tag:theconversation.com,2011:/au/topics/school-suspension-17387/articlesSchool suspension – The Conversation2023-12-04T13:27:05Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2171832023-12-04T13:27:05Z2023-12-04T13:27:05ZPhiladelphia reduces school-based arrests by 91% since 2013 – researchers explain the effects of keeping kids out of the legal system<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/563102/original/file-20231203-15-71hdlk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=19%2C24%2C3189%2C2102&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A change in policy means more Philly students are staying in school and out of the legal system.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/PhiladelphiaSchools/32fea4648c1744b99f8f5b78f85ad2a6/photohttps://newsroom.ap.org/detail/PhiladelphiaSchools/32fea4648c1744b99f8f5b78f85ad2a6/photo">AP Photo/Matt Rourke</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Across the United States, arrest rates for young people under age 18 have been declining for decades. However, the proportion of youth arrests associated with <a href="https://www.ojjdp.gov/ojstatbb/njcda/pdf/jcs2013.pdf">school incidents</a> <a href="https://www.ojjdp.gov/ojstatbb/njcda/pdf/jcs2019.pdf">has increased</a>.</p>
<p>According to <a href="https://ocrdata.ed.gov/estimations/2017-2018">the U.S. Department of Education</a>, K-12 schools referred nearly 230,000 students to law enforcement during the school year that began in 2017. These referrals and the 54,321 reported school-based arrests that same year were mostly for minor misbehavior like marijuana possession, as <a href="https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1179204">opposed to more serious offenses</a> like bringing a gun to school. </p>
<p>School-based arrests are one part of the <a href="https://www.ojp.gov/ncjrs/virtual-library/abstracts/defining-and-redirecting-school-prison-pipeline">school-to-prison pipeline</a>, through which students – especially Black and <a href="https://theconversation.com/stop-using-latinx-if-you-really-want-to-be-inclusive-189358">Latine</a> students and those with disabilities – are pushed out of their schools and into the legal system. </p>
<p>Getting caught up in the legal system has been linked to negative <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.acap.2022.08.009">health</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/S095457942000200X">social</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0038040712448862">academic</a> outcomes, as well as increased risk for <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/1745-9125.12039">future arrest</a>. </p>
<p>Given these negative consequences, public agencies in states like <a href="https://www.chdi.org/our-work/school-based-mental-health/sbdi/">Connecticut</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1541204014521249">New York</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2019.03.022">Pennsylvania</a> have looked for ways to arrest fewer young people in schools. Philadelphia, in particular, has pioneered a successful effort to divert youth from the legal system. </p>
<h2>Philadelphia Police School Diversion Program</h2>
<p>In Philadelphia, police department leaders recognized that the city’s school district was its largest source of referrals for youth arrests. To address this issue, then-Deputy Police Commissioner <a href="https://www.inquirer.com/news/philadelphia/philadelphia-school-diversion-program-kevin-bethel-police-20160926.html">Kevin Bethel developed and implemented</a> a school-based, pre-arrest diversion initiative in partnership with the school district and the city’s department of human services. The program is called the <a href="https://www.jjrrlab.com/uploads/1/2/4/1/124158680/diversion_finalreport_8.2022.pdf">Philadelphia Police School Diversion Program</a>, and it officially launched in May 2014. </p>
<p>Mayor-elect Cherelle Parker named <a href="https://www.inquirer.com/news/philadelphia/kevin-bethel-philadelphia-police-commissioner-cherelle-parker-20231121.html">Bethel as her new police commissioner</a> on Nov. 22, 2023.</p>
<p>Since the diversion program began, when police are called to schools in the city for offenses like marijuana possession or disorderly conduct, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2019.03.022">they cannot arrest the student involved</a> if that student has no pending court case or a history of adjudication. In juvenile court, an adjudication is similar to a conviction in criminal court. </p>
<p>Instead of being arrested, the diverted student remains in school and school personnel decide how to respond to their behavior. For example, they might speak with the student, schedule a meeting with a parent or suspend the student. </p>
<p>A social worker from the city also contacts the student’s family to arrange a home visit, where they assess youth and family needs. Then, the social worker makes referrals to no-cost community-based services. The student and their family choose whether to attend.</p>
<p>Our team — the <a href="https://www.jjrrlab.com/">Juvenile Justice Research and Reform Lab</a> at Drexel University — evaluated the effectiveness of the diversion program as <a href="https://www.jjrrlab.com/diversion-program.html">independent researchers</a> not affiliated with the police department or school district. We published four research articles describing various ways the diversion program affected students, schools and costs to the city. </p>
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<h2>Arrests dropped</h2>
<p>In our evaluation of the diversion program’s first five years, we reported that the annual number of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/lhb0000440">school-based arrests in Philadelphia decreased by 84%</a>: from nearly 1,600 in the school year beginning in 2013 to just 251 arrests in the school year beginning in 2018. </p>
