Christian LynchErrol D. Toulon, Jr.Jesus Soto CarilloElsa-Sofia MoroteDowling College

Effectiveness of Suspension on School Safety: Student Perceptions Based on

Suspension Status and Gender in Secondary Education in

Puerto Rico

Suspension effectivenessThis study investigated student perceptions

on the effectiveness of suspension on school safety among males, females, and suspended and non-suspended students.

The participants included 200 students (107 males and 93 female) in the Cumuy Public

School District in Puerto Rico at the secondary level

The populationThe participants included 37 students who have

beensuspended and 168 who have not been suspended.

The grade level for the students consisted of7th-grade students (35.5%), 8th-grade students

(22.5%), 9th-grade students (80%), 10th-gradestudents (.5%), and 12th-grade students (1.5%).

Fifteen students were less than 11 years of age,174 students were between the ages of 11 and 15,

and 11 students were between the ages of 16and 18.

Safety QuestionnaireThe researchers selected 5 items from a survey from

Carillo (2005) that pertain to school safety. Construct validity was performed using a factor analysis, which resulted in a reliability of 66.8%. Survey questions were used to measure students’ perceptions of school safety, which included five items:

School suspension is applied to solve minor infractions; In addition to the school principal, other faculty

members can make a suspension; School suspension enhances overall safety in the

school; School suspension enhances overall safety in the

community; School suspension is effective in enhancing parent

collaboration with the school. To identify student

Literature Review

Q 1: The Relationship between Family Income and Suspension Status.

A chi-square analysis was used to study the relationship between family income and student suspension rates. Please note all of the students are at risk. The chi-square analysis shows that in this selection of subjects, students from lower income families have a higher probability to be suspended than students from higher income families (p=0.096)

Q2: The relationship between gender and suspension status.

A chi-square analysis was used to study the relationship between gender and students suspension rates. The chi-square analysis shows that in this selection of subjects, there is a significant difference between gender and suspension, with males showing significantly higher

In this study 37 students were suspended, in which 24 were males and 13 were females.

Q3: Student perceptions of the effectiveness of school suspension between males, females,suspended and non-suspended students.

A 2x2 Anova was used to investigate student agreeableness of the five items of the questionnaire, relating to views on the effectiveness of suspension on safety.

Q3: Student perceptions of the effectiveness of school suspension between males, females,suspended and non-suspended students.

The results shows that non-suspended students display more agreeableness on the importance of suspension in promoting safety than suspended students, F(1, 241) = 5.268, p = .023.

However, for gender there was no significant difference between male and female students’ greeableness on the importance of suspension to promote safety, F(1, 241)= .364, p = .547.

DiscussionAccording to Considine and Zappala (2002), students

from lower income families display increased behavior problems when compared to students from higher income families.

students from lower income families may not take academic success as seriously as students from higher income families

The results show that there is a significant difference between suspension rates among males and females, with males showing higher suspension rates. According to Astor and Meyer (1999), most of the violent students in school are males. Further research supports this notion by indicating that girls have lower incidences of disruptive behavior compared to boys (Earle & Roach, 1989).

DiscussionThe results show that suspended students and

non-suspended students show a significant difference in their agreeableness on the importance of school suspension in promoting school safety. Non-suspended students display a higher level of agreeableness in the importance of school suspension in promoting school safety, than suspended students. There could be a variety of reasons for this significant difference.

However, it is good that students who have not been suspended view suspension as important, because it may prevent them from getting into trouble.