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Student Exclusions: School Year 2002–03

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I. Background

The 2002–03 school year was the tenth 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 districts on students excluded, as defined at the right, between July 1, 2002, and June 30, 2003.

II. Results

Reporting from the 376 school districts, charter schools and regional vocational technical schools, there were 1,949 student exclusions in the 2002–03 school year. A total of 1,890 students were excluded, of whom 58 were excluded two or more times during the year. The greatest number of exclusions for an individual student was three.

Table 1. Student Exclusions Over Time

	2000–01	2001–02	2002–03
Number of Student Exclusions	1,621	1,775	1,949
Number of Individual Students Excluded	1,573	1,720	1,890
Number of Students Excluded More Than Once	46	51	58
Percent of Students Receiving Alternative Education	71%	73%	75%

The number of students excluded more than once during the 2002–03 school year increased by 14 percent from the previous year and by 26 percent from the 2000–01 school year. The percent of students excluded from school that were provided with alternative education continues to increase incrementally.

The number of student exclusions has fluctuated over time. As illustrated in Figure 1, in the 1998–99 school year the lowest number of student exclusions were reported. However, in the following school years the number of student exclusions rose incrementally with the largest increase occurring between school years 1999–00 and 2000–01.

III. Exclusion Rates

Exclusion rates represent instances of exclusion per 1000 students enrolled. The overall exclusion rate has increased slightly over the past three years going from 1.7 in the 2000–01 school year, to 2.0 in the 2002–03 school year. As depicted in Table 2, exclusion rates by race/ethnicity over the past three years have shown that African-American and Hispanic students are excluded at much higher rates than other groups. In addition, in school year 2002–03 there was a dramatic increase in the exclusion rates for African-American and Hispanic students from the previous school year. Over that same time period, the exclusion rates for Asian and white students fluctuated. The rates for Native American students showed an increase, but trends are difficult to interpret due to the low enrollment of Native American students in the state.

Although the exclusion rate for general education students has steadily increased over the past three years, the exclusion rate for special education students has risen much higher, with the largest increase occurring between the 2000–01 and 2001–02 school year.

Table 2. Exclusion Rates by Gender, by Race/Ethnicity and by Program Status

			2000–01			2001–02			2002–03
			#	Rate		#	Rate		#	Rate
Overall			1,621	1.7		1,775	1.9		1,949	2.0
	Gender
	Male		1,249	2.5		1,396	2.8		1,510	3.0
	Female		372	0.8		379	0.8		439	0.9
	Race/Ethnicity
	African-American		438	5.1		417	5.0		524	6.1
	Asian		55	1.3		42	1.0		62	1.4
	Hispanic		481	4.6		501	4.8		611	5.5
	Native American		3	1.1		6	1.9		8	2.6
	White		644	0.9		809	1.1		744	1.0
	Program Status
	General Education		1,227	1.2		1,300	1.3		1,440	1.4
	*Referred Reg. Ed.		0	0		0	0		(20)
	Special Education		394	2.6		474	3.1		509	3.3
	Missing		0	0		1	0		0	0

*Referred Regular Education students have been referred for special education evaluation but have not yet been evaluated. These students were included in the count for regular education students.

As shown in Table 3, rates over the past three years have increased for many grades, in particular for grades nine through 11. Trend data indicate that exclusion rates consistently rise in grades leading up to ninth grade, peak at the ninth, and then decrease.

Table 3. Exclusion Rates by Grades

		2000–01			2001–02			2002–03
Grades		#	Rate		#	Rate		#	Rate
K		6	0.1		4	0.1		3	0.3
1		9	0.1		13	0.2		9	0.1
2		10	0.1		10	0.1		12	0.2
3		7	0.1		14	0.2		17	0.2
4		23	0.3		14	0.2		11	0.1
5		32	0.4		35	0.5		34	0.4
6		94	1.2		90	1.1		104	1.3
7		196	2.6		177	2.3		251	3.2
8		267	3.6		291	3.9		282	3.6
9		427	5.4		430	5.3		550	6.7
10		233	3.4		302	4.3		301	4.2
11		186	2.9		237	3.7		231	3.5
12		131	2.3		158	2.7		144	2.4
Totals		1,621			1,775			1,949

Exclusion rates represent instances of exclusion per 1000 students enrolled (as of October 1, 2002).

IV. Exclusions by Type of Offense

Schools reported one or more offenses for each student exclusion. Table 4a and Figure 3 illustrate the number of exclusions that occurred for each of the offenses specified in the Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 71, Section 37H, as actions for which school principals are authorized to expel students, and for "other" offenses. Starting in 2001–02, exclusions that involved two or more offenses are reported in each applicable offense category. This is a change from reporting in prior years when exclusions with two or more offenses were counted as either "weapon combination" or "non-weapon combination". Due to this change, the totals by type of offense may sum to more than the total number of exclusions.

