A growing cadre of public policy researchers and lawmakers agree that school discipline rates remain high for black and Hispanic students, and those with disabilities, but a new study from the University of California takes it a step further by connecting suspension rates to major economic impacts.
Researchers found that suspensions lead to lower graduation rates, which in turn leads to lower tax revenue and higher taxpayer costs for criminal justice and social services. The researchers followed a single cohort of California 10th grade students through high school for three years and found that those who were suspended had only a 60 percent graduation rate—compared to an 83 percent graduation rate for students who were not suspended.
The result: An economic loss of $2.7 billion over the lifetime of that single cohort of dropouts who left school because they were suspended, researchers found.
The study—"The Hidden Cost of California's Harsh School Discipline: And the Localized Economic Benefits From Suspending Fewer High School Students"—calculates the financial consequences of suspending students in each California school district with more than 100 students, and for the state as a whole. The study was done by Russell W. Rumberger, the director of the California Dropout Research Project at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and Daniel J. Losen, the director of the Center for Civil Rights Remedies at the University of California, Los Angeles.
The research was funded through a grant from The California Endowment, with assistance from Clive Belfield and Atlantic Philanthropies. The data set for each California school district with over 100 students, and a state aggregate, can be downloaded here.
To read more Francisco Vara-Orta's article, visit: http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek...ely_costs_state.html
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