Highlights
Record Level: student x incident x year
Record Count: 111,000 records/year
Years Covered: 2011-present
Population Coverage: public school students in Michigan
The State of Michigan provides discipline data in a single dataset that includes all reported disciplinary incidents in Michigan schools from 2011 to present. Suspensions are required to be reported in all years for students with IEPs, and expulsions are required to be reported in all years for all students.
There is a large increase in reporting starting in the 2017-2018 school year, when reporting suspensions for all students became mandatory for all Michigan schools. However, this policy ended after the 2017-2018 school year, so beginning in 2018-2019 schools were no longer required (but were still encouraged) to report suspensions for students without an IEP. In all years, schools were able to voluntarily report suspensions for students without an IEP. A suspension is an event resulting in a student’s removal from their usual education setting for one half of the school day or longer.
The raw data included identifiers such as student Id (RIC), school year, school and district code; incident date, and type of incident; type and length of disciplinary action; and any administrative follow up to address the incident (e.g. referred to mental health agency). These data are intended to be unique at the student x year x incident level, but additional de-duplication will be required to get the data to this level of uniqueness as an explicit incident identifier is not provided. Evidence suggests deduplication can be accomplished by grouping at the student x year x school x district x incident date level.
Incident reporting changes after the 2010-11 school year, with 34 incident types used in 2010-11, but only 12 aggregated types used in the subsequent years. Definitions of each can be seen in the tables below. The majority of incidents in each year are coded under the “Other” designation. In addition, each incident is assigned to 1 of 5 disciplinary actions (in-school suspension, out-of-school suspension, removal by hearing officer, unilateral removal, and expulsion). Definitions of each can be seen in the tables below. While there are some guidelines and requirements around the severity of the disciplinary action, in many cases this is left to school/teacher discretion. Researchers should note that there are no disciplinary codes in the 2010-11 school year.
Out-of-school suspensions are the most common type of disciplinary action, encompassing approximately 75% of disciplinary actions across years. In-school suspensions account for an additional roughly 22-25% of disciplinary actions, and expulsions account for 1-2% of disciplinary actions. There are very few instances of unilateral removal or removal by a hearing officer.
Data Quality & Summary
There are a number of unique features of the discipline data that researchers should note. First, as mentioned above, there are no disciplinary codes for the 2010-11 school year, so those values will show up as missing for those years. There is no missingness for disciplinary codes in other years. There is no missingness on the incident codes across years (though most incidents are coded in the “Other” category). The length of the disciplinary action (ranging from 0.5 days to 888 days) is missing for 2010-11, but there is no missingness in other years.
Second, reporting of suspensions for students without IEPs was only mandatory for schools in the 2017-18 school year, but schools could report this voluntarily before and after, which led to a large increase in suspensions in 2017-18 and a decrease thereafter. There is also a large decrease in incidents reported in the 2020-2021 school year, which is likely related to the COVID-19 pandemic and virtual schooling.
Finally, the US Department of Education collects school-level aggregate data on discipline through the Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC). These data are collected every other year and are collected for students both with and without disabilities. School districts report these data directly to the Office for Civil Rights (OCR), so there is no guaranteed relationship between the data reported to CEPI for inclusion in the K-12 discipline dataset and the data found in the CRDC. These data are the most correlated in 2017-18, when disciplinary incidences were required for all students (r=0.84 for out-of-school suspensions (OSS) and r=0.75 for in-school suspensions (ISS)). In general, however, correlations are high across years for students with IEPS (r~0.85 for OSS and r~0.75 for ISS), but low for students without IEPs in years where reporting for students without IEPs was not required (r~0.15).
