INDIANAPOLIS (AP): An education expert says Indiana data on student discipline could make the state a target for federal review because of disproportionate numbers of males, minorities and students with disabilities being punished.

Russell Skiba of the Equity Project at Indiana University says Indiana is one of five states with male suspension rates higher than the nation for every racial and ethnic group. It also saw African Americans account for nearly a third of students who lost classroom time to suspensions and expulsions in 2012-2013.

The Evansville Courier & Press reports the number of Indiana schoolchildren facing suspension or expulsion from school has steadily declined in recent years. But students still lost nearly 590,000 days out of the classroom in the 2012-2013 school year.