SURPRISE! STUDENTS WHO MISBEHAVE A LOT GET DISCIPLINED MORE OFTEN THAN OTHER STUDENTS: It’s really stunning when one hears of school districts getting in trouble because they discipline disabled students at higher rates than non-disabled students. The problem is that we DEFINE students who chronically misbehave as “disabled.” So, of course, they get disciplined more often than non-disabled students. How could they not? Teachers have to maintain order in the classroom if any learning is to take place.  The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights held a briefing on this and other discipline-related topics recently. It had a certain Alice-in-Wonderland feel to it.

For my law review article of the racial aspects of the topic, read The Department of Education’s Obama-Era Initiative on Racial Disparities in School Discipline: Wrong for Students and Teachers, Wrong on the Law.