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 501 - 600 of 1138 results
Category Variable Description
Category: Endorsements Variable: ENDORSE_GRADE_LEVEL_13 Description: 

The thirteenth endorsement grade level for the staff member sorted alphabetically (e.g., subject area endorsements).
Category: Endorsements Variable: ENDORSE_PERMIT_CODE_7 Description: 

The seventh permit code for the staff member sorted alphabetically.
Category: Endorsements Variable: ENDORSE_PERMIT_CODE_5 Description: 

The fifth permit code for the staff member sorted alphabetically.
Category: Endorsements Variable: LICENSE_TYPE Description: 

Name of the Certificate License Type (e.g., Provisional Teaching Certificate or School Counselor License) which is populated when the educator completes their application for certification through MOECS.
Category: Endorsements Variable: LICENSE_STATUS Description: 

Certificate status description (i.e., Valid, Expired, Invalid, Nullified, Revoked, Suspended, and Withdrawn).
Category: Endorsements Variable: ENDORSE_AUTHORIZATION_4 Description: 

The fourth endorsed authorization of the staff member sorted alphabetically.
Category: Endorsements Variable: ENDORSE_CERTIFICATION_8 Description: 

The eighth endorsement certificate for the staff member sorted alphabetically.
Category: Endorsements Variable: ENDORSE_CERTIFICATION_7 Description: 

The seventh endorsement certificate for the staff member sorted alphabetically.
Category: Endorsements Variable: ENDORSE_CERTIFICATION_6 Description: 

The sixth endorsement certificate for the staff member sorted alphabetically.
Category: Endorsements Variable: ENDORSE_CERTIFICATION_5 Description: 

The fifth endorsement certificate for the staff member sorted alphabetically.
Category: Endorsements Variable: ENDORSE_CERTIFICATION_4 Description: 

The fourth endorsement certificate for the staff member sorted alphabetically.
Category: Endorsements Variable: ENDORSE_CERTIFICATION_3 Description: 

The third endorsement certificate for the staff member sorted alphabetically.
Category: Endorsements Variable: ENDORSE_CERTIFICATION_2 Description: 

The second endorsement certificate for the staff member sorted alphabetically.
Category: Endorsements Variable: ENDORSE_CERTIFICATION_11 Description: 

The eleventh endorsement certificate for the staff member sorted alphabetically.
Category: Endorsements Variable: ENDORSE_CERTIFICATION_10 Description: 

The tenth endorsement certificate for the staff member sorted alphabetically.
Category: Endorsements Variable: ENDORSE_CERTIFICATION_1 Description: 

The first endorsement certificate for the staff member sorted alphabetically (e.g., subject area endorsements).
Category: Endorsements Variable: ENDORSE_AUTHORIZATION_5 Description: 

The fifth endorsed authorization of the staff member sorted alphabetically.
Category: Endorsements Variable: ENDORSE_CERTIFICATION_9 Description: 

The ninth endorsement certificate for the staff member sorted alphabetically.
Category: Endorsements Variable: ENDORSE_AUTHORIZATION_3 Description: 

The third endorsed authorization of the staff member sorted alphabetically.
Category: Endorsements Variable: ENDORSE_AUTHORIZATION_2 Description: 

The second endorsed authorization of the staff member sorted alphabetically.
Category: Endorsements Variable: ENDORSE_AUTHORIZATION_1 Description: 

The first endorsed authorization of the staff member sorted alphabetically.
Category: Endorsements Variable: CERTIFICATE_REINSTATEMENT_DATE Description: 

Date certificate reinstated
Category: Endorsements Variable: CERTIFICATE_ISSUE_DATE Description: 

Date certificate was issued
Category: Endorsements Variable: CERTIFICATE_EXPIRATION_DATE Description: 

Date certificate will/has expired
Category: Endorsements Variable: AUTHORIZATION_TYPE Description: 

Name of Authorization type (There are four different types of authorizations). Authorizations are utilized in situations where a school is unable to fill a position with an appropriately certified and/or endorsed educator.
Category: Endorsements Variable: AUTHORIZATION_STATUS Description: 

Authorization status description (e.g., Valid, Expired, etc.).
Category: Endorsements Variable: PROGRAM_TYPE_NAME Description: 

Populated when the educator completes their application for certification through MOECS. This field identifies whether the staff is certified to teach elementary, secondary, or occupational classes.
Category: Endorsements Variable: PROGRAM_TYPE_CODE Description: 

Populated when the educator completes their application for certification through MOECS.
Category: Endorsements Variable: ENDORSE_CODE_9 Description: 

The ninth endorsement code for the staff member sorted alphabetically (e.g., subject area endorsements).
Category: Endorsements Variable: ENDORSE_GRADE_LEVEL_9 Description: 

The ninth endorsement grade level for the staff member sorted alphabetically (e.g., subject area endorsements).
Category: Endorsements Variable: ENDORSE_GRADE_LEVEL_8 Description: 

The eighth endorsement grade level for the staff member sorted alphabetically (e.g., subject area endorsements).
Category: Endorsements Variable: ENDORSE_GRADE_LEVEL_7 Description: 

The seventh endorsement grade level for the staff member sorted alphabetically (e.g., subject area endorsements).
Category: Endorsements Variable: ENDORSE_GRADE_LEVEL_6 Description: 

The sixth endorsement grade level for the staff member sorted alphabetically (e.g., subject area endorsements).
Category: Endorsements Variable: ENDORSE_GRADE_LEVEL_5 Description: 

The fifth endorsement grade level for the staff member sorted alphabetically (e.g., subject area endorsements).
Category: Endorsements Variable: ENDORSE_GRADE_LEVEL_4 Description: 

The fourth endorsement grade level for the staff member sorted alphabetically (e.g., subject area endorsements).
Category: Endorsements Variable: ENDORSE_GRADE_LEVEL_3 Description: 

The third endorsement grade level for the staff member sorted alphabetically (e.g., subject area endorsements).
Category: Endorsements Variable: ENDORSE_GRADE_LEVEL_2 Description: 

The second endorsement grade level for the staff member sorted alphabetically (e.g., subject area endorsements).
Category: Endorsements Variable: ENDORSE_GRADE_LEVEL_11 Description: 

The eleventh endorsement grade level for the staff member sorted alphabetically (e.g., subject area endorsements).
Category: Endorsements Variable: ENDORSE_GRADE_LEVEL_10 Description: 

The tenth endorsement grade level for the staff member sorted alphabetically (e.g., subject area endorsements).
Category: Endorsements Variable: ENDORSE_GRADE_LEVEL_1 Description: 

The first endorsement grade level for the staff member sorted alphabetically (e.g., subject area endorsements).
Category: Endorsements Variable: ENDORSE_CODE_8 Description: 

The eighth endorsement code for the staff member sorted alphabetically (e.g., subject area endorsements).
Category: Endorsements Variable: ENDORSE_CODE_7 Description: 

The seventh endorsement code for the staff member sorted alphabetically (e.g., subject area endorsements).
Category: Endorsements Variable: ENDORSE_CODE_6 Description: 

The sixth endorsement code for the staff member sorted alphabetically (e.g., subject area endorsements).
Category: Endorsements Variable: ENDORSE_CODE_5 Description: 

The fifth endorsement code for the staff member sorted alphabetically (e.g., subject area endorsements).
Category: Endorsements Variable: ENDORSE_CODE_4 Description: 

The fourth endorsement code for the staff member sorted alphabetically (e.g., subject area endorsements).
Category: Endorsements Variable: ENDORSE_CODE_3 Description: 

The third endorsement code for the staff member sorted alphabetically (e.g., subject area endorsements).
Category: Endorsements Variable: ENDORSE_CODE_2 Description: 

The second endorsement code for the staff member sorted alphabetically (e.g., subject area endorsements).
Category: Endorsements Variable: ENDORSE_CODE_11 Description: 

The eleventh endorsement code for the staff member sorted alphabetically (e.g., subject area endorsements).
Category: Endorsements Variable: ENDORSE_CODE_10 Description: 

The tenth endorsement code for the staff member sorted alphabetically (e.g., subject area endorsements).
Category: Endorsements Variable: ENDORSE_CODE_1 Description: 

The first endorsement code for the staff member sorted alphabetically (e.g., subject area endorsements).
Category: English Language Learner Variable: COMPREHENSION_PL Description: 

The performance level for the comprehension portion of the assessment.
Category: English Language Learner Variable: OVERALL_PL Description: 

The performance level for the entire assessment.
Category: English Language Learner Variable: SPEAKING_VALID Description: 

Flag denoting whether the student's test was valid for the speaking portion of the assessment.
Category: English Language Learner Variable: LITERACY_PL Description: 

The performance level for the literacy portion of the assessment.
Category: English Language Learner Variable: OVERALL_PL_NAME Description: 

The performance level name for the entire assessment.
Category: English Language Learner Variable: OVERALL_VALID Description: 

Flag denoting whether the student's test was valid for the entire assessment.
Category: English Language Learner Variable: ORAL_SS Description: 

The scaled score for the oral portion of the assessment.
Category: English Language Learner Variable: COMPREHENSION_VALID Description: 

Flag denoting whether the student's test was valid for the comprehension portion of the assessment.
Category: English Language Learner Variable: SPEAKING_SS Description: 

The scaled score for the speaking portion of the assessment.
Category: English Language Learner Variable: LISTENING_PL Description: 

The performance level for the listening portion of the assessment.
Category: English Language Learner Variable: LITERACY_PL_NAME Description: 

The performance level name for the literacy portion of the assessment.
Category: English Language Learner Variable: COMPREHENSION_PL_NAME Description: 

The performance level name for the comprehension portion of the assessment.
Category: English Language Learner Variable: SPEAKING_PL Description: 

The performance level for the speaking portion of the assessment.
Category: English Language Learner Variable: OVERALL_SS Description: 

The scaled score for the entire assessment.
Category: English Language Learner Variable: ORAL_PL_NAME Description: 

The performance level name for the oral portion of the assessment.
Category: English Language Learner Variable: SPEAKING_PL_NAME Description: 

The performance level name for the speaking portion of the assessment.
Category: English Language Learner Variable: COMPREHENSION_SS Description: 

The scaled score for the comprehension portion of the assessment.
Category: English Language Learner Variable: LISTENING_PL_NAME Description: 

The performance level name for the listening portion of the assessment.
Category: English Language Learner Variable: LITERACY_SS Description: 

The scaled score for the literacy portion of the assessment.
Category: English Language Learner Variable: LISTENING_SS Description: 

The scaled score for the listening portion of the assessment.
Category: English Language Learner Variable: ORAL_VALID Description: 

Flag denoting whether the student's test was valid for the oral portion of the assessment.
Category: English Language Learner Variable: LISTENING_VALID Description: 

Flag denoting whether the student's test was valid for the listening portion of the assessment.
Category: English Language Learner Variable: ORAL_PL Description: 

The performance level for the oral portion of the assessment.
Category: English Language Learner Variable: LITERACY_VALID Description: 

Flag denoting whether the student's test was valid for the literacy portion of the assessment.
Category: English Learner and Immigrant Variable: LEP_INSTR_PROG_CODE_3 Description: 

The code for the English language acquisition program in which the student is currently enrolled.
Category: English Learner and Immigrant Variable: LEP_LANGUAGE_CODE_3 Description: 

The code for the student's primary or home language if a home language survey indicates that the language of the home is not English or the student's primary language is not English.
Category: English Learner and Immigrant Variable: LEP_INSTR_PROG_CODE_1 Description: 

The code for the English language acquisition program in which the student is currently enrolled.
Category: English Learner and Immigrant Variable: LEP_INSTR_PROG_CODE_4 Description: 

The code for the English language acquisition program in which the student is currently enrolled.
Category: English Learner and Immigrant Variable: LEP_LANGUAGE_CODE_5 Description: 

