The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the need to move away from suspensions to more supportive approaches to school discipline

Evidence of the negative effects of school suspension has seen increasing efforts to reduce its use. In research on the long-term effects of school suspensions, Janet E. Rosenbaum finds that in the long term, suspended adolescents have lower college completion and higher criminal justice involvement rates, and that Black males were more likely to be suspended. She writes that the COVID-19 pandemic has presented an opportunity to reevaluate the role of suspension in schools and suggests how positive behavioral interventions and support can be used as a more constructive alternative.