1. Christian Lynch Errol D. Toulon, Jr. Jesus Soto Carillo Elsa-Sofia Morote Dowling College Effectiveness of Suspension on School Safety: Student Perceptions Based on Suspension Status and Gender in Secondary Education in Puerto Rico

2. Suspension effectiveness This study investigated student perceptions on the effectiveness of suspension on school safety among males, females, and suspended and non-suspended students. The participants included 200 students (107 males and 93 female) in the Cumuy Public School District in Puerto Rico at the secondary level

3. The population The participants included 37 students who have been suspended and 168 who have not been suspended. The grade level for the students consisted of 7th-grade students (35.5%), 8th-grade students (22.5%), 9th-grade students (80%), 10th-grade students (.5%), and 12th-grade students (1.5%). Fifteen students were less than 11 years of age, 174 students were between the ages of 11 and 15, and 11 students were between the ages of 16 and 18.

4. Safety Questionnaire The researchers selected 5 items from a survey from Carillo (2005) that pertain to school safety. Construct validity was performed using a factor analysis, which resulted in a reliability of 66.8%. Survey questions were used to measure students’ perceptions of school safety, which included five items: School suspension is applied to solve minor infractions; In addition to the school principal, other faculty members can make a suspension; School suspension enhances overall safety in the school; School suspension enhances overall safety in the community; School suspension is effective in enhancing parent collaboration with the school. To identify student

5. Developing safe schools is an important tasks in our society. Safety Perceptions Males display more behavior problems than females. Gender and suspension status. Student from lower SES families display more behavior problems. Family income and suspension status. Literature Review

6. Q 1: The Relationship between Family Income and Suspension Status. A chi-square analysis was used to study the relationship between family income and student suspension rates. Please note all of the students are at risk. The chi-square analysis shows that in this selection of subjects, students from lower income families have a higher probability to be suspended than students from higher income families (p=0.096)

7. Q2: The relationship between gender and suspension status. A chi-square analysis was used to study the relationship between gender and students suspension rates. The chi- square analysis shows that in this selection of subjects, there is a significant difference between gender and suspension, with males showing significantly higher In this study 37 students were suspended, in which 24 were males and 13 were females.

8. Q3: Student perceptions of the effectiveness of school suspension between males, females, suspended and non-suspended students. A 2x2 Anova was used to investigate student agreeableness of the five items of the questionnaire, relating to views on the effectiveness of suspension on safety.

9. Q3: Student perceptions of the effectiveness of school suspension between males, females, suspended and non-suspended students. The results shows that non-suspended students display more agreeableness on the importance of suspension in promoting safety than suspended students, F(1, 241) = 5.268, p =.023. However, for gender there was no significant difference between male and female students’ greeableness on the importance of suspension to promote safety, F(1, 241)=.364, p =.547.

10. Discussion According to Considine and Zappala (2002), students from lower income families display increased behavior problems when compared to students from higher income families. students from lower income families may not take academic success as seriously as students from higher income families The results show that there is a significant difference between suspension rates among males and females, with males showing higher suspension rates. According to Astor and Meyer (1999), most of the violent students in school are males. Further research supports this notion by indicating that girls have lower incidences of disruptive behavior compared to boys (Earle & Roach, 1989).

11. Discussion The results show that suspended students and non-suspended students show a significant difference in their agreeableness on the importance of school suspension in promoting school safety. Non-suspended students display a higher level of agreeableness in the importance of school suspension in promoting school safety, than suspended students. There could be a variety of reasons for this significant difference. However, it is good that students who have not been suspended view suspension as important, because it may prevent them from getting into trouble.