The code for the student's primary or home language if a home language survey indicates that the language of the home is not English or the student's primary language is not English.
Category: English Learner and Immigrant Variable: LEP_INSTR_PROG_CODE_5 Description: 

The code for the English language acquisition program in which the student is currently enrolled.
Category: English Learner and Immigrant Variable: LEP_INSTR_PROG_CODE_2 Description: 

The code for the English language acquisition program in which the student is currently enrolled.
Category: English Learner and Immigrant Variable: LEP_LANGUAGE_CODE_1 Description: 

The code for the student's primary or home language if a home language survey indicates that the language of the home is not English or the student's primary language is not English.
Category: English Learner and Immigrant Variable: LEP_LANGUAGE_CODE_2 Description: 

The code for the student's primary or home language if a home language survey indicates that the language of the home is not English or the student's primary language is not English.
Category: English Learner and Immigrant Variable: LEP_LANGUAGE_CODE_4 Description: 

The code for the student's primary or home language if a home language survey indicates that the language of the home is not English or the student's primary language is not English.
Category: Enrollment and Attendance Variable: MOD_CREDITS_EARNED_SESSION Description: 

Sum Total of STARR credits earned and NSC FTE Days converted to Credits Earned, during a session.
Category: Enrollment and Attendance Variable: IHE_UNDER_OVER_AGE_25 Description: 

The student's age status (under 25 or over 25) as of September 30th of the enrollment year.
Category: Enrollment and Attendance Variable: IHE_MILITARY_STATUS Description: 

The student’s military status at the time of enrollment.
Category: Enrollment and Attendance Variable: IS_FULL_TIME_24 Description: 

An indicator of whether or not a student is a full time student using 24 attempted credits per academic school year as the metric.
Category: Enrollment and Attendance Variable: ENROLLMENT_TYPE Description: 

An indicator of the enrollment type of a student at the beginning of the respective academic session. (Examples: FirstTime, Continuing, TransferIn)
Category: Enrollment and Attendance Variable: SESSION_TYPE Description: 

The type of academic session as reported by the IHE for STARR records, and as calculated by CEPI for NSC records. Examples: Semester, Quarter, Trimester, Quinmester, MiniTerm, SummerSession.
Category: Enrollment and Attendance Variable: IS_STARR_SESSION Description: 

Designates if the session record came from the STARR collection.
Category: Enrollment and Attendance Variable: IHE_LEVEL Description: 

Designates whether an IHE is a 2-year or 4-year institution.
Category: Enrollment and Attendance Variable: MOD_CREDITS_EARNED_CUM Description: 

Cumulative total to date of STARR Credits Earned and NSC FTE Days converted to Credits Earned, at all institutions the student has attended.
Category: Enrollment and Attendance Variable: IS_REMEDIAL_MATH_SESSION Description: 

Y/N indicator of whether any remedial math courses were taken during the session.
Category: Enrollment and Attendance Variable: ENROLLED_IN_AWARD_LEVEL Description: 

The level of education the student is working toward during the academic session.
Category: Enrollment and Attendance Variable: DEGREE_SEEKING Description: 

Indicates whether the student is a degree-seeking student or a non-degree-seeking student at the IHE.
Category: Enrollment and Attendance Variable: IS_TRANSFER_NOGRADE Description: 

Indicator of whether or not ALL courses in a specific session had a grade status of ‘TransferNoGrade’.
Category: Enrollment and Attendance Variable: MOD_CREDITS_EARNED_2YR_CUM Description: 

Cumulative total to date of STARR Credits Earned and NSC FTE Days converted to Credits Earned, at all 2 year institutions the student has attended.
Category: Enrollment and Attendance Variable: MOD_CREDITS_EARNED_PUBLIC_CUM Description: 

Cumulative total to date of STARR Credits Earned and NSC FTE Days converted to Credits Earned, at all public institutions the student has attended.
Category: Enrollment and Attendance Variable: DELIVERY_METHOD_CODE Description: 

The code for the type of location where the child attends the reported program or receives early childhood services. This includes School Based, Home Based, and Community Based.