November 20, 2023
In 1990, Congress passed the Americans with Disabilities Act to give people with disabilities equal access to services like public education. But data recently released by the U.S. Department of Education revealed the rate at which special-needs students are disciplined and raises questions about how equal that access truly is. The data, which looked at almost 18,000 school districts and over 97,000 public schools during the 2020-2021 school year, shed light on just how pervasive the problem is. Children with disabilities are more likely than their classmates to be disciplined, removed from the classroom, suspended, expelled or even referred to law enforcement.
The 2020-21 Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC) (Civil Rights Data Collection Report) is a mandatory survey of all public school districts and schools serving students in preschool through grade 12 in the 50 states, Washington, D.C., and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. The CRDC measures student access to courses, programs, Internet and devices, instructional and other staff, and resources — as well as school climate factors such as student discipline, use of restraint and seclusion, harassment or bullying, and offenses occurring at schools — that impact educational opportunities for students.
Suspensions and Expulsions
The data revealed that while only 17% of public-school students have disabilities, they represented 24% of students who received one or more in-school suspensions, 29% of those who received one or more out of school suspensions, and 21% of those who received expulsions (these statistics likely only capture formal expulsions and not the vast majority of expulsions obtained through agreements with parents).
Referrals to Law Enforcement
Students with disabilities were grossly overrepresented in referrals to law enforcement. While only 14% of public students are served under the IDEA, they represented 22% of those students who were referred to law enforcement and 22% of students subjected to school related arrests, nearly double the amount of their non disabled peers. Students covered under Section 504 represented only 3% of the total student enrollment, however they were twice as likely to be referred to law enforcement or subjected to school related arrests (5% and 6% respectively).
Restraint and Seclusion
In 2020-2021 approximately 35,000 school students were physically restrained, 2,100 were mechanically restrained, and 15,700 were placed in seclusion at school. Students with disabilities who were served under the IDEA represented 14% of the population, but those same students represented 81% of those who were physically restrained, 75% of those who were secluded and 32% of those who were mechanically restrained.
“These new CRDC data reflect troubling differences in students’ experiences in our nation’s schools,” said Catherine E. Lhamon, assistant secretary for civil rights at the Education Department. This data makes clear what most parents already knew, children with disabilities are disciplined at far greater rates than their peers without disabilities. The impact of this cannot be overlooked. With any luck, this data can be used to create better strategies and approaches that can be applied by schools to mitigate the behavior before it occurs.
See Ed Department Finds Students With Disabilities Disproportionately Disciplined for full article.