Analyzing student-level disciplinary data: A guide for districts

Title:	Analyzing student-level disciplinary data: A guide for districts
Description:	The purpose of this report is to help guide districts in analyzing their own student-level disciplinary data to answer important questions about the use of disciplinary actions. This report, developed in collaboration with the Regional Educational Laboratory Northeast and Islands Urban School Improvement Alliance, provides information to district personnel about how to analyze their student-level data and answer questions about the use of disciplinary actions, such as whether these actions are disproportionately applied to some student subgroups, and whether there are differences in student academic outcomes across the types of disciplinary actions that students receive. This report identifies several considerations that should be accounted for prior to conducting any analysis of student-level disciplinary data. These include defining all data elements to be used in the analysis, establishing rules for transparency (including handling missing data), and defining the unit-of-analysis. The report also covers examples of descriptive analyses that can be conducted by districts to answer questions about their use of the disciplinary actions. SPSS syntax is provided to assist districts in conducting all of the analyses described in the report. The report will help guide districts to design and carry out their own analyses, or to engage in conversations with external researchers who are studying disciplinary data in their districts.
Online Availability:	Download, view and print the report as a pdf file. (2.8MB)
Cover Date:	March 2017
Web Release:	March 29, 2017
Print Release:	March 29, 2017
Publication #:	REL 2017263 General Ordering Information
Center/Program:	REL
Associated Centers:	NCEE
Authors:	Anthony Petrosino, Trevor Fronius, and Cailean C. Goold: WestEd; Daniel J. Losen: Independent Consultant; Herbert M. Turner: ANALYTICA, Inc.
Type of Product:	Applied Research Methods
Keywords:	Data Interpretation Data Use School Districts Schools • safety and discipline Students • social factors • student characteristics
Questions:	For questions about the content of this Applied Research Methods, please contact: Amy Johnson.