<p>Since then, school district data indicates the annual number of school-based arrests in Philadelphia has continued to decline — dropping to just 147 arrests in the school year that began in 2022. That’s a 91% reduction from the year before the program started.</p>
<p>We also investigated the number of serious behavioral incidents recorded in the school district in the program’s first five years. Those <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/lhb0000440">fell as well</a>, suggesting that the diversion program effectively reduced school-based arrests without compromising school safety.</p>
<p>Additionally, data showed that city social workers successfully contacted the families of <a href="https://www.ojp.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/304409.pdf">74% of students diverted</a> through the program during its first five years. Nearly 90% of these families accepted at least one referral to community-based programming, which includes services like academic support, job skill development and behavioral health counseling. </p>
<h2>Fewer suspensions and expulsions</h2>
<p>We compared data from 1,281 students diverted in the first three years of the school-based program to data from 531 similar students who were arrested in schools before the program began but who would have been eligible if the diversion program existed.</p>
<p>Diverted students were <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/lhb0000453">significantly less likely</a> to be suspended, expelled or required to transfer to another school in the year following their school-based incident.</p>
<h2>Long-term outcomes</h2>
<p>To evaluate a longer follow-up period, we compared the 427 students diverted in the program’s first year to the group of 531 students arrested before the program began. Results showed arrested students were significantly more likely to be arrested again <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/law0000397">in the following five years</a>. </p>
<p>Although we observed impacts on arrest outcomes, the diversion program did not appear to affect long-term educational outcomes. We looked at four years of school data and found no significant differences in suspension, dropout or on-time graduation between diverted and arrested students. </p>
<p>Finally, a cost-benefit analysis revealed that the program saves taxpayers <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/police/paac061">millions of dollars</a>. </p>
<p>Based on its success in Philadelphia, several other cities and counties across Pennsylvania have begun replicating the Police School Diversion Program. These efforts could further contribute to a nationwide movement to safely keep kids in their communities and out of the legal system.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/217183/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Research reported in this article was supported by funding from the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (2014-JZ-FX-K0003; 2017-JF-FX-0055), the National Institute of Justice (NIJ; 2017-CK-BX-0001), and the Stoneleigh Foundation. The content of this article is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the views of the United States Department of Justice, its agencies, the Stoneleigh Foundation, or other funding organizations. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Naomi Goldstein receives funding from the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) and previously received funding from the NIJ,Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, and Stoneleigh Foundation.</span></em></p>Drexel researchers evaluated a 2014 program implemented by Kevin Bethel when he was deputy police commissioner that led to fewer arrests of students in schools.Amanda NeMoyer, Assistant Research Professor of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Drexel UniversityNaomi Goldstein, Professor of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Drexel UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2157772023-11-03T12:44:21Z2023-11-03T12:44:21ZWe analyzed over 3.5 million written teacher comments about students and found racial bias<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/556334/original/file-20231027-17-v7vc7q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=12%2C51%2C8595%2C5704&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Teachers had more negative comments about Black boys than they did about other groups.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/boy-sitting-in-class-and-trying-to-read-board-royalty-free-image/1413457551?phrase=students+in+trouble+black&adppopup=true">aldomurillo/E+ via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>The <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/topics/research-brief-83231">Research Brief</a> is a short take on interesting academic work.</em> </p>
<p>Written teacher comments about students can show implicit racial or ethnic and gender biases in school discipline, according to our recent <a href="https://doi.org/10.3102/0013189X231189444">study</a>. </p>
<p>To identify these biases, we analyzed more than 3.5 million teacher comments about students from thousands of schools in the U.S. These comments were written in student office discipline referrals. Teacher comments were gathered from a web application used by schools to provide information such as when and where student discipline referrals occurred. When purchasing the application, schools can provide permission for their de-identified data to be used for research purposes.</p>
<p>Our study showed that teachers wrote more when describing behavior incidents of Black students compared with white students. They also used more negative emotions, words like “anger,” “hurt” and “disrespectful,” and used more verbs, such as “scraped,” “hit” and “spanked.” We found the opposite was true for Asian and Hispanic students compared with white students.</p>
