NEWS FLASH

Report Finds Wide Racial Disparities In School Suspensions | According to a new report by the Civil Rights Project/Proyecto Derechos Civiles at the University of California, Los Angeles, African-American students are overwhelmingly more likely to be suspended from school than their white counterparts. The report found that nearly one in six African-American students was suspended during the 2009-2010 school year, compared to one in 20 white students. “These numbers show clear and consistent racial and ethnic disparities in suspensions across the country,” John H. Jackson, president of the Schott Foundation for Public Education, told Education Week. “We are not providing [these students] a fair and substantive opportunity to learn.” One researcher noted that other studies show “African-American students are punished more severely than other students for minor infractions.”