Trend data indicate that student exclusions by type of offense and type of weapon have not changed significantly over the past three years as illustrated in Table 4a. Most of the offenses reported were due to either possession of an illegal substance on school premises (25 percent), followed by weapons on school property (22 percent) and other types of offenses (21 percent). For those offenses by type of weapon, an overwhelming majority involved knives, 71 percent, and approximately 22 percent involved types of weapons other than knives, guns, or explosive/incendiary devices.

Table 4a. Exclusions by Type of Offense

	2000-01			2001-02*			2002-03*
	#	%		#	%		#	%
Weapon on school premises	324	20		388	20		461	22
Illegal substance on school premises	403	25		559	28		511	25
Assault on school staff	218	13		229	12		302	15
Assault on student	152	9		155	8		263	13
Felony outside of school	102	6		155	8		98	5
Other	322	20		493	25		433	21
Weapon combination	33	2		na			na
Non-weapon combination	67	4		na			na
Total Number of Offenses	1,621			1,979			2,068
Type of Weapon**
Knife	254	71		294	77		331	71
Gun	23	6		18	5		28	6
Explosive/incendiary device	9	3		1	0		3	1
Other	66	18		70	18		105	22
More than one type of weapon	6	2		na			na

Reported percentages may not total 100% due to rounding.
*Totals reported for SY 2002 (n= 1,979) and SY 2003 (n= 2,068) were greater than the total number of exclusions because some exclusions involved more than one offense.
**Data are for all exclusions involving weapons, including weapons violations in combination with other offenses.

According to the Gun-Free Schools Act (GFSA) of 1994, each state must have in effect a State law requiring the school district to immediately expel a student for a period of not less than one year, if he/she is found to have brought or to have possessed a gun/firearm at school. Each State's law must also stipulate that the school district superintendent has the authority to shorten the expulsion period on a case-by-case basis. Of the 28 gun offenses reported in school year 2002–03, three were shortened by the superintendent and the remaining 25 were not.

Beginning in school year 2001–02, additional data were collected on types of guns and explosive or incendiary devices reported in order to comply with the annual federal reporting requirements of the Gun-Free School Act (Table 4b).

Table 4b. Exclusions by Type of Gun/Explosive or Incendiary Devices

Guns 2001–02 2002–03 Handgun 11 9 Rifle 0 0 Shotgun 2 0 Other Firearm 8 19   Totals 21 28

Explosive or Incendiary Devices 2001–02 2002–03 Bomb 1 2 Grenade 0 0 Rocket 0 0 Missile 0 0 Mine or Other Similar Device 1 1 Totals 2 3

V. Exclusions by Type of Offense and by Race/Ethnicity

Figure 4 compares the percentage of exclusions for each type of offense that involved racial/ethnic minority students and white students. Minority students accounted for the majority of exclusions for weapons violations, assaults on staff, assaults on students, and other offenses, while white students accounted for the majority of exclusions for possession of illegal substances. Minority and white students accounted equally for exclusions due to felonies outside of school.

VI. 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.

In school year 2002–03, a number of trends emerged from the data. Just over half of the student exclusions were between 11 to 20 school days and between 21 to 40 school days as shown in Figure 5.

When calculating the state average for the number of schools days missed for non-permanent exclusions over the past three years, it was found that the average number of days missed has remained relatively constant over time. In school year 2000–01, the state average was 57 school days missed, in 2001–02, the average was 55 school days missed and in 2002–03, the average was 57 school days missed. In Table 5, the numbers of school days missed are displayed by categories. Most notable is the substantial increase in the number of exclusions for school year 2002–03 in the 180 days (one school year) category from school year 2001–02.

Table 5. Length of Exclusions by School Days Missed

	2000–01		2001–02		2002–03
Categories	#	%	#	%	#	%
11–20 school days	247	15	291	16	286	15
21–40 school days	631	39	620	35	777	40
41–179 school days	461	28	598	34	588	30
180 days (one school year)	107	7	49	3	92	5
Longer than one school year	7	0	3	0	3	0
Permanent	168	10	214	12	203	10
Totals	1,621		1,775		1,949

Reported percentages may not total 100% due to rounding.

Table 6 illustrates that the length of exclusion varied by race/ethnicity. For example, 16 percent of all white students excluded were excluded permanently, compared to six percent of the African-American students and seven percent of the Hispanic students.

Table 6. Length of Exclusion by Race/Ethnicity, 2002–03

	11–20 school days		21–40 school days		41–179 school days		180 (one school year)		Longer than one school yr		Permanent		Total
	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%
Afr Am	52	10	239	46	183	35	17	3	1	0	32	6	524	100
Asian	3	5	15	24	35	56	4	6	1	2	4	6	62	100
Hispanic	81	13	313	51	128	21	43	7	1	0	45	7	611	100
Nat Am	1	13	3	38	3	38	0	0	0	0	1	13	8	100
White	149	20	207	28	239	32	28	4	0	0	121	16	744	100

Reported percentages may not total 100% due to rounding.

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