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 801 - 900 of 1138 results
Category Sort descending Variable Description
Category: K12 Building Variable: EMC_FOCUS_NT Description: 

Flag to specify if this EMC has a NT focus

Category: K12 Building Variable: EMC_FOCUS_IT Description: 

Flag to specify if this EMC has an IT focus

Category: K12 Building Variable: EMC_FOCUS_HEALTH Description: 

Flag to specify if this EMC has a Health focus

Category: K12 Building Variable: EMC_FOCUS_CTE Description: 

Flag to specify if this EMC has a CTE focus

Category: K12 Building Variable: FACE_VIRTUAL_SCHOOL Description: 

Virtual with face to face options; the school focuses on a systematic program of virtual instruction but includes some physical meetings among students or with teachers.

Category: K12 Building Variable: GR_08_AUTH Description: 

Flag to specify if this entity is authorized to offer instruction of Eighth grade students.

Category: K12 Building Variable: GR_08_ACTUAL Description: 

Flag to specify if this entity is offering instruction of Eighth grade students.

Category: K12 Building Variable: DELINQUENT_INSTITUTION Description: 

Flag to specify if this entity is authorized to offer instruction in a Delinquent Institution setting. A public or private residential facility that is operated primarily for the care of children who have been adjudicated as delinquent or in need of supervision.

Category: K12 Building Variable: GR_07_AUTH Description: 

Flag to specify if this entity is authorized to offer instruction of Seventh grade students.

Category: K12 Building Variable: GR_07_ACTUAL Description: 

Flag to specify if this entity is offering instruction of Seventh grade students.

Category: K12 Building Variable: GR_06_AUTH Description: 

Flag to specify if this entity is authorized to offer instruction of Sixth grade students.

Category: K12 Building Variable: GR_06_ACTUAL Description: 

Flag to specify if this entity is offering instruction of Sixth grade students.

Category: K12 Building Variable: GR_05_AUTH Description: 

Flag to specify if this entity is authorized to offer instruction of Fifth grade students.

Category: K12 Building Variable: GR_05_ACTUAL Description: 

Flag to specify if this entity is offering instruction of Fifth grade students.

Category: K12 Building Variable: GR_04_AUTH Description: 

Flag to specify if this entity is authorized to offer instruction of Fourth grade students.

Category: K12 Building Variable: GR_04_ACTUAL Description: 

Flag to specify if this entity is offering instruction of Fourth grade students.

Category: K12 Building Variable: GR_03_AUTH Description: 

Flag to specify if this entity is authorized to offer instruction of Third grade students.

Category: K12 Building Variable: GR_02_AUTH Description: 

Flag to specify if this entity is authorized to offer instruction of Second grade students.

Category: K12 Building Variable: ENTITY_TYPE_GROUP Description: 

Identifies whether the entity is a school, district, unique education provider, or non-instructional ancillary facility.

Category: K12 Building Variable: FAITH_BASED_INSTITUTION Description: 

Flag denoting a faith based institution. A faith based institution has a religious aspect or focus.

Category: K12 Building Variable: FAMILY_RESOURCE_CENTER Description: 

Flag denoting a family resource center. Department of Human Services workers deliver services on-site at school.

Category: K12 Building Variable: FULL_TIME_VIRTUAL_SCHOOL Description: 

Full Virtual; the school has no physical building where students meet with each other or with teachers, all instruction is virtual.

Category: K12 Building Variable: GENERAL_EDUCATION Description: 

Flag denoting this school provides general education in grades K-12. A public elementary/secondary school that does NOT focus primarily on vocational, special or alternative education, although it may provide these programs in addition to a regular curriculum.

Category: K12 Building Variable: GEO_DISTRICT_CODE Description: 

The Local Education Agency (LEA) District Code in which the entity is located.

Category: K12 Building Variable: GEO_DISTRICT_NAME Description: 

The Local Education Agency (LEA) District Name in which the entity is located.

