Reducing Suspensions for Elementary Students with IEPs

A group of Illinois elementary schools implementing PBIS (N=191 schools) at fidelity in both FY12 and FY13 experienced a reductionin out of school suspensions (OSSs) for all students, including those with Individualized Education Programs (IEPs). Between FY11 and FY13, the OSS rate for students with IEPs decreased 42%, from 0.069 in FY11 to 0.040 in FY13. Likewise, the rate for students without IEPs decreased 41%, from 0.091 in FY11 to 0.054 in FY13.

During this time, the risk ratio for OSSs for students with IEPs went down 20%. Students with IEPs were less likely to receive OSSs over the three years and were, in fact, less likely to receive an OSS compared to their peers without IEPs.