Is There an Educational Penalty for Being Suspended from School?

Deborah Cobb-Clark, Sonja de New, Trinh Le, Duncan McVicar and Rong Zhang
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Rong Zhang: Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research

No 7794, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: Suspension from school is a commonly-used, yet controversial, school disciplinary measure. This paper uses unique survey data to estimate the impact of suspension on the educational outcomes of those suspended. It finds that while suspension is strongly associated with educational outcomes, the relationship is unlikely to be causal, but rather stems from differences in the characteristics of those suspended compared to those not suspended. Moreover, there is no evidence that suspension is associated with larger educational penalties for young people from disadvantaged family backgrounds compared to those from more advantaged family backgrounds. These results hold regardless of whether self-reported suspension or mother-reported suspension is considered. The absence of a negative causal impact of suspension on educational outcomes suggests that suspension may continue to play a role in school discipline without harming the educational prospects of those sanctioned.

Keywords: educational attainment; school suspension; school discipline; educational achievement; causal effect (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I24 I28 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 30 pages
Date: 2013-12
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Published - published in: Education Economics, 2015, 23 (4), 376-395

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Related works:
Journal Article: Is there an educational penalty for being suspended from school? (2015)
Working Paper: Is There an Educational Penalty for Being Suspended from School? (2013)
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