A new study indicates that black students are disciplined at a disproportionate rate across 13 Southern states, including Louisiana.
The Advertiser reports researchers from the University of Pennsylvania’s Center for the Study of Race and Equity in Education looked at data from the 2011-12 academic year, as reported by federal agencies. The study showed that female black students represented 56% of suspensions and 45% of expulsions that year. Meanwhile, male black students represented 47% of suspensions and 44% of expulsions in Southern states.
The study examined suspension and expulsion rates in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and West Virginia.
The study showed that in Louisiana, 74.1% of girls who were suspended that year, and 77.8% of girls who were expelled, were black. In addition, 63.4% of suspended boys were black, as were 69.1% of expelled boys.
Also, 41,689 black students were suspended from Louisiana public schools in 2011-12. That represented 67% of suspensions and 72% of expulsions, the report says.
Edward Smith says he and co-author Shaun Harper wanted to delve further into the issue after hearing it discussed at roundtable talks with teachers, parents and community advocates across the South.
“We heard this sentiment, and we wanted to further investigate the narratives and comments we were hearing,” Smith says. “Once we started taking a look at the data and the district numbers, we thought there was really something to be said here.”
Smith says he and Harper determined three main reasons for the figures: the way zero-tolerance discipline policies are implemented, a lack of proper training for teachers and an implicit racial bias. However, many educators they spoke to said they want to participate in more work to address those issues.
