MPS tackles racial disparities in school suspension rates

Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS) has unveiled a comprehensive “Culture, Climate, and Alternatives to Suspension Toolkit” for the 2024-25 school year. This initiative addresses longstanding concerns about racial disparities in school suspension rates and student discipline. It comes amid a national reckoning with the disproportionate impact of school discipline policies on Black students.

The racial disparity in school suspensions is not unique to Milwaukee. Nationwide data from the 2017-18 school year showed that while Black students made up 15% of public school enrollment, they accounted for 38% of total suspensions. In MPS, the disparity is even more pronounced. According to TMJ4, during the 2023-24 school year, MPS recorded 23,750 suspensions, with 18,438 – nearly 78% – given to Black students, despite Black students comprising only about 50% of the district’s population.

This stark disparity underscores the urgency of MPS’s new approach. The district has been working towards reform since entering a settlement agreement with the U.S. Department of Education in 2018 to reduce racial disparities in disciplinary referrals.

The 56-page toolkit outlines a multi-faceted strategy to create positive school environments and reduce reliance on suspensions. Key components include:

1. Building Positive School Culture: The toolkit emphasizes creating welcoming environments and strong staff-student relationships. This includes strategies like morning meetings, daily check-ins, and activities that promote community building. The plan stresses the importance of staff members having specific strategies to engage all students in relationship-building throughout the academic year.
2. Proactive Practices: The toolkit advocates implementing strategies like Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS), restorative practices, and social-emotional learning. PBIS is described as a framework that uses a variety of student supports and evidence-based interventions across three tiers. Restorative practices focus on building, maintaining, and repairing relationships, emphasizing using circles and conferences to address conflicts.
3. Alternatives to Suspension: The toolkit provides a range of options for addressing student behavior without resorting to suspension. These include restorative conferences, where those involved in an incident meet to discuss its impact and how to repair harm; reflective writing assignments that encourage students to consider their actions and their effects; and community service opportunities that allow students to make amends constructively.
4. Addressing Bias: Recognizing the role of implicit bias in disciplinary decisions, the toolkit offers guidance on interrupting bias and promoting culturally responsive practices. It includes strategies for staff to identify and counteract their own biases and approaches to ensure the fair and equitable treatment of all students. The toolkit also emphasizes the importance of clearly defining and categorizing behaviors to reduce subjective interpretations that may be influenced by bias.
5. Student Voice: The plan stresses incorporating student perspectives in school decision-making and classroom management. This includes involving students in creating classroom expectations, providing feedback on teaching practices, and participating in restorative processes. The toolkit suggests various methods for gathering student input, such as surveys, student-led committees, and regular feedback sessions.
6. Tiered Intervention System: The toolkit outlines a multi-tiered system of behavior support. This includes universal support for all students, targeted interventions for students needing additional support (such as Check-In/Check-Out programs), and intensive, individualized interventions for students with persistent behavioral challenges. The Building Intervention Team (BIT) is highlighted as a key component in managing and monitoring these interventions.
7. Professional Development: The toolkit emphasizes the need for ongoing staff training in cultural responsiveness, implicit bias, restorative practices, and trauma-informed care. It includes resources for self-paced learning modules and suggests whole-school facilitated training sessions.
8. Data Monitoring and Accountability: The plan stresses the importance of regularly collecting and analyzing disciplinary data to identify disparities and track progress. It suggests methods for schools to monitor their data and adjust their practices.

The impact of suspensions on Black students extends beyond the immediate school environment. Research has shown that suspensions are associated with lower academic achievement, decreased school engagement, and negative long-term outcomes, including increased likelihood of involvement with the criminal justice system and lower college completion rates.

Black students face alarmingly high rates of suspension compared to their white peers. According to data from the 2017-18 school year, Black students comprised 15% of public school enrollment but accounted for 38% of total suspensions. This disproportionality is even more pronounced in certain states and districts.

For example, in some Southern school districts, Black students were suspended at rates five times higher than their representation in the student population. The disparity begins as early as preschool and persists through high school. In secondary schools, nearly 1 in 14 Black students (7%) were suspended in 2017-18 – more than three times the rate of elementary school students.