Category: K12 Building Variable: GR_01_ACTUAL Description: 

Flag to specify if this entity is offering instruction of First grade students.

Category: K12 Building Variable: GR_01_AUTH Description: 

Flag to specify if this entity is authorized to offer instruction of First grade students.

Category: K12 Building Variable: GR_02_ACTUAL Description: 

Flag to specify if this entity is offering instruction of Second grade students.

Category: K12 Building Variable: GR_03_ACTUAL Description: 

Flag to specify if this entity is offering instruction of Third grade students.

Category: Michigan Test for Teacher Certification Variable: MTTC_INSTITUTION_NAME_3 Description: 

Institution 3 that the examinees had their scores sent to (MI Examinees only)

Category: Michigan Test for Teacher Certification Variable: SCALED_SCORE Description: 

Scaled Score

Category: Michigan Test for Teacher Certification Variable: FIELD_NAME Description: 

Field name corresponding to the test code

Category: Michigan Test for Teacher Certification Variable: TESTING_DATE Description: 

Date the MTTC test was taken

Category: Michigan Test for Teacher Certification Variable: PASS_FAIL Description: 

P (Pass), F (Failed)

Category: Michigan Test for Teacher Certification Variable: GRADE_LEVEL_DESC Description: 
Category: Michigan Test for Teacher Certification Variable: TEST_CODE Description: 

MTTC Test Code

Category: Michigan Test for Teacher Certification Variable: GRADE_LEVEL_CODE Description: 

A (Elementary), B (Secondary)

Category: Michigan Test for Teacher Certification Variable: MTTC_INSTITUTION_NAME_2 Description: 

Institution 2 that the examinees had their scores sent to (MI Examinees only)

Category: Michigan Test for Teacher Certification Variable: STATE Description: 

State for out of state examinees only

Category: Michigan Test for Teacher Certification Variable: MTTC_INSTITUTION_NAME_1 Description: 

Institution 1 that the examinees had their scores sent to (MI Examinees only)

Category: Michigan Test for Teacher Certification Variable: MAJOR_OR_MINOR_DESC Description: 
Category: Michigan Test for Teacher Certification Variable: MAJOR_OR_MINOR_CODE Description: 

A (Major), B (Minor)

Category: Personal Curriculum Modification Variable: PERSONAL_CURRICULUM_MOD_7 Description: 

The code for the academic area(s) for which the student has a Personal Curriculum Credit Modification.

Category: Personal Curriculum Modification Variable: PERSONAL_CURRICULUM_MOD_4 Description: 

The code for the academic area(s) for which the student has a Personal Curriculum Credit Modification.

Category: Personal Curriculum Modification Variable: PERSONAL_CURRICULUM_TYPE_2 Description: 

The code to identify the reason a modification was made to the student’s curriculum.

Category: Personal Curriculum Modification Variable: PERSONAL_CURRICULUM_MOD_6 Description: 

The code for the academic area(s) for which the student has a Personal Curriculum Credit Modification.

Category: Personal Curriculum Modification Variable: PERSONAL_CURRICULUM_TYPE_1 Description: 

The code to identify the reason a modification was made to the student’s curriculum.

Category: Personal Curriculum Modification Variable: ERD_ACTIVITY_CODE_2 Description: 

The code to identify the type of additional instruction time related activities delivered to the student.

Category: Personal Curriculum Modification Variable: PERSONAL_CURRICULUM_TYPE_3 Description: 

The code to identify the reason a modification was made to the student’s curriculum.

Category: Personal Curriculum Modification Variable: PERSONAL_CURRICULUM_MOD_2 Description: 

The code for the academic area(s) for which the student has a Personal Curriculum Credit Modification.

Category: Personal Curriculum Modification Variable: PERSONAL_CURRICULUM_MOD_1 Description: 

The code for the academic area(s) for which the student has a Personal Curriculum Credit Modification.

Category: Personal Curriculum Modification Variable: ERD_ACTIVITY_CODE_1 Description: 

The code to identify the type of additional instruction time related activities delivered to the student.

