Increasing the dialogue among stakeholders in New Jersey’s special education system

Preschoolers with Disabilities and School Discipline

  1. Black preschool students accounted for 18.2% of the total preschool enrollment but received 43.3% of one or more out-of-school suspensions;
  2. Black preschool students were expelled at rates that were more than twice their share (38.2%) of total preschool enrollment (18.2%); and
  3. Seven percent of the nation’s 1.5 million preschoolers were children with disabilities served under Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and were expelled at rates 2.5 times greater than their share of the total preschool population.

(*) Data from US Office on Civil Rights (2017-18)