This report brings new light to the practice of corporal punishment in schools. When an educator strikes a student in school, it can have a devastating impact on the child’s opportunity to learn in a safe, healthy, and welcoming environment. This is dangerous for all students, but corporal punishment is administered disproportionately to students of colour in US public schools.

Key findings

1. Within the schools that practice corporal punishment, about 5.6 percent of students were struck during the 2013–14 school year.
2. Black boys were nearly twice as likely to be struck as white boys (14 percent vs. 7.5 percent) in 2013–14. Black girls were more than three times as likely to be struck as white girls (5.2 percent vs. 1.7 percent).
3. In more than half of the schools that practice corporal punishment, students with disabilities were struck at higher rates than those without disabilities in 2013–14.