Understanding Common Measures of Disproportionality

This fact sheet was developed to provide illustrations of the measures used to understand disproportionality related to various groups of children and a particular factor or outcome. This document focuses on children grouped by race/ethnicity. However, there are other groups you might also want to review (e.g., gender, dual language learners, children with IEPs). We provide an example of the calculation of these measures using the completion of a Behavior Incident Report (BIR) for a young child. These measures of disproportionality are also used to examine other variables of interest, including suspensions, expulsions, or referrals for services.