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 TypeDescription
Firearm Possession - HandgunUse 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/ShotgunUse 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 ShotgunUse 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 PossessionUse 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 DrugPossession 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.
AlcoholPossession or use of alcohol on school grounds. Being under the influence of alcohol on school grounds.
Bomb or Similar ThreatAny 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.
ArsonTo unlawfully and intentionally damage, or attempt to damage, any real or personal property by fire or incendiary device.
OtherBehaviors not covered by another code that result in disciplinary action.
Physical Violence with injuryInjury 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 injuryConfrontation, tussle or physical aggression that does not result in injury.
TobaccoTobacco possession or use on school grounds.

Disciplinary Action Descriptions

Disciplinary ActionDescription
In-School SuspensionInstances 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 SuspensionInstances 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.
ExpulsionInstances 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

Showing 201 - 300 of 1138 results
Category Variable Description
Category: Assessment Score Variable: SCI_RSCH_Z_SCORE Description: 

A standardized score assigned to each student that describes each students relationship to the mean of all students with a score.
Category: Assessment Score Variable: SOC_THETA_SE Description: 

The Theta standard error for the social studies portion of the assessment.
Category: Assessment Score Variable: SCI_OVERALL_AGP Description: 

The adequate growth percentile (AGP) for the science portion of the assessment.
Category: Assessment Score Variable: MTH_PL_NAME Description: 

The performance level name for the mathematics portion of the assessment.
Category: Assessment Score Variable: SCI_SGP_LEVEL_DESC Description: 

The student growth percentile (SGP) description for the science portion of the assessment.
Category: Assessment Score Variable: RDG_PL_CHANGE Description: 

Performance level change is used to compare student performance from year to year for the reading portion of the assessment . Transition categories are: Significant Decline, Decline, Maintaining, Improvement, or Significant Improvement. Abbreviations are not used in this field, rather the actual descriptions are used.
Category: Assessment Score Variable: WRI_SS Description: 

The scaled score for the writing portion of the assessment.
Category: Assessment Score Variable: WRI_SS_SE Description: 

The scaled score standard error for the writing portion of the assessment.
Category: Assessment Score Variable: SOC_SS Description: 

The scaled score for the social studies portion of the assessment.
Category: Assessment Score Variable: MTH_PL_RANGE Description: 

A distinction which further differentiates whether the student was Low, Mid or High within their designated performance level for the mathematics portion of the assessment.
Category: Assessment Score Variable: MTH_SGP_LEVEL_DESC Description: 

The student growth percentile (SGP) description for the mathematics portion of the assessment.
Category: Assessment Score Variable: SCI_PL_NAME Description: 

The performance level name for the science portion of the assessment.
Category: Assessment Score Variable: ELA_SGP Description: 

The student growth percentile (SGP) for the English language arts portion of the assessment.
Category: Assessment Score Variable: RDG_PL_NAME Description: 

The performance level name for the reading portion of the assessment.
Category: Assessment Score Variable: MTH_THETA_SE Description: 

The Theta standard error for the mathematics portion of the assessment.
Category: Assessment Score Variable: ELA_PL_NAME Description: 

The performance level name for the English language arts portion of the assessment.
Category: Assessment Score Variable: SOC_SS_SE Description: 

The scaled score standard error for the social studies portion of the assessment.
Category: Assessment Score Variable: MTH_RSCH_Z_SCORE Description: 

A standardized score assigned to each student that describes each students relationship to the mean of all students with a score.
Category: Assessment Score Variable: MTH_OVERALL_AGP Description: 

The adequate growth percentile (AGP) for the mathematics portion of the assessment.
Category: Assessment Score Variable: MTH_PL_CHANGE Description: 

Performance level change is used to compare student performance from year to year for the mathematics portion of the assessment . Transition categories are: Significant Decline, Decline, Maintaining, Improvement, or Significant Improvement. Abbreviations are not used in this field, rather the actual descriptions are used.
Category: Assessment Score Variable: SCI_PL Description: 

