
The analysis found that Black students, boys, and students with disabilities were disciplined at higher rates in charter, traditional, alternative, and special-education schools. It also found disproportionate discipline for these groups across all six Civil Rights Data Collection categories examined. Boys made up just over half of enrollment but about two-thirds of students in each of six major discipline categories.
The report’s categories and denominators matter when interpreting these findings. A percentage describing the share of suspended students is different from a suspension rate within a student group. The GAO findings identify disparities in national discipline patterns, but they do not by themselves establish why each difference occurred.
Police referrals and school-related arrests
The Department of Education’s 2015–2016 Civil Rights Data Collection: School Climate and Safety reported more than 290,600 students referred to law enforcement or arrested at school in 2015–16. Black students were 15% of enrollment but 31% of students referred to law enforcement or arrested. White students were 49% of enrollment but 36% of students in that combined group. American Indian/Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander, and multiracial students were nearly 5% of enrollment but 8% of referrals or arrests.
Male students were 51% of enrollment but 69% of students referred to law enforcement or arrested in 2015–16. For comparison, in 2013–14 Black students were 16% of enrollment and 27% of students referred to law enforcement or arrested, while male students were 51% of enrollment and 71% of that group. These are measurements from different school years and should not be read as a single-year trend.
GAO’s Differences in Student Arrest Rates Widen when Race, Gender, and Disability Status Overlap reports that in 2017–18, Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander, Black, and American Indian/Alaska Native students were arrested at rates two to three times those of White students. Arrest rates more than doubled in schools with police present compared with similar schools without police. Police were present at least weekly in 51% of schools.
| Comparison | Enrollment share | Discipline or arrest share/rate |
|---|---|---|
| Black students, 2015–16 referrals or arrests | 15% | 31% |
| White students, 2015–16 referrals or arrests | 49% | 36% |
| Male students, 2015–16 referrals or arrests | 51% | 69% |
| Black students, 2013–14 referrals or arrests | 16% | 27% |
| Male students, 2013–14 referrals or arrests | 51% | 71% |
Discipline statistics for Black girls
GAO’s Nationally, Black Girls Receive More Frequent and More Severe Discipline in School than Other Girls focuses on 2017–18. Black girls were 15% of girls enrolled in public schools but received 45% of out-of-school suspensions, 37% of in-school suspensions, and 43% of expulsions. Their out-of-school suspension rate was 5.2 times the rate for White girls; their in-school suspension rate was 3.4 times the rate for White girls; and their expulsion rate was 4.4 times the rate for White girls.
The difference also appeared in school-related arrests. The school-related arrest rate for Black girls was 4 times the rate for White girls in 2017–18. Black girls were 15% of girls enrolled but 47% of girls transferred to alternative schools for disciplinary reasons and 34% of girls placed in juvenile justice facilities.
Geography varied considerably. Black girls’ out-of-school suspension rate ranged from 1.3 times the White-girl rate in Hawaii to 20.5 times the rate in the District of Columbia in 2017–18. The report also found that Black girls with disabilities received out-of-school suspensions at almost 1.7 times the rate of Black girls without disabilities and 3.6 times the rate of White girls with disabilities.
The 2017–18 race-and-disability figures in this report exclude students served only under Section 504 where the report notes that limitation. The figures describe reported national patterns for that measurement period; they are not a determination that race, sex, or disability caused any individual disciplinary outcome.
Corporal punishment and physical restraint
Reported corporal punishment declined across three Civil Rights Data Collection periods. The number of students reported receiving corporal punishment fell from 106,055 in 2013–14 to 92,479 in 2015–16 and 69,492 in 2017–18. The 2017–18 count was 34.5% lower than the 2013–14 count. These figures come from the Department of Education’s Corporal Punishment Prevalence, updated in March 2023.
Boys were 51.4% of enrollment but 80.7% of students receiving corporal punishment in 2017–18, and boys were 4.0 times as likely as girls to receive it. Black students were 2.3 times as likely as White students to receive corporal punishment. American Indian/Alaska Native students received corporal punishment at almost twice their enrollment share. Students served under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act were 13.2% of enrollment but 16.5% of students receiving corporal punishment.
According to the same 2017–18 Civil Rights Data Collection factsheet update, 27 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico banned corporal punishment in schools. Separately, GAO’s Federal Data and Resources on Restraint and Seclusion reported that about 61,000 K–12 public-school students were physically restrained in 2013–14, equal to about 0.1% of students.
The national comparisons here use the latest directly verified measurements in the cited official reports. The 2020–21 Civil Rights Data Collection is not used for headline comparisons because GAO noted that pandemic-era attendance conditions made that year anomalous. Counts, shares, and rates should therefore be read with their stated year, geography, definitions, and limitations in mind.