In the former New Castle County (Delaware) School District (reorganized into four districts in 1981), minority students were numerically overrepresented from 1979 to 1982 in suspensions from school and in placement in special education and lower academic groupings. To determine if the overrepresentation was based on discriminatory practices or not, researchers reviewed district policies and procedures and collected data through interviews, reviews of records, onsite observations, and a survey of students, teachers, administrators, parents, and selected citizens, using the Discipline Context Inventory (DCI). Variables analyzed besides race included student socioeconomic status, sex, and class rank as well as school size and percentage of minority students. Data were analyzed using ratios, percents, correlations, nonparametric statistics, and content analysis. The results of the analysis of suspensions and discipline practices, reported here in volume 1 of the study, indicate that other factors besides race could be causing minority overrepresentation in suspensions, and that no overt institutional bias in discipline is evident. The researchers, however, note problem areas in school-community relations, curriculum and instruction, and discipline. Six appendices to this volume of the report provide methodological information, further data, and a copy of the DCI. (Author/RW)