Current reporting guidelines for incident types (post 2010-11):
| Incident Type | Description |
|---|---|
| Firearm Possession - Handgun | Use or possession of a firearm that has a short stock and is designed to be held and fired by the use of a single hand. |
| Firearm Possession - Rifle/Shotgun | Use of a weapon designed or redesigned, made or remade, and intended to be fired from the shoulder, and designed or redesigned and made or remade to use the energy of an explosive to fire through a smooth bore either a number of or a single projectile. |
| Firearm Possession - Other than Handgun, Rifle or Shotgun | Use of a firearm other than a handgun or a rifle/shotgun, including any weapon converted to expel a projectile, any explosive, incendiary, poison gas, bomb, grenade, rocket/missile, mine or similar device. |
| Other Weapon Possession | Use of a dagger, dirk, stiletto, knife with blade over three inches in length (NOTE: For students with an active IEP the blade measurement is two and one-half inches or longer), pocket knife opened by mechanical device, iron bar or brass knuckles. |
| Illicit Drug | Possession or use of marijuana, hashish or other cannabinoids on school grounds. Possession or use of other illicit drugs on school grounds. Being under the influence of marijuana or illicit drugs on school grounds. Possession or use of prescription drugs that the student does not have a prescription for. Inappropriate use of medication on school grounds. Trafficking or possession for sale of marijuana or other illicit drugs on school grounds. |
| Alcohol | Possession or use of alcohol on school grounds. Being under the influence of alcohol on school grounds. |
| Bomb or Similar Threat | Any threat (verbal, written or electronic) by a person to bomb or use other substances or devices for the purpose of exploding, burning or causing damage to a school building or school property, or to harm students or staff. |
| Arson | To unlawfully and intentionally damage, or attempt to damage, any real or personal property by fire or incendiary device. |
| Other | Behaviors not covered by another code that result in disciplinary action. |
| Physical Violence with injury | Injury in which one or more students, school personnel or other persons on school grounds require professional medical attention. Examples include stab or bullet wounds, concussions, fractured or broken bones, or cuts requiring stitches. |
| Physical Violence without injury | Confrontation, tussle or physical aggression that does not result in injury. |
| Tobacco | Tobacco possession or use on school grounds. |
Disciplinary Action Descriptions
| Disciplinary Action | Description |
|---|---|
| In-School Suspension | Instances in which a student is temporarily removed from their regular classroom(s) for disciplinary purposes but remains under the direct supervision of school personnel. Direct supervision means a school staff member is physically in the same location as students under its supervision. |
| Out-of-School Suspension | Instances in which a child is temporarily removed from their regular school for disciplinary purposes to another setting (e.g., home, behavior center). For students with disabilities receiving special education programs or services, this includes both removals in which no IEP services are provided because the removal is 10 days or less and removals in which the child continues to receive services according to their IEP. Suspensions must be less than 60 days in duration. |
| Removal By Hearing Officer | (Special education participants only) Instances in which an impartial hearing officer orders the removal of a child with disabilities from their current educational placement to an appropriate alternative educational setting for not more than 45 school days based on the hearing officer’s determination that maintaining the child’s current placement is substantially likely to result in injury to the child or others. The IEP team is responsible for determining the interim alternative educational setting. |
| Unilateral Removal | (Special education participants only) Instances in which school personnel (not the IEP team) order the removal of children with disabilities from their current educational placement to an appropriate interim alternative educational setting for not more than 45 school days. The IEP team is responsible for determining the interim alternative educational setting. Unilateral removals do not include decisions by the IEP team to change a student’s placement. |
| Expulsion | Instances in which the local educational agency removes a child from their regular school for disciplinary purposes for the remainder of the school year or longer in accordance with local educational agency policy. Include removals resulting from violations of the Gun-Free Schools Act that are modified to less than one year (365 days). Expulsions may be reported when the duration of days removed are 60 or more |
