The Center for Effective Discipline

The Center for Effective Discipline

Corporal Punishment in U.S. Public Schools2005-2006 School Year: data released March, 2008

In the 2005-2006 school year, 223,190 school children in the U.S. were subjected to physical punishment. This is a significant drop of almost 18%, continuing a steady trend from the early 1980's.

State	Number of Students Hit	Number of IDEA Students Hit	Total Number of Students Hit	Percentage of Total Students
Alabama	33,716	381	34,097	4.6
Arkansas	22,314	261	22,575	4.7
Arizona	16	0	16	<0.0
Colorado	8	0	8	<0.0
Florida	7,185	118	7,303	.3
Georgia	18,249	155	18,404	1.1
Idaho	111	20	131	.05
Indiana	577	36	613	.05
Kansas	50	4	54	.01
Kentucky	2,209	1	2.210	.3
Louisiana	11,080	11	11,091	1.7
Missouri	5,159	35	5,194	.6
Mississippi	38,131	83	38,214	7.5
North Carolina	2,705	31	2,736	.2
New Mexico	705	44	749	.2
Ohio	672	0	672	.04
Oklahoma	14,828	325	15,153	2.4
South Carolina	1,409	12	1,421	.2
Tennessee	14,868	33	14,901	1.5
Texas	49,197	1,973	51,170	1.1
Wyoming	0	0	0	0

The 10 worst states, by percentage of students struck
by educators in the 2005-2006 school year:

Rank	State	Percentage
1	Mississippi	7.5
2	Arkansas	4.7
3	Alabama	4.5
4	Oklahoma	2.3
5	Louisiana	1.7
6	Tennessee	1.5
7	Texas	1.1
8	Georgia	1.1
9	Missouri	.6
10	Florida	.3

Notes: