New research outlines how suspensions, expulsions, and school-based law enforcement referrals disproportionately remove Black boys from classrooms and increase their likelihood of justice system involvement.
The U.S. Commission on the Social Status of Black Men and Boys (CSSBMB) released its 2025 Annual Report on January 16, highlighting the school-to-prison pipeline. The report featured multiple key findings. Some of them include how racial disparities in school discipline are driven by differential treatment and sorting, rather than differences in student behavior, and how Black male preschoolers in southern states face disproportionately high rates of suspension and expulsion.
These findings pointed out racist flaws embedded in the early education system of Black boys, hindering their academic growth. “Our mission is clear: to create a future where every young man can reach his full potential, free from systemic obstacles that have historically held them back,” said Florida Rep. Frederica S. Wilson, who is also CSSBMB commissioner.
The contents of the report go deeply into the history of the school-to-prison pipeline. During the 1980s and 1990s, the report said, ideas and rhetoric about tough-on-crime punishment began to surface in response to an increase in juvenile crime and high-profile school shootings at the time.
“This fueled a perception of schools as unsafe environments and students as dangerous individuals requiring strict control,” the report reads. “[I]n response, policymakers and school officials, seeking quick solutions to these concerns, adopted ‘tough-on-crime’ approaches from the justice system. Consequently, schools began to adopt approaches similar to those used in the criminal justice system to handle both serious and minor student misbehavior.”
Even in infancy, Black boys face discrimination and neglect in the educational system. Studies following Black boys from pre-K to adulthood reveal the importance of this stage of developmental learning.
The High/Scope Perry Preschool Project followed 123 low-income Back students aged 3–4 through adulthood, aiming to determine the effect of pre-school on life outcomes. Students were randomly placed into control groups and research groups. Students in the research group received pre-K education while students in the control group did not.
“In terms of education, 65% of the program participants graduated from regular high school, compared to only 45% in the non-program group,” according to the findings. “The difference was even more pronounced among females, with 84% of program participants graduating compared to 32% in the non-program group. “Program participants also consistently outperformed their peers on intellectual and language tests during their preschool years up to age seven, as well as on school achievement tests at ages nine, 10, and 14, and literacy tests at ages 19 and 27.”
Studies like this show the importance of early education and make the statistics on expulsion rates all the more outrageous.
According to the report, Black male preschoolers account for only 9% of all preschoolers but 20% of all expulsions.
The report does offer some suggestions for mitigating these issues and finding alternatives to out-of-school suspension and expulsion.
In School Suspension (ISS) programs can start offering additional academic, social, and behavioral support instead of out-of-school suspension. Communities can also begin implementing service programs intended to improve student behavior inside and outside the classroom. Schools can also implement progressive school discipline programs.
“Teachers, administrators, school boards, unions[,] and parents should develop a collective, agreed[-]upon comprehensive matrix that addresses a variety of student behavior ranging from small acts of defiance (classroom disruption, nuisance behaviors) to more troublesome acts of delinquency.”
According to CSSBMB Director Mark Spencer, “Education was meant to be a gateway to opportunity, not a sorting mechanism that determines who is punished and who is protected.”