Codebook
| Category Sort descending | Variable | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Category: Advanced Placement Exams | Variable: PHYSEMGR |
Description: Physics C: Electricity and Magnetism: Exam Score |
| Category: Advanced Placement Exams | Variable: COMSCAGR |
Description: Computer Science A: Exam Score |
| Category: Advanced Placement Exams | Variable: ART3DGR |
Description: Studio Art: 3-D Design Portfolio: Exam Score |
| Category: Advanced Placement Exams | Variable: SPANLTGR |
Description: Spanish Literature and Culture: Exam Score |
| Category: Advanced Placement Exams | Variable: PSYCHGR |
Description: Psychology: Exam Score |
| Category: Advanced Placement Exams | Variable: ENVSCIGR |
Description: Environmental Science: Exam Score |
| Category: Advanced Placement Exams | Variable: CALCBCGR |
Description: Calculus BC: Exam Score |
| Category: Advanced Placement Exams | Variable: ARTSTDGR |
Description: Studio Art: Drawing Portfolio: Exam Score |
| Category: Advanced Placement Exams | Variable: USHISTGR |
Description: United States History: Exam Score |
| Category: Advanced Placement Exams | Variable: EURHISGR |
Description: European History: Exam Score |
| Category: Advanced Placement Exams | Variable: GOVUSGR |
Description: United States Government and Politics: Exam Score |
| Category: Advanced Placement Exams | Variable: GOVCOMGR |
Description: Comparative Government and Politics: Exam Score |
| Category: Advanced Placement Exams | Variable: LATINVGR |
Description: Latin Vergil: Exam Score |
| Category: Advanced Placement Exams | Variable: SPANLAGR |
Description: Spanish Language: Exam Score |
| Category: Advanced Placement Exams | Variable: COMSCPGR |
Description: Computer Science Principles: Exam Score |
| Category: Advanced Placement Exams | Variable: ECONMAGR |
Description: Macroeconomics: Exam Score |
| Category: Advanced Placement Exams | Variable: CALCABGR |
Description: Calculus AB: Exam Score |
| Category: Advanced Placement Exams | Variable: ARTST2GR |
Description: Studio Art: 2-D Design Portfolio: Exam Score |
| Category: Advanced Placement Exams | Variable: FRNLANGR |
Description: French Language and Culture: Exam Score |
| Category: Advanced Placement Exams | Variable: CHINESGR |
Description: Chinese Language and Culture: Exam Score |
| Category: Advanced Placement Exams | Variable: LATINCGR |
Description: Latin: Exam Score |
| Category: Advanced Placement Exams | Variable: PHYS1GR |
Description: Physics 1: Exam Score |
| Category: Advanced Placement Exams | Variable: COMSCBGR |
Description: Computer Science B: Exam Score |
| Category: Advanced Placement Exams | Variable: JAPANGR |
Description: Japanese Language and Culture: Exam Score |
| Category: Advanced Placement Exams | Variable: FRENLTGR |
Description: French Literature: Exam Score |
| Category: Advanced Placement Exams | Variable: PHYSMGR |
Description: Physics C: Mechanics: Exam Score |
| Category: Advanced Placement Exams | Variable: BIOLGR |
Description: Biology: Exam Score |
| Category: Advanced Placement Exams | Variable: PHYSBGR |
Description: Physics B: Exam Score |
| Category: Advanced Placement Exams | Variable: CPSTNSGR |
Description: AP Capstone Seminar: Exam Score |
| Category: Advanced Placement Exams | Variable: MUSICTGR |
Description: Music Theory: Exam Score |
| Category: Advanced Placement Exams | Variable: ITALGR |
Description: Italian Language and Culture: Exam Score |
| Category: Advanced Placement Exams | Variable: PHYS2GR |
Description: Physics 2: Exam Score |
| Category: Advanced Placement Exams | Variable: CPSTNRGR |
Description: AP Capstone Research: Exam Score |
| Category: Advanced Placement Exams | Variable: WDHISTGR |
Description: World History: Exam Score |
| Category: Advanced Placement Exams | Variable: GERLAGR |
Description: German Language and Culture: Exam Score |
| Category: Advanced Placement Exams | Variable: ENGLITGR |
Description: English Literature and Composition: Exam Score |
| Category: Advanced Placement Exams | Variable: ARTHISGR |
Description: Art History: Exam Score |
| Category: Advanced Placement Exams | Variable: ECONMIGR |
Description: Microeconomics: Exam Score |
| Category: Advanced Placement Exams | Variable: ENGLANGR |
Description: English Language and Composition: Exam Score |
| Category: Advanced Placement Exams | Variable: CHEMGR |
Description: Chemistry: Exam Score |
| Category: Advanced Placement Exams | Variable: STATGR |
Description: Statistics: Exam Score |
| Category: Advanced Placement Exams | Variable: HUMGEOGR |
Description: Human Geography: Exam Score |
| Category: All | Variable: ISD_NAME |
Description: Intermediate school district name (EEM). |
| Category: All | Variable: SUBMITTING_SCHOOL_CODE | Description: |
| Category: All | Variable: START_YEAR |
