Disproportionality Gap Shrinks for African American Students

Post date: Feb 03, 2011 4:41:57 PM

J.W. Eater Jr. High School, Rantoul City SD 137, experienced declines in both office discipline referrals (ODRs) and out-of-school suspensions (OSS) from the 2007-08 to the 2008-09 school year. After a summer training for staff on universal expectations, expanding systems of positive reinforcement, and aligning expectations with feeder elementary schools, overall ODRs dropped 13% for all students and 32% for African American students. Additionally, OSS events among African American students, who comprise close to 40% of the student population but accounted for 67% of OSS in 2007-08, decreased 35% compared to the 11% decrease in OSS for all students in 2008-09. These trends continue with a 50% reduction in OSS during the first quarter of 2009-10.