Category: Personal Curriculum Modification Variable: ERD_ACTIVITY_CODE_5 Description: 

The code to identify the type of additional instruction time related activities delivered to the student.

Category: Personal Curriculum Modification Variable: ERD_ACTIVITY_CODE_3 Description: 

The code to identify the type of additional instruction time related activities delivered to the student.

Category: Personal Curriculum Modification Variable: ERD_ACTIVITY_CODE_6 Description: 

The code to identify the type of additional instruction time related activities delivered to the student.

Category: Personal Curriculum Modification Variable: PERSONAL_CURRICULUM_MOD_5 Description: 

The code for the academic area(s) for which the student has a Personal Curriculum Credit Modification.

Category: Personal Curriculum Modification Variable: ERD_ACTIVITY_CODE_4 Description: 

The code to identify the type of additional instruction time related activities delivered to the student.

Category: Personal Curriculum Modification Variable: PERSONAL_CURRICULUM_MOD_3 Description: 

The code for the academic area(s) for which the student has a Personal Curriculum Credit Modification.

Category: Postsecondary Building Variable: IHE_PHYS_ADD_LINE_TWO Description: 

The second line of the physical address for the entity.

Category: Postsecondary Building Variable: IHE_PHYS_STATE Description: 

The state of the physical address for the entity.

Category: Postsecondary Building Variable: IHE_PHYS_CITY Description: 

The city of the physical address for the entity.

Category: Postsecondary Building Variable: SNAPSHOT_DAY Description: 

The date in which the snapshot was created. These static 'Snapshots' of data are what is loaded to the MSLDS

Category: Postsecondary Building Variable: HIGHER_ED_CODE Description: 

The unique identifier of the IHE entity in the Educational Entity Master (EEM).

Category: Postsecondary Building Variable: IHE_CONTROL Description: 

Designates whether an IHE is publicly or privately controlled.

Category: Postsecondary Building Variable: IS_OPEN Description: 

A Y or N flag stating the Open Status of most Michigan Institutions.

Category: Postsecondary Building Variable: IPEDS_CODE Description: 

IPEDS (Integrated Postsecondary Education Data Systems) IHE identification code.

Category: Postsecondary Building Variable: IHE_NAME Description: 

The official or legal name of the institution.

Category: Postsecondary Building Variable: IHE_LEVEL Description: 

Designates whether an IHE is a 2-year or 4-year institution.

Category: Postsecondary Building Variable: IHE_PHYS_ZIP_LINE_ONE Description: 

The zip code of the physical address for the entity.

Category: Postsecondary Building Variable: IHE_PHYS_ADD_LINE_ONE Description: 

The first line of the physical address for the entity.

Category: Professional Development Variable: HOURS_ENGAGED Description: 

Number of hours of training. Semester credit hours are converted to hours here using this formula: one semester credit hour = 25 education-related professional learning hours. Similarly, # of days of PD from REP is converted to hours by multiplying #of days by 6.

Category: Professional Development Variable: PROF_DEV_CATEGORY Description: 

The District Provided Professional Development (DPPD & those for the new teachers) training categories. For other types of training N/A is entered.

Category: Professional Development Variable: PROF_DEV_TYPE Description: 

The type of training the staff have received. There are three types of training: State Continuing Education Clock Hours (SCECHs) are organized professional development activities that teachers use for progression. District Provided Professional Development (DPPD) could also be used by educators to renew their certificate or progression.College Credits are also used for professional development and certificate renewal/progression. Please note that in order to distinguish DPPD information entered by the educators from the DPPD offered to new teachers by the districts, a fourth PD type is created here, called DPPD-New Teacher Training.

Category: Professional Development Variable: ENTITY_CODE Description: 

Code of the facility that the staff received training. The IPEDS are extracted from EEM and NCES IPEDS datasets by joining the MOECS data with those two datasets on the entity name. So, if the college name was abbreviated or misspelled, N/A is entered.

