My colleagues (Frank Harris III and Tyrone Howard) and I recently released a new report titled Get Out! Black Male Suspensions in California Public Schools. The report is a collaboration between the Community College Equity Assessment Lab (CCEAL) at San Diego State University and the UCLA Black Male Institute. In the report, we highlight the egregious disparities that our black males face in California's public schools, where they are systematically targeted for exclusion via suspensions and expulsions. We identify counties and districts that represent "the most dangerous learning spaces for black males in the state" based on how black males are subjected to exclusionary (segregating) practices.

Some of our key findings include:

The statewide suspension rate for black males is 3.6 times greater than that of the statewide rate for all students. Specifically, while 3.6 percent of all students were suspended in 2016–2017, the suspension rate for black boys and young men was 12.8 percent.
The highest suspension disparity by grade level occurs in early childhood education (Grades K through 3) where black boys are 5.6 times more likely to be suspended than the state average.
Black male students who are classified as “foster youth” are suspended at noticeably high rates, at 27.4 percent. Across all analyses, black males who were foster youth in seventh and eighth grade represented the subgroup that had the highest percentage of black male suspensions, at 41.0 percent.
The highest total suspensions occurred in large urban counties, such as Los Angeles County, Sacramento County, San Bernardino County, Riverside County and Contra Costa County. In fact, these five counties alone account for 61 percent of black male suspensions.
The highest suspension rates for black males occur in rural counties that have smaller black male enrollments. In 2016–2017, Glenn County led the state in black male suspensions at 42.9 percent.

We titled the report GET OUT! for two reasons. First, to illuminate a typical phrase used to eject black children from the classroom: "Get out!" or "Get out of here!" This is a statement of disdain, disregard and disrespect that is too often rendered to our black males by those who are responsible for building them up.

Second, to acknowledge the movie Get Out by Jordan Peele, where the main character is put into the "sunken place" by his captors. Peele has noted that the sunken place refers to "systemic oppression" where we're marginalized. No matter how hard we scream, the system silences us. For many of our black boys in California schools, they face educational oppression, and no matter how hard they try to free themselves from racist practices, they feel silenced. But, just as in the movie where a flash of light can help to liberate them from their captivity, we hope this report can bring light to the darkness for our black boys and young men.

jlukewood

Writing since December 2017 · 1 story contributed