<p>Further, we found that teachers used more words, negative emotions, verbs and impersonal pronouns when describing incidents for boys compared with girls.</p>
<p>Our research shows that written teacher comments about students vary by the students’ demographic backgrounds. </p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0261927X20902816">Research</a> shows that certain types of words provide insights into what people are thinking, feeling and experiencing psychologically. For example, the use of impersonal pronouns, such as “it” and “this,” are terms related to depersonalization and can reflect greater psychological distance from one group to another.</p>
<h2>Why it matters</h2>
<p>According to the <a href="https://ocrdata.ed.gov/resources/downloaddatafile">Office for Civil Rights</a>, Black students account for nearly 15% of total public student enrollment but 30% of students suspended in school and 38% of those suspended out of school in the U.S.</p>
<p>Boys also receive substantially more <a href="https://doi.org/10.17988/bedi-41-04-178-195.1">office discipline referrals</a> than girls, and Black girls are more likely to receive office discipline referrals than white girls.</p>
<p>These inequities in student discipline have both short-term and long-term negative consequences, such as poor student-teacher relationships and lower academic <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.edurev.2014.12.001">achievement</a>. And these inequities are not <a href="https://www.civilrightsproject.ucla.edu/research/k-12-education/special-education/disabling-inequity-the-urgent-need-for-race-conscious-resource-remedies">narrowing</a>.</p>
<p>Strategies for identifying and addressing teacher biases have remained elusive. One reason is that some biases are harder to identify than others. Explicit biases are more overt and can include a teacher making offensive comments based on the race, gender or disability status of their students.</p>
<p>Implicit biases, on the other hand, are more subtle. Implicit biases are more likely to affect decisions when teachers feel the need to act quickly, such as sending students to the office, without considering the consequences of their decisions. For example, implicit bias could explain why students of color receive more office discipline referrals than white students for <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/spq0000178">subjectively defined behaviors</a>, such as defiance, as opposed to stealing or property damage.</p>
<h2>What’s next</h2>
<p>Many schools are being more proactive about <a href="https://exceptionalchildren.org/webinar/equity-focused-pbis-approach-increasing-racial-equity-school-discipline">reducing disparities</a> in discipline that removes students from school.</p>
<p>These equity-focused approaches include strategies for teaching educators how to analyze their discipline data for patterns. The strategies also show educators how to better take student culture into account and to stop implicit biases before they occur.</p>
<p>For example, teachers could use activities such as a classroom teaching matrix – or chart – to help students and themselves see the similarities and differences between expectations at school versus at home. Such activities can help educators adapt their classroom expectations to make it easier for students to navigate varying classroom expectations for their behavior.</p>
<p>Research is ongoing to evaluate the effects of these equity-focused approaches on school and student outcomes. Ultimately, we hope these approaches will prevent disproportionate disciplinary practices from occurring and place the focus on designing effective, safe and supportive school environments for all students.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/215777/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kent McIntosh receives funding from the U.S. Department of Education, including grant #R305A230399 from the Institute of Education Sciences.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Angus Kittelman, David Markowitz, and Maria Reina Santiago-Rosario do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Teachers use tougher language when describing the misbehavior of Black children, new research shows.Angus Kittelman, Assistant Professor of Special Education, University of Missouri-ColumbiaDavid Markowitz, Associate Professor of Communication, Michigan State UniversityKent McIntosh, Knight Chair of Special Education, University of OregonMaria Reina Santiago-Rosario, Research Associate, University of OregonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2122492023-10-15T19:09:40Z2023-10-15T19:09:40ZSchool suspensions entrench disadvantage. What are the alternatives and how have they worked overseas?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/552280/original/file-20231005-28-wjebeq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C14%2C4863%2C3217&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Suspension from school is meant to be a last resort for serious problem behaviour. Despite that, an alarming number of children are <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13603116.2018.1540668?casa_token=GnDQSv0g46YAAAAA%3A7SrcOfGvFRsd8taTANmdqIt6njNiuVgjoP2wb9PJV6MrCZm8byw4Pt98EPLplABBGGJblyBBlgdk">suspended</a> every year, often at young ages, for <a href="https://www.education.sa.gov.au/docs/support-and-inclusion/engagement-and-wellbeing/student-absences/report-of-an-independent-inquiry-into-suspensions-exclusions-and-expulsions-in-south-australian-government-schools.pdf">minor reasons</a>. </p>
<p>Indigenous children, those with a disability, and/or those living in out-of-home care are grossly <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13384-023-00652-6">over-represented</a>.</p>
<p>So what are the alternatives to suspension and how have they worked overseas?</p>