Description: The calendar year in which the school year began. |
| Category: All | Variable: MOECS_EDUCATOR_ID |
Description: A unique identification code assigned to educators when they enter their information in MOECS for the first time, to keep the anonymity of the staff. |
| Category: All | Variable: SCHOOL_OPEN_DATE |
Description: The actual opening date of the school or when it begins to do business. |
| Category: All | Variable: ENTITY_TYPE |
Description: Description of Entity Type which indicates whether the school/entity that the staff is assigned to, is private, charter, public, state-run, etc. |
| Category: All | Variable: OPERATIONAL_DISTRICT_CODE |
Description: The official state assigned five digit code denoting the district of the entity held accountable for the student's graduation status. |
| Category: All | Variable: SCHOOL_NAME |
Description: The name as assigned to the building in the official Educational Entity Master (EEM). |
| Category: All | Variable: EMPLOYED_DISTRICT_CODE |
Description: The official state assigned five digit code denoting the district that the educator is employed by. |
| Category: All | Variable: EMPLOYED_ISD_CODE |
Description: The state-assigned five-digit number, as recorded in the Educational Entity Master (EEM), that identifies the intermediate school district (ISD) or educational service agency (ESA) in which the district or program is located. This is the ISD that the educator is employed by. |
| Category: All | Variable: ASSIGNED_ISD_NAME |
Description: The name, as recorded in the Educational Entity Master (EEM), that identifies the intermediate school district (ISD) or educational service agency (ESA) in which the district or program is located. This is the ISD that the educator is assigned to. |
| Category: All | Variable: SCHOOL_CLOSE_DATE |
Description: the actual closing date of the entity or the date the entity ceased to do business. |
| Category: All | Variable: EMPLOYED_DISTRICT_NAME |
Description: The official district name denoting the district that the educator is employed by. |
| Category: All | Variable: ASSIGNED_DISTRICT_CODE |
Description: The official state assigned five digit code denoting the district that the educator is assigned to. |
| Category: All | Variable: BUILDING_CODE |
Description: The five-digit code as assigned to the building in the official Educational Entity Master (EEM). Note: This field has a value ONLY for data from General collection or SRM, but may be NULL for pre-K special ed. |
| Category: All | Variable: DISTRICT_CODE |
Description: The state-assigned five-digit number, as recorded in the Educational Entity Master (EEM), which identifies the public school district responsible for providing education to the reported student. Note: This field has a value ONLY for data from General collection or SRM. |
| Category: All | Variable: LAST_COLLECTION_NAME |
Description: The collection in which the student was last reported by any district. |
| Category: All | Variable: FIRST_COLLECTION_NAME |
Description: First MSDS Collection in which the student was assigned to a graduation cohort. |
| Category: All | Variable: LAST_COLLECTION_ID |
Description: Code associated with the collection in which the student was last reported by any district. |
| Category: All | Variable: FIRST_COLLECTION_ID |
Description: Code associated with the first MSDS Collection in which the student was assigned to a graduation cohort. |
| Category: All | Variable: COLLECTION_SCHOOL_YEAR |
Description: The academic school year in which the course was completed by the student. |
| Category: All | Variable: SCHOOL_YEAR |
Description: The start and end years of the schoolyear that the student attended / received services during the collection used for this record. |
| Category: All | Variable: OPERATIONAL_ISD_NAME |
Description: The name, as recorded in the Educational Entity Master (EEM), that identifies the intermediate school district (ISD) or educational service agency (ESA) in which the district or program is located. |
| Category: All | Variable: SCHOOL_CODE |
Description: The entity code assigned to the School or Facility (Building) held accountable for the student's graduation status. |
| Category: All | Variable: OPERATIONAL_DISTRICT_NAME |
Description: The official district name denoting the district of the entity held accountable for the student's graduation status. |
| Category: All | Variable: SCHOOL_NAME |
Description: The official name assigned to the School or Facility (Building) type of entity held accountable for the student's graduation status. |
| Category: All | Variable: REPORTING_PERIOD |
Description: Description of the reporting period (school year, fall, spring) that the data represents. |
| Category: All | Variable: RIC |
Description: The unique student identifier--Research Identification Code. |
| Category: All | Variable: IHE_SUBMITTED_SESSION_END_DATE |
