SCHOOL DISCIPLINE: The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights makes the claim that K-12 students of different races misbehave in school at the same rates. Under this view, there is no good reason for the fact that African American students get suspended at  higher rates (and that Asian American students get suspended at lower rates) than white students.  It has to be that teachers–one of the most liberal professions in the country–are a bunch racist pigs (or so the logic of the Commission’s argument runs).   The Commission is simply wrong about the underlying misbehavior rates … seriously and inexcusably wrong.  The Commission’s majority just isn’t good at understanding statistics.

This past week Stanford University came out with a study finding that the black-white achievement gap on standardized tests predicts the black-white discipline gap. This is not exactly a surprise, and it is not clear what causes what, but it is interesting.