DISCIPLINE AND DATA: High school graduation rates reached a record high of 83.2 percent under the Obama Administration, but troubling opportunity gaps and inequalities still persist, according to U.S. Education Department’s Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC). Washington D.C., for example, spent nearly $20,600 dollars per pupil, while Utah spent only $6,500. States with less funding also tend to have higher student to teacher ratios. Schools serving minority students also tend to have a far greater proportion of first-year teachers.
The White House blog post on this data accompanies a recent report that draws specific attention to “disparities along racial, sex, disability and other student characteristics in the administration of student discipline.” That report, The Continuing Need to Rethink Discipline, highlights how black children are 3.6 times more likely to be suspended than white children. It also found that one out of five boys of color with disabilities received one or more out-of-school suspensions, compared to one of ten for white boys with disabilities. That statistic is especially concerning when put in context with another CRDC finding: “schools attended by minorities have relatively more support staff dedicated to discipline and less to guidance.”
