Pennsylvania Posts Race Gap in School Suspensions

Pennsylvania is among 12 states or jurisdictions reporting high disparities between the suspension rates of black students and white students in public schools.

That's according to a report released Friday by the Department of Education's civil rights division.

The report shows 22 percent of black male students were suspended from school at least once, compared to 5 percent for white male students, a disparity of 17 percentage points. Nationally, the black-white gap was 14 percentage points.

Among girls, 13 percent of black students were suspended, compared to 2 percent for white students. That 11-point disparity also was higher than the national gap, of 10 percentage points.

The report is for the 2011-12 school year and covers pre-K through 12th grade. It doesn't cite a reason for the disparities.