WASHINGTON (AP) - Pennsylvania is among 12 states or jurisdictions reporting high disparities between the suspension rates of black students and white students in public schools.
That’s according to a report released Friday by the Department of Education’s civil rights division.
The report shows 22 percent of black male students were suspended from school at least once, compared to 5 percent for white male students, a disparity of 17 percentage points. Nationally, the black-white gap was 14 percentage points.
Among girls, 13 percent of black students were suspended, compared to 2 percent for white students. That 11-point disparity also was higher than the national gap, of 10 percentage points.
The report is for the 2011-12 school year and covers pre-K through 12th grade. It doesn’t cite a reason for the disparities.
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