Catie Beck CBS 6 News Reporter

1:40 p.m. EST, November 17, 2011

RICHMOND, VA (WTVR) - A new report shows Virginia is disciplining too many of its students by sending them home from school.

The report by Just Children, a group that provides legal services to low-income children, states over 90,000 students were suspended or expelled last year in the Commonwealth.

The group said their research showed removing children from school as a punishment does not fix the behavioral problem that caused the child to be suspended in the first place.

Brandon Gilmore, a student who was suspended from school several times   for causing disruptions in high school, agrees with the findings.

"When you kick a kid out of school there's really no incentive to behave, especially if that's what they were aiming for," said Gilmore. "I've learned my lesson not by what they did, but because I've grown up."

Gilmore, now a freshman at VCU with a job near campus, said the report makes sense from the perspective of someone who went through the process.

As a result, some schools in the state are shifting to a new tactic to deal with problem students.

In fact, about 12 percent of Virginia schools have shown positive results after trying a new tactic to use in-school consequence for minor offenses instead of suspensions.