News - Local
Minorities see punishment gap in Colorado schools
Posted: Jan 5, 2010 9:44 AM by Associated Press
Black and Latino children in Colorado schools are more likely than whites to face harsh punishments such as suspension or expulsion, The Denver Post reports.
The newspaper published an analysis Tuesday of state disciplinary records for the 2008-09 school year. The paper found that black students made up just 5.9 percent of all pupils, but 12.7 percent of the cases of suspension, expulsion or discipline for being disruptive.
Latino students were 28.4 percent of the students but 37 percent of the discipline cases.
There were bright spots in the data. From the 2000 school year to the 2008 school year, the percent of students disciplined in Colorado fell from 11.1 percent to 8.5 percent.
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