Information Services - Statistical Reports

Background

The 2000-01 school year was the eighth year in which the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education required schools to submit student level data on student exclusions. The following analysis is based on data reported by schools on students excluded, as defined at the right, between July 1, 2000, and June 30, 2001.

Results

There were 1,621 student exclusions in the 2000-01 school year from 127 school districts and charter schools. A total of 1,573 students were excluded, of whom 46 were excluded two or more times during the year. The greatest number of exclusions
for an individual student was three.

As shown in Figure 1, the number of student exclusions during the 2000-01 school year increased by 15 percent from the previous year; the largest increase of student exclusions over the past six years. The number of students excluded more than once during the 2000-01 school year increased by 48 percent from the previous year and by 77 percent from 1998-99. More than two-thirds of the students excluded

from school were provided with alternative education, an increase of one percentage point from the prior year.

Exclusions by Student Characteristics

As shown in Table 2, approximately 77 percent of excluded students were male. The proportion of male exclusions in 2000-01 decreased slightly from the previous year. In comparison to the total student enrollment for 2000-01, a disproportionate number of students excluded from school continue to be students of color. This pattern has been consistent over time.

Figures 2a and 2b show that while students of racial and ethnic minority groups (African-American, Asian and Hispanic students) represented 24 percent of the total student enrollment, they accounted for 60 percent of student exclusions. White students comprised 76 percent of the total student enrollment and accounted for 40 percent of student exclusions.

In 2000-01, students who were excluded ranged in age from five to 20-years-old. Female students excluded ranged in age from six to 19-years-old and male students ranged in age from five to 20-years-old. Both male and female students (20 percent for males and 24 percent for females) were most frequently excluded from school at age 15-years-old.

The number of exclusions among students in all age categories increased from the previous year, except for those students age 20 years old and older, of which there were three. The largest percentage increase in the number of exclusions occurred for students 10 years of age or younger. Over the past three years, the number of students excluded in 2000-01 (65) more than doubled from the 1999-00 (32) school year and more than quadrupled from the 1998-99 school year (16).

Regular education students, who comprised 84 percent of the total student enrollment, accounted for 76 percent of student exclusions. Special education students, who comprised 16 percent of the total enrollment, accounted for 24 percent of student exclusions. The proportion of special education students among student exclusions decreased by three percentage points from the 1999-00 school year.

Exclusion Rates

Exclusion rates represent instances of exclusion per 1000 students enrolled. Although rates for both genders have increased over the past three years, female students' rates increased at a much higher rate (38 percent increase for female versus 12 percent increase for male) as shown in Table 3.

Exclusion rates have varied by racial/ethnic groups. The rate for African-American students was 5.1, Hispanic students, 4.6, Asian students, 1.2, Native American students, 1.1, and for white students, 0.9. Over the past three years, the exclusion rates for African-American and Asian students have increased, while others have fluctuated.

As shown in Table 4, rates over the past three years increased for most grades. Trend data indicate that exclusion rates increase in grades leading up to ninth grade, peak at the ninth, and then decrease.

Exclusions by Type of Offense

Schools reported one or more offenses for each student exclusion. Figure 3 illustrates the number of exclusions that occurred for each of the offenses specified in state law as actions for which school principals are authorized to expel students, and for "other" offenses. Exclusions resulting from more than one offense are displayed as either a "weapon combination" or a "non-weapon combination".

As shown in Table 5, trend data indicate that student exclusions by type of offense and type of weapon have not changed over the past three years. Most of the offenses reported were due to either possession of an illegal substance on school premises (25 percent) or a weapon (20 percent), followed by assaults on school staff (13 percent) and students (9 percent). For those offenses by type of weapon, an overwhelming majority involved knives (71 percent) and approximately 18 percent involved other types of weapons, such as razor blades or box cutters, scissors, clubs, toy guns and pepper spray.

Although the percentage of exclusions that involved guns was relatively small (six percent), according to the Gun-Free Schools Act, a student should be immediately expelled for a period of not less than one year, unless shortened by the superintendent on a case-by-case basis. In 2000-01, one student was excluded for a period of one year and five students were permanently excluded. Gun offenses have fluctuated over the past three years. In 1998-99 school year, 29 gun offenses were reported. By the following school year, 1999-00, 12 gun offenses were reported, less than half the number of gun offenses reported the previous year, but by the 2000-01 school year, gun offenses reported had increased close to the number reported in 1999 to 23.

Exclusions by Type of Offense and by Race/Ethnicity

Figure 4 compares the distribution of exclusions for each type of offense for racial/ethnic minority students and for white students. Minority students accounted for 70 to 84 percent of exclusions for weapons violations, assaults on staff and assaults on students, while white students accounted for 71 percent of exclusions for possession of illegal substances.

Exclusions by Length of Time

Schools were asked to report the date the student was excluded and either the date the student returned to school or was eligible to return to school, if the exclusion was not permanent. In 1999, the Department began collecting data specifically on the number of school days a student missed due to exclusion from school. Previous reports included analyses of exclusions by calendar days.

Overall in the 2000-01 school year, there was an increase in shorter lengths of exclusions. More than 50 percent of the student exclusions were between 11 to 20 school days (15 percent), and between 21 to 40 school days (39 percent) as shown in Figure 5.

Student exclusions involving one school year (180 school days) had decreased from the previous two years; in 2000-01 there were 107 students reported, whereas in 1999-00 there were 159 and in 1998-99, 139 students reported. Permanent exclusions of students, commonly referred to as expulsions, had fluctuated over that same time period. In the 1998-99 school year, the number of students permanently excluded was 180, by 1999-00 school year 145 students were reported, and in 2000-01 school year, 168 students were reported permanently excluded (Table 6).

Table 7 illustrates that the length of exclusion varied by race/ethnicity. For example, 25 percent of the Asian students who were excluded from school were removed permanently, compared to 16 percent of white students, five percent of Hispanic students and five percent of African-American students. No Native American students were excluded permanently.

Next