The performance level for the science portion of the assessment.
Category: Assessment Score Variable: ELA_SS_SE Description: 

The scaled score standard error for the English language arts portion of the assessment.
Category: Assessment Score Variable: SCI_SGP Description: 

The student growth percentile (SGP) for the science portion of the assessment.
Category: Assessment Score Variable: MTH_SS Description: 

The scaled score for the mathematics portion of the assessment.
Category: Assessment Score Variable: RDG_VALID Description: 

Flag denoting whether the student's test was valid for the reading portion of the assessment.
Category: Assessment Score Variable: RDG_THETA_SE Description: 

The Theta standard error for the reading portion of the assessment.
Category: Assessment Score Variable: ELA_SGP_LEVEL_DESC Description: 

The student growth percentile (SGP) description for the English language arts portion of the assessment.
Category: Assessment Score Variable: SCI_AGP_YRS_PROJ Description: 

The timeframe in which students are expected to reach proficiency.
Category: Assessment Score Variable: ELA_AGP_YRS_PROJ Description: 

The timeframe in which students are expected to reach proficiency.
Category: Assessment Score Variable: SOC_SGP Description: 

The student growth percentile (SGP) for the social studies portion of the assessment.
Category: Assessment Score Variable: SOC_SGP_LEVEL_DESC Description: 

The student growth percentile (SGP) description for the social studies portion of the assessment.
Category: Assessment Score Variable: SOC_PL Description: 

The performance level for the social studies portion of the assessment.
Category: Assessment Score Variable: SCI_SS Description: 

The scaled score for the science portion of the assessment.
Category: Assessment Score Variable: SCI_VALID Description: 

Flag denoting whether the student's test was valid for the science portion of the assessment.
Category: Assessment Score Variable: RDG_PL Description: 

The performance level for the reading portion of the assessment.
Category: Assessment Subscore Variable: SUBSCORE_RPT_LEVEL_DESC Description: 

The description of the reporting level.
Category: Assessment Subscore Variable: SUBSCORE_PCT_CORRECT Description: 

The number of questions answered correctly divided by the total questions for this reporting level.
Category: Assessment Subscore Variable: SUBSCORE_RPT_LEVEL_TYPE Description: 

The reporting level type. Used as a means of organizing content standards and expectations. Varies by subject.
Category: Assessment Subscore Variable: SUBSCORE_SCALED_SCORE Description: 

The scaled score value for this reporting level.
Category: Assessment Subscore Variable: SUBSCORE_RPT_LEVEL_ID Description: 

The reporting level identifier value used by MDE.
Category: Assignments Variable: ASSIGNED_GRADE_06 Description: 

Flag designating that the staff member was assigned to teach sixth grade.
Category: Assignments Variable: IS_HIGHLY_QUALIFIED Description: 

This field reports whether or not a staff meets the requirements for being highly qualified. It is a required field only for teachers assigned to a core academic subject area and specific instructional paraprofessionals/aides as defined by NCLB and the MI Department of Education.
Category: Assignments Variable: ASSIGNED_GRADE_05 Description: 

Flag designating that the staff member was assigned to teach fifth grade.
Category: Assignments Variable: ASSIGNED_GRADE_09 Description: 

Flag designating that the staff member was assigned to teach ninth grade.
Category: Assignments Variable: ASSIGNMENT_CODE Description: 

The code that indicates the position held by the employee.
Category: Assignments Variable: ASSIGNED_GRADE_10 Description: 

Flag designating that the staff member was assigned to teach tenth grade.
Category: Assignments Variable: ASSIGNED_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 assigned to.
Category: Assignments Variable: ASSIGNED_GRADE_K Description: 

Flag designating that the staff member was assigned to teach Kindergarten.
Category: Assignments Variable: ASSIGNED_GRADE_11 Description: 

Flag designating that the staff member was assigned to teach eleventh grade.
Category: Assignments Variable: ASSIGNED_GRADE_02 Description: 

