The U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has released the latest available Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC), covering the 2023–24 school year. The data show that public schools reported 406,794 incidents of physical restraint, mechanical restraint, and seclusion.
That number is alarming. But it is also important to understand what it represents and, just as importantly, what it does not.
The CRDC is the only national dataset that captures the use of physical restraint and seclusion in public schools. It is an essential source of information for families, advocates, policymakers, researchers, and communities seeking to understand how often these practices are used and where they occur. Yet the data are not real-time, and they should not be mistaken for a complete count of what is happening in schools today.
There is generally a significant lag between the time schools submit CRDC data and the time OCR publishes it. Although this release is the latest federal data available, it reflects incidents reported during the 2023–24 school year. It does not tell us what is happening in classrooms and schools right now.
The data are also widely understood to be substantially underreported. In a 2019 review, the U.S. Government Accountability Office found that Education Department data likely understated the use of restraint and seclusion, including because some schools reported zero incidents while other available information indicated that restraint or seclusion had occurred. This means the more than 400,000 incidents reported in the 2023–24 CRDC should be viewed as a floor, not a complete picture of the harm occurring in schools.
Data highlights
For the 2023–24 school year, schools reported:
• 263,376 incidents of physical restraint
• 16,037 incidents of mechanical restraint
• 127,381 incidents of seclusion
Together, these categories total 406,794 reported incidents.
OCR defines physical restraint as a personal restriction, imposed by a school staff member or other individual, that immobilizes or reduces the ability of a student to move their torso, arms, legs, or head freely. The term physical restraint does not include a physical escort.
These are incident counts, not counts of individual children. One child who is restrained or secluded repeatedly may be represented in the data multiple times.
What the data show
The 2023–24 total is 235,132 incidents higher than the 171,662 incidents reported in 2020–21, an increase of 137 percent. Physical restraint increased from 109,301 reported incidents to 263,376; seclusion increased from 58,538 to 127,381; and mechanical restraint increased from 3,823 to 16,037.
That comparison requires context. The 2020–21 school year was profoundly disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, with many students spending less time in in-person learning. It should not be interpreted as a typical baseline for measuring changes in school practices.
Compared with the last pre-pandemic collection, in 2017–18, the overall number of reported incidents was somewhat lower in 2023–24: 406,794 compared with 417,693. Physical-restraint incidents remained nearly unchanged, seclusion declined by 12.5 percent, and reported mechanical restraint nearly doubled.
No national total of this size should be normalized. Each incident represents a moment when a student was subjected to a dangerous restrictive intervention at school. Children experience trauma and injuries when restraint and seclusion are used, and children have even died in schools due to these techniques. Behind the numbers are children, families, educators, and school communities who deserve better systems of support.
Students with disabilities
The CRDC reports that schools identified 84,316 students subjected to physical restraint, 13,125 students subjected to mechanical restraint, and 32,260 students subjected to seclusion. These figures cannot be combined into a national count of unique children because the same child may be included in more than one category, but they do show how children with disabikities are far more likely to be physically restrained and seclided at school.
Students served under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act were involved in approximately 83 percent of reported physical-restraint incidents and 78 percent of reported seclusion incidents. These figures underscore the disproportionate impact of these practices on students with disabilities.
Restraint and seclusion are not evidence-based solutions to the unmet needs, distress, disability-related differences, trauma, communication challenges, or environmental barriers that may underlie behavior. These are crisis management approaches that should only be used in a crisis after all other options have been exhausted, and they are necessary to prevent imminent serious physical harm to the child or someone else.
Where incidents were reported
Illinois reported the largest combined total of restraint and seclusion incidents, at 46,126, followed by Texas at 45,367. Washington reported 25,085 incidents, Connecticut reported 21,564, and Missouri reported 15,517.
Texas reported the highest number of physical-restraint incidents, with 34,516. Illinois reported the highest number of seclusion incidents, with 18,213. Texas also reported the highest number of mechanical-restraint incidents, with 5,718.
These are raw totals, not student-enrollment-adjusted rates. They identify where the largest numbers of incidents were reported, but they do not establish where an individual student is most likely to experience restraint or seclusion. Meaningful comparisons require attention to enrollment, disability identification, reporting practices, missing data, and state and local policy differences.
Why accessible data matters
OCR provides a public data-reporting website at ocrdata.ed.gov, and the agency states that the CRDC is intended to help inform civil-rights enforcement, policy guidance, technical assistance, and public understanding of educational opportunity.
However, the OCR website provides very little useful or usable information related to restraint and seclusion. It does not allow families, advocates, policymakers, researchers, or community members to easily explore the data, compare information across schools and districts, or see meaningful trends over time. Without those capabilities, information that should support transparency and accountability remains difficult for the public to use.
That is why the Alliance Against Seclusion and Restraint created the Restraint and Seclusion Data Explorer. The explorer allows users to search reported 2023–24 restraint and seclusion data by state, school district, or individual school. Our goal is to make this critical information easier to find, understand, and use.
Accessible data cannot, by itself, prevent restraint or seclusion. But it can help families and communities ask necessary questions:
- How often is restraint or seclusion reported in our school or district?
- Are the numbers consistent with what families, students, and staff are experiencing?
- What practices, policies, staffing supports, and professional learning are in place to prevent crises before they occur?
- How are school districts reducing reliance on punitive, exclusionary, and restrictive practices?
- What accountability exists when data are missing, inaccurate, or inconsistent with community reports?
A data disclaimer
The Alliance Against Seclusion and Restraint provides the Restraint and Seclusion Data Explorer for informational and research purposes only. While every effort has been made to ensure accuracy, the organization makes no guarantees regarding the completeness or current validity of the data. Users are encouraged to verify any information directly with the U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights.
The CRDC is an indispensable resource, but it is not a substitute for transparent local reporting, thorough investigation of concerns, meaningful family engagement, and sustained efforts to change school policy and practice. The documented underreporting identified by GAO makes those safeguards even more important.
Explore the data
Visit the Alliance Against Seclusion and Restraint Restraint and Seclusion Data Explorer to search the 2023–24 CRDC data by state, district, or school.
The federal government’s public data and documentation are available through the U.S. Department of Education Civil Rights Data Collection.
