In Harm's Way: The Persistence of Unjust Discipline Experienced by California's Students

The purpose of this report is to demonstrate that California’s educators continue to kick students out of school at disparate and high rates, mostly for minor misconduct, and that students in the foster system and those experiencing homelessness are being removed from school at far higher rates than others.

Given President Trump’s blatantly bigoted rhetoric, and considering the demise of federal civil rights protections, one should expect that, soon, all student groups that have experienced unjustifiably high rates of removal will be excluded from educational opportunities on disciplinary grounds even more often.

This report also highlights which districts have been making progress and which districts are getting worse since 2017-18. The discussion section suggests that now is the time for California’s policymakers to double down on support for discipline reform efforts while increasing accountability for those that unjustifiably remove students from school at high and disparate rates for minor misconduct. Stronger discipline reform efforts should also increase the public’s opportunity to file complaints about high and disparate rates of exclusion, the excessive use of police on campus, and the failure to end or modify discipline policies and practices that cause unjustifiably disparate outcomes.

PART I of this report analyzes the trends and current disparities at the state level. It highlights the experiences of youth who are experiencing homelessness and those in the foster system because, despite being the two groups suffering the greatest harm from disciplinary removal, there is relatively little information on how school discipline impacts their educational opportunities. There are several reasons this report highlights the rate of instructional loss due to out-of-school suspensions (OSS). Most important, the rate of lost instruction conveys the harm from suspension use in terms of the direct impact on the opportunity to learn. Further, the differences in the degree of harm done from suspensions, both their incidence and duration, are captured well by the rate of lost instruction. Part I also analyzes statewide racial disparities in the rate of suspensions per 100 students for specific public reporting categories related to the underlying codes of conduct.

PART II provides the most recent district-level rates of lost instruction due to out-of-school suspensions (OSS) for 2023-24 for youth in the foster system and those experiencing homelessness, as well as for racial/ethnic groups that historically have been most impacted by exclusionary school discipline. PART II begins by describing the districts that have made progress followed by districts where the rates for Black students have increased the most since 2017-18. Districts with the highest rates of lost instruction for youth in the foster system, and for students who are experiencing homelessness are also featured, based on the data from 2023-2024. PART II continues with the analysis of the rates of suspensions meted out per 100 students and the suspension trends for California’s 12 largest districts.

Access the full report here.