The number of New York City students suspended from school dropped by more than a third in the last half of 2012 compared with 2011.
The city Department of Education says a total of 16,068 students were suspended from school from July to December 2012. That's down 36 percent from the 25,246 who were suspended from July to December 2011.
The department is required to report suspension data to the City Council twice a year.
Department officials said efforts to use alternative disciplinary methods such as counseling and peer mediation have helped to reduce the number of suspensions.
Additionally, they said changes were made to the discipline code so that low-level infractions such as leaving class without permission no longer result in a suspension.