Flag designating that the staff member was assigned to teach second grade.
Category: Assignments Variable: EFFECTIVENESS_DESC Description: 

Description used to categorize Educator Effectiveness ranking. This is a locally determined label assigned as a result of annual educator evaluations.
Category: Assignments Variable: FTE Description: 

The amount of time required to perform an assignment stated as a proportion of a full-time position and computed by dividing the amount of time employed by the time normally required for a full-time position.
Category: Assignments Variable: FID_FUNCTION_CODE_DESC Description: 

The accounting/function description for the employee as determined for accounting purposes by the school district.
Category: Assignments Variable: SUMMARY_GROUP_NAME Description: 

The name for a grouping of assignment codes. The data from this grouping are similar to the data published on CEPI's website.
Category: Assignments Variable: ASSIGNED_GRADE_01 Description: 

Flag designating that the staff member was assigned to teach first grade.
Category: Assignments Variable: FEDERAL_GRANT_PARTICIPATION Description: 

This field identifies teachers funded by Title I or Title II Part A who teach core academic subjects in a targeted-assistance program.
Category: Assignments Variable: FID_FUNCTION_CODE Description: 

The accounting/function code for the employee as determined for accounting purposes by the school district.
Category: Assignments Variable: ASSIGNED_GRADE_RK Description: 

Flag designating that the staff member was assigned to teach Retentive Kindergarten.
Category: Assignments Variable: ASSIGNED_GRADE_04 Description: 

Flag designating that the staff member was assigned to teach fourth grade.
Category: Assignments Variable: ASSIGNED_GRADE_08 Description: 

Flag designating that the staff member was assigned to teach eighth grade.
Category: Assignments Variable: EDUCATIONAL_SETTING_DESC Description: 

The description for the educational setting (e.g., Bilingual Education/ELL or Special Education for various age groups, etc.)
Category: Assignments Variable: IS_MDE_TEACHER Description: 

Flag identifying teachers according to the MDE definition.
Category: Assignments Variable: ASSIGNMENT_DESCRIPTION Description: 

The description of the position held by the employee.
Category: Assignments Variable: ASSIGNED_GRADE_03 Description: 

Flag designating that the staff member was assigned to teach third grade.
Category: Assignments Variable: ASSIGNED_GRADE_07 Description: 

Flag designating that the staff member was assigned to teach seventh grade.
Category: Assignments Variable: ASSIGNED_GRADE_12 Description: 

Flag designating that the staff member was assigned to teach twelfth grade.
Category: Assignments Variable: IS_PRINCIPAL Description: 

Flag identifying principals according to the REP manual.
Category: Awards Variable: SCHOOL_START_YEAR_AWARDED Description: 

The numeric start year of the school year during which the award was conferred. Example: 2016
Category: Awards Variable: AWARD_CIP_CATEGORY Description: 

The highest-level category description of the discipline or field of study of the student's program, as defined in the 2-digit Classification of Instructional Programs (CIP) by the US Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics (NCES).
Category: Awards Variable: IS_STARR_AWARD Description: 

Designates if the award record came from the STARR collection.
Category: Awards Variable: AWARD_CIP_CODE Description: 

The code indicating the discipline or field of study for which the award was conferred. As submitted by the IHE, sourced from the Classification of Instructional Programs (CIP), by the US Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics (NCES).
Category: Awards Variable: AWARD_LEVEL_CATEGORY Description: 

The reporting category of the level of achievement the student has received upon graduation/completion.
Category: Awards Variable: AWARD_DESCRIPTION Description: 

The descriptive title for the academic award, as submitted by the IHE.
Category: Awards Variable: AWARD_CIP_DESCRIPTION Description: 

The description of the discipline or field of study of the student's program, as defined in the Classification of Instructional Programs (CIP) by the US Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics (NCES).
Category: Awards Variable: AWARD_DATE Description: 

