Abstract
Using school, district, and county data from the State of Florida Department of Education and the U.S. Census, we examine the relationship between school segregation and the overrepresentation of black students among those suspended. We explore two competing hypotheses about the nature of this relationship: (1) an overall racial inequality hypothesis that suggests schools located in districts with relatively high levels of segregation among students also have the largest black suspension imbalances and (2) a resegregation hypothesis that suggests schools situated in relatively highly segregated districts have the lowest rates of black imbalances in suspension. Results from a multilevel analysis indicated that higher levels of school segregation corresponded with lower levels of the black suspension imbalance and provided support for the resegregation hypothesis.
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