Crime, Dropout, and Suspension Rates Plummet Since 2015 | Eastern North Carolina Now

Publisher's note: The author of this post is Terry Stoops for the John Locke Foundation.

    This week, the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction (DPI) released the 2018-19 Consolidated Data Report. The lengthy report contains data and information related to public school crime and violence, suspensions, expulsions, corporal punishment, student reassignments for disciplinary reasons, alternative learning placements, and dropout rates. Although geographic and demographic disparities exist, the news was overwhelmingly positive and rates are moving in the right direction.

    Consider these statistics from the N.C. Department of Public Instruction presentation of the Consolidated Data Report to the State Board of Education:

• The rate of reportable crimes has decreased for the third year in a row
• The number of long-term suspensions for ninth-grade students has decreased 63% since 2014-2015
• The number of students whose combined lengths of multiple short-term suspensions is at its lowest point since the 2014-2015 academic year
• The number of black students expelled has decreased by over 50% since 2014-2015
• Since the 2014-2015 academic year, there has been a sharp decrease in the number of long-term suspensions for students in each exceptionality category
• Since the 2014-2015 academic year, while there has been a sharp decrease in the number of short-term suspensions, there has been a steady increase in in-school suspensions
• While the North Carolina high school dropout rate for the 2018-2019 academic year decreased only a few points from the 2017-2018 dropout rate, since the 2008-2019 academic year, the dropout rate has decreased 46%

    I will discuss these in greater detail next week.