While blacks make up 17% of the student population, they are 37% of the students penalized by out-of-school suspensions and 43% of those expelled

Black boys account for 9% of the nation’s student population, but comprise 24% of students suspended out of school and 30% of students expelled. A study found that black male middle school students are suspended at three times the rate of their white counterparts. For middle school girls, while they are suspended less frequently than males, black girls were more than four times as likely to be suspended as white girls. From the 2002-2003 school year to the 2006-2007 year, the number of out-of-school suspensions per black student increased by 8% and the number per Latino student increased by 14%, while the number of suspensions per white student actually decreased by 2%. While black children make up only 16% of this country’s juvenile population, they are 45% of all juvenile arrests. At the same time, black children only make up 4% of students enrolled in gifted classes and less than 3% enrolled in high school AP math and science.