According to a new study released by the Council of State Governments, almost 60 percent of Texas public school students received punishments ranging from expulsion to in-school suspensions of a single period at least once between seventh and 12th grades.

The study also found that black and Latino students are suspended at much higher rates than white students.

Steve Perry, CNN education contributor, joins Ali Velshi on American Morning today to discuss these alarming disciplinary statistics and to weigh in on when suspensions are an effective disciplinary tool versus when they go too far.

Last week, educators from Atlanta's school district were caught in a massive cheating scandal. Investigators exposed that for almost a decade, teachers erased and corrected students' answers on tests in an effort to boost their school's state standardized test scores.

An investigative report by Georgia Governor Nathan Deal's office found that over 78% of Atlanta public schools that were part of the investigation were found to be cheating.

Investigators also confirmed that 178 educators, including 38 principals, were involved and that the superintendent "either knew or should have known cheating and other misconduct was occurring in the Atlanta public school system."

Steve Perry, CNN education contributor, joins Kiran Chetry this morning to discuss how this cheating scandal played out and how it was able to go on for nearly ten years.