The year, month and day in which the academic award was conferred.
Category: Awards Variable: SCHOOL_YEAR_AWARDED Description: 

The academic school year during which the award was conferred. Example: 2016-2017
Category: Awards Variable: AWARD_LEVEL Description: 

The level of achievement the student has received upon graduation/completion.
Category: Census Block Variable: CENSUS_BLOCK Description: 

The state code, county code, census tract and census block numbers merged into one field as described in the Notes section on the previous tab.
Category: Census Block Variable: COLLECTION Description: 

General collection (Fall, Spring, Year) or SRM identifier.
Category: Course Taking Variable: COURSE_SECTION_NUMBER Description: 

The number assigned to differentiate among distinct occurrences ofcourses that have the same Course Subject Abbreviation and Course Number butare considered to be different courses.
Category: Course Taking Variable: IS_STARR_RECORD Description: 

Designates if the session record came from the STARR collection.
Category: Course Taking Variable: COURSE_TYPE_CODE Description: 

The two-digit code for the course type that represents the level and rigor of the instruction provided throughout the reported course.
Category: Course Taking Variable: LOCAL_COURSE_TITLE Description: 

The title assigned by the educating entity to identify a particular course.
Category: Course Taking Variable: RPIC_3 Description: 

The Research Personnel Identification Code (RPIC), as assigned in the Registry of Educational Personnel (REP) Application, for each teacher responsible for some or all of the instruction of the course being reported. Third of up to 3 possible.
Category: Course Taking Variable: ACADEMIC_SCHOOL_YEAR Description: 

The school year in which the data was reported by the district.
Category: Course Taking Variable: COURSE_FUNDING_CODE Description: 

The code for any programs that provide funding to the student course.
Category: Course Taking Variable: COMPLETION_STATUS_CODE Description: 

The standardized code representing a student's final status for the course being reported.
Category: Course Taking Variable: IS_VIRTUAL_DELIVERY Description: 

Flag that indicates whether the student is receiving instruction via a virtual delivery method. This could be virtual learning, online learning or computer courses; distance learning; or self-scheduled virtual learning.
Category: Course Taking Variable: COLLEGE_CREDIT Description: 

The number of college credit hours earned in a dual/concurrent enrollment course that is eligible for Section 64b Incentive funding.
Category: Course Taking Variable: NUMERIC_GRADE Description: 

The final numeric grade awarded for participation in the course.
Category: Course Taking Variable: IS_REMEDIAL Description: 

Y/N indicator of whether the course is a remedial course.
Category: Course Taking Variable: COURSE_TITLE Description: 

The name or title of the course, as defined by the IHE.
Category: Course Taking Variable: MOD_CREDITS_EARNED Description: 

Total of STARR Credits Earned for the course, or NSC FTE Days converted to Credits Earned for the session.
Category: Course Taking Variable: IS_REMEDIAL_SCIENCE Description: 

Y/N indicator of whether the course is a remedial science course.
Category: Course Taking Variable: IS_REMEDIAL_READING Description: 

Y/N indicator of whether the course is a remedial reading course.
Category: Course Taking Variable: LETTER_GRADE Description: 

The alphabetical grade earned in the course.
Category: Course Taking Variable: COURSE_SUBJECT Description: 

The alphabetic abbreviation of the academic department or discipline offering the course, as defined by the IHE.
Category: Course Taking Variable: IS_REMEDIAL_ESL Description: 

Y/N indicator of whether the course is a remedial English as a Second Language (ESL) course.
Category: Course Taking Variable: GRADE_SCALE_CODE Description: 

The grading scale used by the institution for the enrolled course, according to Postsecondary Electronic Standards Council (PESC) standards.
Category: Course Taking Variable: RPIC_2 Description: 

The Research Personnel Identification Code (RPIC), as assigned in the Registry of Educational Personnel (REP) Application, for each teacher responsible for some or all of the instruction of the course being reported. Second of up to 3 possible.