Suspension rates fall at local school districts

Suspension rates have dramatically decreased for local school districts, showing that efforts by educators to improve attendance by using more engaging instruction and effective discipline are making significant progress, according to school officials.

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson released figures last week that demonstrated the number of students suspended in California public schools has declined for the fifth year in a row.

From the 2011-12 school year to 2016-17, suspensions sharply decreased by 46 percent, meaning there were 327,857 fewer suspensions in 2016-17 than in 2011-12 statewide.

In Lodi Unified School District, the decline was not as drastic, although still a drop decreasing from 5.5 percent in 2015-16 to 5.1 percent in 201617. In total, there were 493 fewer suspensions, from 3,208 in 2015-16 to 2,715 last school year.

McNair, the school with the highest number of suspensions, actually saw a slight increase, from a 9 percent rate to 9.6 percent. Tokay, too, saw an increase, from 5.2 percent to 5.4 percent, while Lodi High’s rate decreased from 6.5 percent to 4.8 percent.

Galt, the high school district saw a decrease from 4 percent to just 2.1 percent, although the rate at Galt High nearly tripled, from 1.4 percent to 3.7 percent, respectively.

At Estrellita, the rates decreased dramatically, from 18.1 percent in 2015-16 to 6.7 percent last school year. Liberty Ranch, also, saw a decline, from 4 percent to 0.6 percent.

When comparing suspension rates to the previous year, rates for the elementary district have also decreased overall from 3 percent to 2.2 percent.

In addition, Galt Joint Union Elementary School District has lower suspension rates than Sacramento County (5.7 percent), a fact Superintendent Karen Schauer chalks up to new district-wide programs.

“Last year, we began training in restorative practices for proactive and positive discipline practices and expanded staff development in this area during the 2017-18 school year,” she said, adding that these restorative practices efforts combined with strengths implementation and youth development are proactive efforts that are contributing to improved rates.

“We have more work to do to further improve, (but) through continuous improvement with data monitoring and professional learning efforts, we are seeing a decrease in suspension rates from the previous year.”

The data, which covers both 2015-16 and 2016-17, provides detailed information that includes suspension rates of numerous student groups, including males, females, Latinos, whites, African-Americans, students with disabilities, and students from low-income families.

“This new information demonstrates that efforts by educators all over the state to find better ways to engage students in learning and address behavior problems are paying off in the form of greatly reduced suspensions and expulsions and that translates into more students in class,” Torlakson, a former science teacher and cross country coach, said in a prepared statement. “The bottom line is that students have to be in class to learn, to succeed, to develop their potential, and to fulfill their dreams.”

The information, which covers all the state’s more than 10,000 public schools, identifies schools and districts with high and low rates of suspensions, providing school communities with the information they need to make changes, he said.

Since 2011-12, after Torlakson started his first term as state superintendent, CDE began collecting and reporting much more detailed data about suspension and expulsions.

That year, Lodi Unified School District students were suspended at a rate of 8.5 percent, compared to the state’s suspension rate of 5.7 percent.

Lodi High had an 8 percent suspension rate while Tokay High was at 7 percent.

In Galt, Liberty Ranch High School’s suspension rate was below the state average with just 65 suspensions, at a rate of 5.3 percent. Galt High saw a few more suspensions: 76 total, a 7 percent rate.

The Galt Joint Union Elementary School District had 177 total suspensions, or a districtwide rate of 4.3 percent, which is below the state average.

“Information is power,” Torlakson said of the data. “Since we started collecting and publicizing this data, educators, parents and community members have worked hard to find ways to keep students in school while maintaining a safe environment.”

Under his leadership, the Department of Education has initiated forums and workshops to make districts, administrators, and teachers aware of successful alternatives to suspensions and expulsions, including “restorative justice” programs that help students understand the nature and consequences of their actions.

In some programs, after an incident of student misconduct, affected parties decide how to repair harm and to do so in a way that meets the victim’s needs, holds offenders accountable, and promotes school safety.

Other strategies underway in California schools include teaching life skills and emotional control. Additional strategies may also be funded by the $2.5 million in equity grants approved by the Legislature. The CDE will distribute these grants to school districts and county offices of education to improve test scores, graduation rates, and disciplinary actions for student groups that are lagging.

Legislation effective in January 2015 placed limits on suspensions for “willful defiance,” a category in the state Education Code that had been used broadly to discipline students. Willful defiance became an issue after CDE data revealed that students in certain ethnic groups, particularly African Americans, experienced a disproportionate percentage of expulsions and suspensions under that single category.

Since the law took effect, the total number of overall defiance-only suspensions have decreased from about 335,000 to 78,000, a decrease of nearly 77 percent.