The I-Team in New York City found minority students are indeed more likely than other students to be suspended or arrested.
Along with the NBC News Investigative Unit and the NBC-owned stations, the I-Team analyzed data collected from all public schools in the nation by the U.S. Department of Education. Called the Civil Rights Data Collection, every two years all public school districts are required to report to the Education Department on wide-ranging topics from suspensions and expulsions to arrests and referrals of students to law enforcement. Districts are also required to break down data by race and disability.
The I-Team crunched the numbers from the 2013-2014 school year, the most recent data available. The analysis found that nationally, black students and students with disabilities are suspended, expelled, arrested and referred to police at rates disproportionately higher than their white and non-disabled peers. Nationally, black students were nearly four times more likely than other students to be suspended. In the 2014-2014 school year, it happened to one-in-six black students compared to one-in-33 for other kids.
