Profile picture
Samuel Sinyangwe @samswey
, 10 tweets, 4 min read Read on Twitter
STUDENTS: the US Dept of Education just released data on racial disparities in every school and school district in America (from preK-12). Here’s how you use the data to show if/how your school discriminates against black students and other marginalized groups. A thread.
First, lookup the most recent year of data available for your school and/or school district. Right now that’s data on the 2015-16 school year. Here’s where you go: ocrdata.ed.gov/DistrictSchool…
I’m going to demo this with my old HS, Winter Park High. Click your school and it will pull up basic info on students/teachers. On the right is the most important info: data on school discipline, policing in schools and whether all students have access to gifted/advanced courses.
Click on the Discipline Report on the right side and you’ll see which groups of students your school is most likely to suspend, expel, and refer to law enforcement. You can also see who’s more likely to be arrested at school using the “school related arrests” tab.
When you present data showing black students are more likely to be disciplined, you will inevitable find people who try to say that it’s because black students misbehave more. That’s a racist lie. Be prepared to shut them down with the facts: vox.com/2015/10/31/964…
Make sure you are intersectional in your analysis: black girls tend to be disciplined at particularly high rates compared to white girls and students with disabilities (defined as IDEA on the site) - especially students of color tend to be disciplined at the highest rates.
For example, you could say:
“The data shows black students are 10% of students at our school but 28% of those suspended. Research shows that disparities like this tend to be due to discriminatory school discipline policies, not student behavior. What’s your plan to address this?”
(Adding other statistics as appropriate and relevant to your school/the changes you want to see)
This database is a starting point. Ask for/collect more info too. Which infractions are students suspended for the most? Which teachers suspend students more? Who’s referring students to police and why? What’s your school’s policy on these things and how should it be changed?
Read about how other schools have taken action to address the issues you’ve identified. The Advancement Project / Dignity in Schools are good resources. Reach out to activists and organizations #onhere if you have questions. Share your insights with others, organize, take action.
Missing some Tweet in this thread?
You can try to force a refresh.

Like this thread? Get email updates or save it to PDF!

Subscribe to Samuel Sinyangwe
Profile picture

Get real-time email alerts when new unrolls are available from this author!

This content may be removed anytime!

Twitter may remove this content at anytime, convert it as a PDF, save and print for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video

1) Follow Thread Reader App on Twitter so you can easily mention us!

2) Go to a Twitter thread (series of Tweets by the same owner) and mention us with a keyword "unroll" @threadreaderapp unroll

You can practice here first or read more on our help page!

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just three indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member and get exclusive features!

Premium member ($3.00/month or $30.00/year)

Too expensive? Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal Become our Patreon

Thank you for your support!