The National Center for Youth Law’s (NCYL) 2025 report, In Harm’s Way: The Persistence of Unjust Discipline Experienced by California’s Students, outlines related trends, ongoing disparities and recommendations for improvement.
The report comes amid federal actions — including those that counter what the NCYL says are research-backed discipline reform efforts that have been implemented in the state — that aim to end diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives and efforts to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education and close key Office for Civil Rights offices. It also follows California’s implementation of Assembly Bill 274 in July 2024, which banned willful defiance suspensions in TK-12 schools through July 2029.
“The purpose of this descriptive report is to demonstrate that California’s educators continue to kick students out of school at disparate and high rates, mostly for minor misconduct, and that students in the foster system and those experiencing homelessness are being removed from school at far higher rates than others,” the report’s executive summary states. “Overall, this report documents that little progress has been made statewide since students returned to in-person schooling following the COVID-related school closures. Certain districts’ persistently high rates and widening disparities in exclusionary discipline raise very serious concerns.”
Findings
In 2023–24, the most recent year considered, California students had an average of 10.7 days of lost instruction per 100 students enrolled due to out-of-school suspensions. For those in the foster care system, it was 76.7 days lost per 100 enrolled, for students experiencing homelessness it was 29.1 days lost and for students with disabilities, it was 23.4 days lost.
“This means that students in the foster system, who are under the direct care of the state — lose nearly 67 more days, which is 7x the amount of learning loss, than the state average for all students. It is shocking that public school educators consistently punish those in the care of the state far more than any other group of students,” according to the NCYL. “These data raise serious doubts about the quality of care and support that youth in California’s foster system receive. The data presented also indicate that all three groups that educators suspend out-of-school most often benefitted the least from the state’s discipline reform efforts.”
Among foster and homeless youth and those with disabilities, African American students experienced higher rates of lost instruction than their peers at 121.8 days, 80.1 and 59.1 instructional days lost per 100 enrolled, respectively.
Of suspensions in 2023–24, 56 percent were for misconduct with no injuries, 18 percent were for a violent incident with injury, 15 percent were for weapons possession, 5 percent were for disruption/defiance, 3 percent were drug-related and 3 percent were categorized as “other.”
With these findings, the NCYL questions how the California Department of Education (CDE) is categorizing data on suspensions. According to the organization, the CDE’s “Violent Incident, No Injury” category (which it renamed “Misconduct, No Injury” for the purpose of its report), has replaced “Defiance/Disruption” as the top reason for suspensions.
“But here’s the catch: Violent Incident, No Injury is not among California’s codes of conduct. In fact, the category includes more than six different offense codes — some of which don’t involve violence, at all,” according to the analysis. “Violent Incident, No Injury is misleading because it includes suspensions for the offense code for use of obscenity, profanity, and vulgarity. Unfortunately, by lumping profanity and vulgarity in with numerous other codes of conduct, CDE has unintentionally created a vague conglomerate category that leads the public to believe that all the suspensions for this reported category are for violent conduct.”
After reviewing data from “several high suspending schools and districts,” the NCYL noted that students were most often suspended for allegedly violating a code related to committing an “obscene act” or engaging in “habitual profanity or vulgarity.”
The report includes district-level looks at the issue, including an overview of reform strategies used in Merced Union High School District to decrease the rate of lost instructional days for African American students. Some of the changes implemented including “a new emphasis among school leadership on the value of keeping students in school with a focus on problem-solving in place of punitive exclusion; implementing multi-tiered system of supports by hiring mental health clinicians and intervention coordinators at each school site; and actively using data to ensure that the students suspended most frequently in the past were getting proactive interventions and the behavioral supports they needed to succeed,” according to the executive summary.
Recommendations
Some of the NCYL’s recommendations to address unjust suspensions include seeking remedies for the causes of excessive and disparate discipline and investments by LEAs to better identify and support students with behavioral needs. The full list can be found in the report.
A corresponding data tool is available for a more in-depth look at the numbers presented in the report.
