School Discipline & IDEA

The U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO) conducted a survey of 272 middle and high schools regarding discipline and IDEA. In general, the principals of those schools found that IDEA discipline policies had a good or no effect on school safety and orderliness. The GAO concluded that IDEA has a limited role in affecting proper school discipline, according to the principals included in the study.

The results of the study are contained in a new report, School Discipline: Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (GAO Report 01-210), released on January 25, 2001. The report was prepared for the Committees on Appropriations, U.S. Senate and House of Representatives.

The GAO findings include -

• On a school-by-school basis, students with disabilities were involved in fewer incidents of serious misconduct. However, on a per pupil basis students with disabilities were involved in more such incidents.
  
• All students who are involved in serious misconduct incidents were disciplined similarly, regardless of whether they had a disability or not.
  
• Sixty percent of all of students involved in misconduct were given out-of-school suspension.
  
• The length of the suspension was similar for all students.
  
• Less than half of the students in both groups received educational services during their suspensions.

Copies of the report are available online at http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d01210.pdf or from GAO's Document Distribution Center, 202-512-6000.