Category: Professional Development Variable: PD_TRAINING_COURSE_NUMBER Description: 

The college credit course number. For other training types, "N/A" is entered.

Category: Professional Development Variable: PD_TRAINING_NAME Description: 

Name of the training received by the staff

Category: Professional Development Variable: ENTITY_NAME Description: 

Name of the college, district, or other facilities that the staff received training (as entered by the educator) or offered the training (as entered in REP by the districts).

Category: Program Participation Variable: PROGRAM_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: Program Participation Variable: PROGRAM_CIP_CATEGORY Description: 

The high-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: Program Participation Variable: PROGRAM_TYPE Description: 

The type of academic program the student is working toward at the IHE during the session. Examples: Major, Minor, SecondMajor, Concentration.

Category: Program Participation Variable: PROGRAM_NAME Description: 

The institution's internal name of the program, major, minor or field of study the student is working toward at the IHE during the session.

Category: Program Participation Variable: PROGRAM_CIP_CODE Description: 

The code indicating a discipline or field of study for the academic program the student is working toward. 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: Program Participation Variable: IS_STARR_PROGRAM Description: 

Designates if the session record came from the STARR collection.

Category: Program Participation Variable: IS_INTERNATIONAL_STUDENT_PROG Description: 

Indicates student is an international student participating in a foreign exchange program.

Category: Program Participation Variable: HOMELESS Description: 

Indicates if the student is homeless.

Category: Program Participation Variable: MIGRANT Description: 

Indicates if the student is a migrant student.

Category: Program Participation Variable: ALTERNATIVE_EDUCATION Description: 

Indicates this student is currently participating in an alternative education program (including seat-time waiver programs).

Category: Program Participation Variable: IS_IMMIGRANT_PROGRAM Description: 

Indicates the student has immigrated to the United States from another country and is aged 3 through 21 years, was not born in any state in America and has not attended one or more schools in any one or more states for more than three full academic years. NOTE: The United States Department of Education (USED) includes foreign exchange students as eligible for Title III immigrant programs.

Category: Program Participation Variable: IS_AT_RISK_PROGRAM Description: 

Flag indicating a student is eligible for at-risk (section 31a) funding.

Category: Program Participation Variable: IS_SEAT_TIME_WAIVER Description: 

Indicates this student is receiving his/her instruction for three or more courses through a virtual education program.

Category: Program Participation Variable: IS_MIGRANT_ELIGIBLE Description: 

Flag indicating if the student was eligible for Migrant services.

Category: Program Participation Variable: IS_ENGLISH_LEARNER Description: 

Flag that indicates if the student was eligible to receive Limited English Proficient (LEP) services.

Category: Program Participation Variable: IS_TITLE_I_TAS_PROGRAM Description: 

Student participated in a targeted assistance school (TAS) program.

Category: Program Participation Variable: SPECIAL_ED Description: 

Indicates that the student is in a special education program.

Category: Program Participation Variable: IS_HOMELESS_PROG Description: 

Flag indicating that the homeless code field has a value greater than 0 for the student.

Category: Program Participation Variable: IS_SECTION_504_PROGRAM Description: 

Indicates this student is considered disabled under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.

Category: Program Participation Variable: IS_DEVELOPMENTAL_KINDERGARTEN Description: 

Indicates this student participated in a Developmental Kindergarten program (a defined two-year Kindergarten program that precedes entry into first grade).

Category: Program Participation Variable: IS_OUT_OF_STATE_RES_PROGRAM Description: 

Indicates the student attends the district from a state or a province other than Michigan.

Category: Program Participation Variable: IS_ALTERNATIVE_EDUCATION Description: 

Indicates this student is currently participating in an alternative education program (including seat-time waiver programs).

Category: Program Participation Variable: IS_EARLY_MID_COLLEGE_PART_PROG Description: 

Indicates the student is enrolled in an early/middle college program. This program could reside at a public high school, community college or a state public university. Students may attend as early as ninth grade.