Black girls in New York City schools are disciplined and suspended 10 times more often than their white counterparts, a report released this week found.
Black Girls Matter: Pushed Out, Overpoliced and Underprotected, published by the African American Policy Forum and the Center for Intersectionality and Social Policy Studies at Columbia Law School, also found that 90 percent of all girls expelled from New York City schools in 2011-2012 were black — no white girls were expelled.
These findings are especially troubling considering the demonstrated relationship between school discipline and subsequent incarceration.
“The disproportionate suspension and expulsion rates for black girls reflect an overlooked crisis that affects not only their life chances, but also the well-being of their families, their communities, and society as a whole,” the report says.
Most of the prior research on this issue has focused exclusively on black boys. Though more boys than girls are suspended overall, race appears to be a more significant risk factor for girls than for boys: nationwide, black boys are suspended three times more often than their white counterparts, versus a 6 to 1 ratio for girls.
The authors recommend comprehensive reforms including increasing availability of school counseling services, training teachers to recognize signs of trauma and creating more programs targeted to pregnant and parenting students.
The report is available online here.