children out of school in america - University of Tennessee Digital ...

districts in Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, Mississippi,
and Arkansas which had children enrolled
in classes for the educable mentally retarded (EMR),
we found that:
-In 190 of the districts (37.4 percent), the probability
that a black student would be in an EMR
class was five times as great as for a white student.
There were 51 districts in which the probability
of being in an EMR class was ten times
greater for a black student than for a white
student.
-Over 80 percent of the students in EMR classes
in tbese districts were black, even though less
than 40 percent of the total enrollment in these
districts were black.
-46 percent of these 505 districts reported that
5 percent or more of their black students were
in EMR classes, but only 4 districts (less than
1 percent) reported 5 percent or more of their
white students in EMR classes.
-At least 10 percent of the black students were
in EMR classes in 64 of the districts.
-Not only are the probability rates different for
black and white students, but the number of
black children affected by these rates is significant.
Using the percentage of white students who
are in EMR classes as a standard, the number
of black students in EMR classes in excess of
the corresponding ratio is 32,381. In only 13
districts were there fewer black students than
would be implied by the white ratio. T
The racial disproportion in special education
placement indicated in OCR data for these five states
was also reflected in OCR data available for 15 of
the 17 districts in our survey. There were only five
districts in which the majority of students were nonwhite.
But there were nine districts where most of
the students in EMR classes were nonwhite.
-In Davenport, Iowa where 6.9 percent of the
students in the public schools were black, 22.8
percent of the enrollment in the EMR school
operated by the County was black.
-In five districts - Autauga County, Alabama,
Montgomery, Alabama, Denver, Colorado,
Davenport, Iowa, and Sumter County No.2,
South Carolina-the probability that minority
----
7 These figures represent only the districts reporting to OCR
and not all of the districts in each of the states. The school
districts surveyed. however, account for over 50 percent of
the pupils enrolled in public schools in these states. See
detailed discussion of OCR undercount on pp. 124-125.
students would be' in EMR classes was three
times greater than the probability that white
students would be in the EMR classes.
Our own survey data show racial disproportion
in New Bedford, Massachusetts as well.
-6.3 percent of the black children were in special
education, almost twice as great as the percent
of Portuguese children (3.2 percent) and over
four times greater than the percent of white
children in these classes (1.5 percent).
School Discipline
Chapter 5 discusses the rampant use of suspensions
and other disciplinary devices to throw children
out of school. They are imposed for a wide array
of offenses, many of which are educationally indefensible.
Our analysis of suspension data submitted to OCR
for ,five selected states - Arkansas, Maryland, New
Jersey, Ohio, South Carolina - reveals that during
the 1972-73 school year, at least 152,904 children
were suspended at least once for over 575,000
school days or 3,200 school years. 8
Among secondary school students the suspension
problem is particularly acute. In selected districts
we analyzed, secondary school students were suspended
almost twice as often as other children.
Worse still is the impact of suspension on minority
children. Almost 7 percent of the minority children
in the five states analyzed were suspended at least
once during the 1972-73 school year. Over 50 percent
of the students suspended in these states were
minority although less than 40 percent of the total
districts' enrollment was minority. 50 percent of the
402 districts analyzed reported suspending 5 percent
or more of their black students. Only 23 percent of
the districts reported suspending 5 percent or more
of their white students. At least 10 percent of the
black students were suspended in 100 of the districts
surveyed.
Our own survey corroborated this pattern of
disproportionate suspension of minority children.
While 4.4 percent of al1 those surveyed were suspended
at least once, 7.3 percent of the black chil-
8 See Appendix R for more detailed data on suspension from
OCR.
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