Research indicates that suspensions are ineffective in changing behavior, harmful to students academically and socially, and used in biased ways that target students of color, students with disabilities, and students from low-income families. In The Children’s Agenda’s Sept. 2024 poll, parents told us what concerns them most about exclusionary discipline and the guardrails they would like to see regarding the use of suspensions.

While concern that their own child may be suspended varied demographically, parents’ support for alternative approaches to school discipline and additional school funding for these initiatives was consistent.