“School pushout” is what happens when certain students are deprived of the education and opportunities that all young people deserve.
Many factors contribute to pushing youth out of schools, including the overuse of harsh school discipline like suspensions, inadequate funding for schools in under-served communities, the lack of counselors and health services in schools, and other supports that young people need to thrive.
FACTS:
Overuse of suspensions for misbehavior starts as young as preschool. Every day in America, 250 pre-schoolers are suspended or expelled. (Source: Center for American Progress, November 6, 2017)
Nationally, Black preschoolers are 3.6x as likely as their white peers to be suspended.[i] African American children (18% of public preschool enrollment) are 48% of all preschoolers receiving multiple out-of-school suspensions. (Source: U.S. Department of Education’s Civil Rights Division, 2017)
In the 2015-16 school year, 2.75 million of all K-12 students received one or more out-of-school suspensions. (Source: UCLA Center for the Transformation of Schools, 2018)
Nationally, one third of all young people will be arrested by age 23. (Source: Department of Justice, 2017) And in 2014, youth arrests outnumbered youth votes in California.
A single suspension in 10th grade increases the likelihood of dropout by 12%.[iii] And students who drop out are 3x more likely to be arrested, and 8 times more likely to end up in jail or Prison.[iv]
Students who are Black, Latino and LGBTQ are more likely to be suspended than their peers.