In a study funded by the Spencer Foundation, Dr. Janet Rosenbaum at SUNY Downstate School of Public Health found that 12 years after a first suspension (ages 25-32), suspended youth were less likely than non-suspended youth to have earned bachelor’s degrees or high school diplomas, and were more likely to have been arrested and on probation.
The Spencer Foundation funded Lydia Fu MPH ‘22 and JAMA illustrator Emily Ling to create and produce a short animated film with graphics breaking down Dr. Rosenbaum’s research findings and outcomes Thanks to funding from the Spencer Foundation, former MPH student, Lydia Fu, and JAMA illustrator Emily Ling created and produced a short animated film with graphics breaking down Dr. Rosenbaum’s research findings and outcomes. Suspensions and expulsions, or exclusionary discipline, stem from zero-tolerance policies from the 1990s to address school crime related to weapons and drugs. Although the use of exclusionary discipline, out-of-school suspensions, has recently decreased, inequities remain in suspension rates between White students and Black students. Research has correlated school suspension with an increased risk of worse adult outcomes. This video will explore Dr. Janet Rosenbaum’s research on the long-term outcomes for young adults who had been suspended during high school compared with young adults with similar backgrounds who were never suspended.