Indicator: Positive behavior

Why it matters

Being subjected to disciplinary action in school is negatively related to a host of academic outcomes that are key to student success, including attendance, course passing, standardized test achievement, high school graduation, and college enrollment. Because it is a strong predictor of later outcomes, student behavior—as measured by disciplinary actions—is a component of many early warning indicators, along with attendance and course grades (these three primary predictors are known as the ABCs of early warning) However, disciplinary actions are a flawed measure of student behavior as they also reflect bias in disciplinary practices. Black and Latino students, students experiencing poverty, and students with disabilities experience suspensions at disproportionate rates. For instance, Black students are nearly four times as likely to receive an out-of-school suspension than White students. Black and Latino students are also more likely than White students to be expelled for similar behavior. There is evidence that racial disparities in suspension rates are larger in counties with higher racial bias, as measured by data on implicit and explicit bias from 1.6 million respondents across the country. Racial disparities in exposure to exclusionary discipline start early on: Black preschoolers are 3.6 times as likely to receive one or more suspensions as White preschoolers.