Minority Overrepresentation in School Discipline

The Oregon Chapter of the ACLU released a report in 2010 on the "School to Prison Pipeline" in Oregon, which focuses on data showing that African-American, Latino and Native American students more often face exclusionary discipline -- suspension and expulsion -- relative to their Caucasian peers.  Read more here.

Juvenile Rights Project, Inc. (now, Youth, Rights & Justice) received juvenile violence prevention grants from the Oregon Criminal Justice Commission, administered by its Juvenile Justice Advisory Committee, in 2001-2002, 2003 and 2004.  The program provided legal representation to minority middle school students in the Portland Public Schools who were facing school expulsion.  The program was very successful in keeping these students in school.

The final grant year was spend producing a report and recommendations concerning the disproportionate school exclusion of minority students in Oregon schools.  This is the report:        

Eliminating the Achievement gap: Reducing
minority overrepresentation in school discipline

This project was supported by a Formula Grant Awarded by the federal Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, Office of Justice Programs, to the State of Oregon Criminal Justice Commission.           

The opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this publication/program/exhibition are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the U.S. Department of Justice.