School Suspension and Expulsion

Suspension and expulsion, also called “exclusionary discipline,” result in a loss of learning time for excluded students. Students who have been suspended or expelled are more likely to fail courses, drop out of high school, and become involved in the juvenile justice system, any of which can limit future educational and employment opportunities. Some research suggests that schools with higher suspension rates may have worse performance even among students who are not suspended. 

In King County and elsewhere, racial bias has historically impacted which students are excluded. Analysis by the Community Center for Education Results shows that in South Seattle and South King County, Black students are more likely to be excluded than white students for the same infractions.  

During the 2021-2022 school year, 0.9% of students in King County school districts were subject to an out of school exclusionary disciplinary action, such as expulsion or suspension. During remote and hybrid learning due to the COVID-19 pandemic, rates of exclusionary discipline decreased drastically across grade, gender, race and ethnicity, primary language, school district, and special education status. While rates of exclusionary discipline remain lower than historical levels, inequities have persisted.  

• Trends: Exclusionary discipline fell from 3.1% in the 2013-2014 school year to 0.1% during the 2020-2021 school year, then increased to 0.9% in 2021-2022. A similar pattern was seen across grade, gender, race/ethnicity, language, special education status, and free lunch status. Among school districts, Renton School District saw the biggest decline in this time period, from 5.7% in 2013-2014 to 1.2% in 2021-2022.  

• Race and ethnicity: Black (2.7%) and American Indian/Alaska Native (2.7%) students were 3 times as likely as students in the county overall to receive exclusionary discipline, while Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander (1.9%) students were about twice as likely. White (0.6%) and Asian (0.2%) students were less likely to receive exclusionary discipline.  

• Homelessness: 3.1% of students experiencing homelessness received exclusionary discipline, over 3 times more than the rate of the county overall.  

• Language: 2.5% of students from families that spoke Somali at home received exclusionary discipline, higher than the County average. At 1.1%, students who spoke Spanish at home were also more likely to be suspended or expelled than King County average.   

• Special education: Students receiving special education services were over twice as likely as County average to be suspended or expelled, at 2.1%.  

• Low income: Students who were eligible for free and reduced price meals were twice as likely to experience exclusionary discipline as students in the county overall (1.8% compared to 0.9%).  

• School district: The Auburn School District suspended or expelled 2.4% of students, the highest of King County school districts. The Federal Way (2.0%), Highline (1.5%), Tahoma (1.4%), Renton (1.2%), and Seattle (1.2%) also had higher than average rates of exclusionary discipline.    

• Grade: Rates of exclusion are very low among elementary-school students and increase to a high of 2.0% among 8th graders before falling again for high schoolers (0.7%-1.7%). 

• Gender: Boys have about twice the rate of receiving exclusionary discipline as girls (1.1% compared to 0.6%).  

Notes & Sources

Source: Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) Data and Analytics: http://www.k12.wa.us/DataAdmin/PerformanceIndicators/DataAnalytics.aspx