Comparison of suspensions of EMR and nonretarded students.

Recently, the suspension from school of handicapped students has generated considerable media attention, but very little is known about incidence of suspension and categories of precipitating offenses. Incidence was determined by drawing a random sample of 241 EMR students and selecting 241 nonretarded students who matched the EMR students on sex, race, school attended, and eligibility for free or reduced price lunch. Results showed that EMR students were no more likely to be suspended than were nonretarded students. A second group of 100 suspended EMR students was compared with an equal number of suspended nonretarded students. Discriminant analysis indicated that nonretarded students were more likely to be suspended for drug- and alcohol-related offenses and other disruptive behavior such as disrespect and smoking. Mildly retarded students were suspended more for unspecified reasons.