Disability as Discipline? Effects of the New York City Suspension Ban on Students With Disabilities

Suspension bans have become a popular policy response to address excessive and inequitable use of suspension in schools. However, there is little research that examines what strategies school staff employ when suspension is no longer permitted. I examine the effect of New York City’s suspension ban on the use of a potential unintended substitute for suspension: special education classification. I find that the ban induced an increase in disability classifications, especially those with higher social stigma. I show that, on average, students with these classifications experienced large declines in test scores.