Schools discipline Black girls more frequently and severely than their white peers—even for similar incidents, according to a federal report released Thursday.
Black girls are subjected to higher rates of exclusionary discipline—detention, suspension, and expulsion—than other students of color and white peers, and the largest gaps in discipline rates are between Black and white girls, according to the Government Accountability Office’s recent report, which examined the discipline disparities among girls in public schools.
Students of color—and those with disabilities—tend to face higher rates of exclusionary discipline practices in schools, and they’re more likely to be arrested if police officers are on campus. Attempts to address the disparities have occurred at the federal level, as researchers have said that punitive discipline can negatively impact school experience, graduation rates, and the likelihood of ending up in the criminal justice system. But, advocates say, the impact of disproportionality on girls has largely been understudied.
GAO researchers looked at data on infractions from the 2017-18 school year from 36 states, and saw that, even when accounting for the behavior that prompted discipline, Black girls were punished more frequently and more harshly than any other girls, said Jackie Nowicki, the director in GAO’s education, workforce, and income security team.
“We have known for a long time that there have been discipline disparities, but never before have we been able to factor in the behavior that prompted the discipline,” she said. “It’s not that girls are behaving differently, it’s not that some girls are attending schools that just have higher discipline rates in general. We are seeing these differences within schools.”
Black girls face more severe punishment for anything from disobedience to breaking school rules.
The more severe and frequent punishments have eroded school culture for Black girls, in turn. They are more likely than their peers to say they don’t feel safe in schools, were more likely to say they feared being attacked, and disagreed that school handled discipline fairly, the report found.
The GAO examined students’ perception of safety and belonging by analyzing nationally representative survey data from the 2017, 2019, and 2022 National Crime Victimization Surveys. This spring, the GAO also collected perspectives from 31 women, ages 18 to 24, on their experiences with school discipline, although that information is not generalizable.
“They’re girls, they’re Black, so they have a lot that they are fighting when they’re just trying to be teenagers,” said Renita Brooks, a school counselor at Walnut Hills High School in Cincinnati, Ohio, who has studied discipline for Black girls. “People feel like Black girl strength is inherently impermeable. And that’s not true. They see them as rock hard, but they are the ones who are actually more vulnerable because they have a lot more on their plate.”
Black girls face more frequent and severe disciplinary action compared to white girls
Black girls are suspended up to five times the rate that white girls are, the report found. Though Black girls made up only 15 percent of girls enrolled in public schools in 2017-18, they received almost half of the exclusionary discipline actions, the report says. That included 45 percent of out-of-school suspensions, 37 percent of in-school suspensions, and 43 percent of expulsions.
Black girls with disabilities were suspended out of school at 1.7 times the rate of Black girls without disabilities, and 3.6 times the rate of white girls with disabilities. Though other research has found that, within racial groups, students with disabilities are disproportionately disciplined through exclusionary practices, that isn’t always the case. According to the report, Black girls—and sometimes, American Indian/Alaska Native girls—without disabilities experienced higher rates of discipline than girls with disabilities of other races.
GAO’s review of research identified adultification—the perception that Black girls are older and more “promiscuous” than their peers—and colorism—bias against those with darker skin—as two factors contributing to why schools discipline Black girls more frequently and more severely.
Other girls of color—American Indian/Alaska Native girls, multiracial girls, and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander girls—were disciplined disproportionately in some categories, but none as much as Black girls, according to the report.
“These kids are dropping out of school when they start having these higher exclusionary consequences,” Brooks said. “It just gets harder and harder to get back on track academically, and then they just kind of give up.”
For “major infractions”—when students are sent to an administrator—roughly 42 percent of Black girls are estimated to receive exclusionary discipline in response, compared to an estimated 32 percent of white girls, for the same behavior. Black girls are more likely to receive in- and out-of-school suspension for the same behavior.
For minor infractions—those behaviors managed by educators in the classroom—an estimated 16 percent of Black girls will see exclusionary discipline, compared to 9 percent of white girls, the report says.
The disproportionality holds true for subjective versus objective infractions, the GAO found. Subjective infractions—things like disobedience or disruptions, which are up to individual educators’ discretion—saw disciplinary referrals for 18 percent of Black girls and 16 percent of American Indian/Alaska Native, compared to just 9 percent of white girls.
In the case of objective infractions—something based on defined criteria, like property damage, or a technology violation—16 percent of Black girls and 21 percent of American Indian/Alaska Native girls would get disciplinary referrals, compared to only 7 percent of white girls. Additionally, schools used exclusionary discipline practices for 41 percent of Black girls for incidents of this type of rule-breaking, compared to 30 percent of white girls.
It’s a longstanding problem, said Bryan Joffee, the director of children’s programs for AASA, The School Superintendents Association.
While students of color and white students misbehave at the same rate in areas of “mandatory disciplines” (things like alcohol and drug use or weapons offenses), when it comes to “discretionary discipline” (matters having to do with misbehavior, attitude, or defiance), disproportionality becomes more of a problem.
“One thing that schools and districts are doing, and can do, is to continue to clean up the language in their codes of conduct and be really clear and have really strong guidelines about what disciplinary behaviors merit which disciplinary actions to make sure they’re applying everything fairly across the board,” Joffee said. “Getting rid of words like defiance, I think, is an important step, because studies have shown that adults tend to find Black students to be more defiant for whatever reasons.”
But there is also a need for school discipline reform, he said. Out-of-school suspension is a “break-glass-in-case-of-emergency disciplinary measure,” he said. “It’s not particularly effective.”
“That’s where we see a lot of the disproportionality show up and so students are missing out on academic time, falling behind, which in turn leads them to be more disconnected from school and potentially more likely to act out when they return,” Joffee said. “Really thinking about when and how you want to use out-of-school suspension, rather than some other levers in your toolbox, I think, is an important thing for school administrators to look at as well.”
Brooks recalled an incident where she pushed back on an administrator’s attempt to do “double jeopardy.” A student had already been disciplined—they were restricted from participating in an extracurricular activity—and when they came to school the next day, an administrator sought to suspend them for three days as well.
“I talked about the data at the district level, what was going on—encouraging her to find another way to just help support the student,” she said.
Black girls feel less safe, and less connected to school, than their peers
Youth are, across the board, struggling with mental health and well-being—including experiences of violence and substance use. Girls are still faring worse than boys in indicators on well-being, and Black children are nearly two times more likely than their white peers to die by suicide.
And increasingly, girls, particularly Black girls, are left to feel more unsafe in school as they are being increasingly treated and disciplined differently, according to the GAO report.
A higher percentage of Black girls felt unsafe compared to white girls across various measures of school safety, the report said, with Black girls reporting they were afraid of being attacked by someone at school at a higher percentage than white girls. Black girls also disagreed at a higher rate than girls of other races that school rules were fair, and that teachers treated them with respect.
And that comes down to clothing and even demonstrating femininity. Black girls are more likely to say that dress code policies were not fair and singled them out for punishment. Plus, girls—largely Black girls—are subject to gender biases and stereotypes, and are punished for not conforming to expectations of femininity, the report says.
“Officials representing school counselors and psychologists noted that many teachers encourage girls to uphold a quiet and docile form of femininity or ‘to act like ladies,’” the report states.
