2014 Theses Doctoral

Out of Class and Off Track: High School Suspension in New York City

Chu, Elizabeth

Research suggests that suspensions are detrimental to students' socio-emotional and academic development and to the likelihood that they graduate from high school. This literature often describes the types of students who are suspended or the relationships between suspension and student outcomes, either through qualitative methods or quantitative methods that fail to adequately account for the differences between students who are and are not suspended. Using longitudinal administrative data from New York City, I build upon extant research by estimating the link between suspension and short-term academic outcomes within a student fixed effects framework. This approach eliminates unmeasured differences across students that are associated with both the likelihood of being suspended and important student outcomes. I then estimate the link between suspension and long-term academic outcomes using propensity score matching. I find that suspension is associated with increased absences and latenesses, and a decreased likelihood of passing courses the term in which the suspension occurred. Furthermore, suspension is associated with a lower likelihood of graduating within four, five, or six years, and a decreased likelihood of passing Regents exams.