Title page
Contents
Highlights 2
Letter 6
Background 10
Student Referrals to Police and Arrests Data 10
Police in Schools 12
Education and Justice Guidance Related to Discipline 13
Disparities in Arrest Rates Increased for Some Students as Race, Gender, and Disability Status Intersected, But Data Have Gaps 13
Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander, Black, and American Indian/Alaska Native Students, Particularly Those with Disabilities, Experienced Highest Arrest Rates 14
Education Did Not Timely Notify Districts about Its New Definition of Arrest, Which May Impact the Quality of the 2021-2022 Civil Rights Data 23
Nationwide, Student Arrest Rates Were More Than Twice as High in Schools Where Police Were Regularly Present 25
Regular Police Presence in Schools Was Associated with Higher Arrest Rates 26
Conclusions 29
Recommendations for Executive Action 29
Agency Comments and Our Evaluation 30
Appendix I: Objectives, Scope, and Methodology 32
Appendix II: Technical Appendix for Propensity Score Matching and Regression Analysis 38
Appendix III: Agency Comments 63
Appendix IV: GAO Contact and Staff Acknowledgements 66
Table 1. Examples of Guidance and Resources Related to Discipline and Policing in K-12 Schools from the Departments of Education and Justice 13
Table 2. Groups of Students with and without Disabilities in Our Analysis of the 2017-2018 Civil Rights Data Collection 20
Table 3. Outcome and Control Variables Used in the Logistic Regression to Generate Propensity Scores for Matching Analysis 42
Table 4. Created Variables Used for Propensity Score Matching and Regression Analysis 43
Table 5. Distribution of the Number of Times Control Schools Were Used in Matching 45
Table 6. Propensity Score Distribution Before and After Matching, Estimated with and without School Crime Survey Sampling Weights 46
Table 7. Distribution of School Characteristics Used in Matching Analysis 47
Table 8. Regression Results 54
Table 9. Differences in Estimated Incidence Rate Ratios across Alternative Model Specifications: Arrests 55
Table 10. Differences in Estimated Incidence Rate Ratios across Alternative Model Specifications: Referrals 57
Table 11. Arrest Model Statistics for Goodness of Fit Checks 59
Table 12. Referral Model Statistics for Goodness of Fit Checks 59
Figure 1. Rates of Arrests and Referrals to Police for K-12 Students by Race/Ethnicity Compared to Average Rates for All K-12 Students, School Year 2017-2018 15
Figure 2. Rates of Arrests and Referrals to Police for K-12 Students by Race and Gender Compared to Average Rates for All K-12 Students, School Year 2017-2018 18
Figure 3. Rates of Arrests and Referrals to Police for K-12 Students by Race, Gender, and Disability Status Compared to Average Rates for All K-12 Students,... 21