Description: The date identifying the end of the academic session as submitted by the college. |
| Category: All | Variable: OPERATIONAL_DISTRICT_CODE |
Description: The state-assigned five-digit number, as recorded in the Educational Entity Master (EEM). |
| Category: All | Variable: SCHOOL_YEAR |
Description: The school year that the data represents. |
| Category: All | Variable: SESSION_END_DATE |
Description: The date identifying the end of the academic session as determined by CEPI, based on the IHE's submitted Session Begin and End dates. Prior to the availability of the session begin and end dates in 2016-17, NSC records used the enrollment end date as reported to NSC. |
| Category: All | Variable: SESSION_NAME |
Description: The academic term for which the data are being reported, as determined by CEPI, based on the IHE's submitted Session Begin and End dates. Example: Fall |
| Category: All | Variable: IPEDS_CODE |
Description: IPEDS (Integrated Postsecondary Education Data Systems) IHE identification code. |
| Category: All | Variable: SESSION_BEGIN_DATE |
Description: The date identifying the start of the academic session as determined by CEPI, based on the IHE's submitted Session Begin and End dates. Prior to the availability of session begin and end dates in 2016-17, this field was derived from the submitted Session Designator, which was the session start month and year. |
| Category: All | Variable: SCHOOL_YEAR_ENROLLED |
Description: The school year during which the student is enrolled. Example: 2016-2017 |
| Category: All | Variable: IHE_NAME |
Description: Institution of Higher Education (IHE) Official Name. |
| Category: All | Variable: IHE_SUBMITTED_SESSION_BEGIN_DATE |
Description: The date identifying the start of the academic session as submitted by the college. |
| Category: All | Variable: YEAR_SESSION |
Description: A combination of the school year enrolled and the session name. Example: 2011-2012 Fall |
| Category: All | Variable: RIC |
Description: The unique student identifier--Research Identification Code. |
| Category: All | Variable: SCHOOL_START_YEAR_ENROLLED |
Description: The numeric start year of the school year during which the student is enrolled. Example: 2016 |
| Category: All | Variable: OPERATIONAL_ISD_NAME |
Description: The name, as recorded in the Educational Entity Master (EEM), that identifies the Intermediate School District (ISD) or Educational Service Agency (ESA) in which the district or program is located. |
| Category: All | Variable: OPERATIONAL_DISTRICT_NAME |
Description: The name, as recorded in the Educational Entity Master (EEM). |
| Category: All | Variable: OPERATIONAL_ISD_CODE |
Description: The state-assigned two-digit number, as recorded in the Educational Entity Master (EEM), that identifies the Intermediate School District (ISD) or Educational Service Agency (ESA) in which the district or program is located. |
| Category: All | Variable: EMPLOYED_ISD_NAME |
Description: The name, as recorded in the Educational Entity Master (EEM), that identifies the intermediate school district (ISD) or educational service agency (ESA) in which the district or program is located. This is the ISD that the educator is employed by. |
| Category: All | Variable: OPEN_DATE |
Description: The actual opening date of the entity or when it begins to do business. |
| Category: All | Variable: LONGITUDE |
Description: The longitude coordinate of the physical location of the entity. |
| Category: All | Variable: LATITUDE |
Description: The latitude coordinate of the physical location of the entity. |
| Category: All | Variable: COLLECTION |
Description: Collection Period of the observation. Example: EOY 2017 |
| Category: All | Variable: CLOSE_DATE |
Description: The actual closing date of the entity. Blank if Entity is open or data is unavailable. |
| Category: All | Variable: START_YEAR |
Description: The numeric start year of the school year during which the data was collected. Example: 2016 |
| Category: All | Variable: DISTRICT_NAME |
Description: Operational District Name |
| Category: All | Variable: DISTRICT_CODE |
Description: Operational District Code (i.e., the Employing District) |
| Category: All | Variable: START_YEAR |
Description: The calendar year in which the school year began. |
| Category: All | Variable: ISD_CODE |
Description: Operational Intermediate School District Code |
| Category: All | Variable: ISD_NAME |
Description: Operational Intermediate School District Name |
| Category: All | Variable: SCHOOL_CODE |
Description: The five-digit code as assigned to the building in the official Educational Entity Master (EEM). Otherwise known as Building Code. Building codes 00000 identify the administrative units. |
| Category: All | Variable: ASSIGNED_DISTRICT_NAME |
Description: The official district name denoting the district that the educator is assigned to. |