Dive Brief:

• A new study looking at the costs associated with suspending students in California finds that taxpayers are on the hook for billions of dollars each year due to the impact of suspensions, which can lower the high school graduation rate.
• California is actively attempting to reduce suspensions in general as part of a new accountability framework that takes factors other than test scores into account.
• The researchers found that suspension alone can reduce the overall graduation rate by more than 6%, according to EdSource.

Dive Insight:

California is likely not the only state losing money due to the cost of suspensions and zero-tolerance discipline policies that lead to more dropouts. The real costs of such policies, according to EdSource, take into account the lower earning potential of non high school graduates compared to their peers who do graduate and the resulting impact on the economy. 

Recent initiatives to curb the school-to-prison pipeline, including the Obama era program Rethinking Discipline, are impacting schools around the country. Among the solutions being employed to combat the problem are "resortative practices" that encourage educators to develop deeper relationships with at-risk students and try new approaches in dealing with disciplinary problems that focus on developing empathy and accepting responsibility. Across the country, districts are finding novel ways to deal with discipline problems that lessen their dependence on law enforcement or juvenile courts with the aim of reducing suspensions and increasing graduation rates.