Giving Compass' Take:

· Chalkbeat discusses research conducted by the American Journal of Education that shows how suspensions affect student outcome. Evidence from the paper shows that suspensions cause students to pass fewer classes which lowers the odds of graduating and increases the risk of dropping out.

· How can schools find a good balance for discipline and suspensions?

· Read more about school discipline in New York City. 

Reams of research show that students who are suspended are also more likely to drop out, get sucked into the juvenile justice system, and face a slew of other academic challenges.

But a crucial question has largely gone unanswered: Do suspensions themselves cause those negative outcomes, or are the factors that led to the suspension in the first place the real culprit — or some combination of both?

New research focusing on New York City offers fresh evidence to help answer that question. The paper, published in the peer-reviewed American Journal of Education, suggests that suspensions really do contribute to students passing fewer classes, increasing their risk of dropping out, and lowering the odds of graduating.

The findings add new evidence to a heated debate playing out in New York and across the country about how suspensions affect students, and whether dramatically reducing them could boost outcomes for students of color and those with disabilities, groups that are disproportionately suspended.

Read the full article about suspensions and academic problems by Alex Zimmerman at Chalkbeat.