Missing out on instruction time can have a devastating impact on educational outcomes for students, particularly time lost due to suspensions. Research has demonstrated that losing instruction time can affect reading achievement and that suspensions are an important predictor of graduation rates and involvement with the juvenile justice system. In a new study, spearheaded by the Center for Civil Rights Remedies at UCLA’s Civil Rights Project, researchers determined that students in Massachusetts are missing an alarming number of day of instruction due to discipline, and black students and students with disabilities bearing the brunt of this loss of opportunity to learn. Using school discipline data from the state, this report argues for systemic reform in discipline and calls on the state to use “days of lost instruction” as an accountability measure to evaluate schools.

The data used in this research can be downloaded here