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<p>
<em>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/suspensions-and-expulsions-could-set-our-most-vulnerable-kids-on-a-path-to-school-drop-out-drug-use-and-crime-166827">Suspensions and expulsions could set our most vulnerable kids on a path to school drop-out, drug use and crime</a>
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</em>
</p>
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<h2>Combining prevention with intervention</h2>
<p>Prevention is better than cure. This means targeting the root problems underpinning behaviours leading to suspension and <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11292-018-09351-0">teaching</a> children the skills they need to avoid making errors in the first place. </p>
<p>This is best achieved using a model known as <a href="https://mtss4success.org/essential-components#:%7E:text=A%20multi%2Dtiered%20system%20of,from%20a%20strengths%2Dbased%20perspective.">multi-tiered systems of support</a>, sometimes shortened to MTSS.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1604849534399418368"}"></div></p>
<p>This approach involves screening all children in a cohort to identify issues that could lead to problems down the track (such as struggling with reading or difficulty regulating emotions). </p>
<p>Schools can then provide academic, social-emotional, and behavioural supports to students who need it and use data to track their progress over time. </p>
<p>This approach recognises several issues can be linked. For example, <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11145-020-10023-7">reading difficulties</a> can affect a child’s self-esteem, leading to frustration, disengagement, disruptive behaviour and truancy. </p>
<p>The multi-tiered systems of support approach <a href="https://www.edresearch.edu.au/articles/one-five-secondary-students-has-not-mastered-basic-skills-how-do-schools-help-them-catch">helps educators</a> identify these children early, accurately interpret what they need and provide targeted interventions. </p>
<h2>What does this approach look like in practice?</h2>
<p><a href="https://mtss4success.org/essential-components#:%7E:text=A%20multi%2Dtiered%20system%20of,from%20a%20strengths%2Dbased%20perspective.">Multi-tiered systems of support</a> has been used in many US public school districts for the last decade.</p>
<p>This involves things like learning about <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/003172171309500203?casa_token=wFkNlZ_cOtQAAAAA:NGWAeExrq2gYkgsXFYdcAMRmP0mqSCwzSk6iT1kIxDa3db9HiY9gduvrXR0AqybPDgm_uLLN5g_hEA">emotions and social skills</a> at school and embedding <a href="https://www.google.com.au/books/edition/Structured_Literacy_Interventions/PIZUEAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=structured+literacy+instruction+mtss&pg=PP1&printsec=frontcover">structured literacy instruction</a> in daily teaching. </p>
<p>Students might, for example, go on a daily “reading walk” where they divide up and join a group working on a particular reading skill, such as vocabulary. </p>
<p>Group membership changes as soon as the focus skill is learnt and children progress to the next skill. The groups fluctuate. Difficulties are addressed early, groups are flexible and children get the support they need without being stigmatised or pigeonholed. </p>
<p>It is through these tiered approaches that some public school systems in the United States, such as <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/0161956X.2018.1435051?casa_token=Q_MbQhGxpT0AAAAA%3ARdmT8R5JAjvo9yWU-1924MQrmYhjvydx3Iwm7MdHieKBqxST5tg0-ZohV2UQL33nkLAjLvGt3D68dQ">Chicago Public Schools</a>, have been able to reduce suspension, while improving safety and student attendance, perceptions of school climate, and academic outcomes.</p>
<p>A similar approach is now in place in countries like <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-981-19-8241-5_25">Finland</a>.</p>
<h2>How might this apply to behaviour?</h2>
<p>Many incidents resulting in suspension are rooted in cognitive or emotional overwhelm. This can be prevented by providing children with <a href="https://www.nccd.edu.au/wider-support-materials/whats-reasonable">reasonable adjustments</a> (such as extra time for certain tasks or being able to work in a quiet place) and evidence-based <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10882-018-9626-9">interventions</a>. </p>
<p>For example, a child could be taught to recognise the signs of overwhelm and use a “chill out” card when they need to. This card allows them to retreat – without being interrogated about it by the teacher – to a safe space. Once there, they can recover and then rejoin the fray. </p>
<p>In Vermont, another US state where schools are using the <a href="https://education.vermont.gov/student-support/vermont-multi-tiered-system-of-supports">multi-tiered systems of support</a> approach, classrooms have been designed to have these safe spaces.</p>
<p>However, teachers must also be able to detect when a child is beginning to spiral so they can intervene to diffuse situations before they escalate. This may require professional learning in <a href="https://research.qut.edu.au/c4ie/professional-learning/">inclusive practice</a>.</p>
<h2>But it isn’t just down to individual teachers</h2>
<p>One of the most common reasons for suspension is coded in incident reports as “physical aggression” or “physical misconduct”. This is when children hit, kick or push. </p>
<p>Again, this can be the result of overwhelm, which induces a fight-or-flight response. However, it can also be a response to teasing, bullying or racism. These incidents often happen outside the classroom.</p>
<p>The incidence of physical aggression in schools can be reduced by: </p>
<ul>
<li><p>establishing clear and consistent expectations with the input of students</p></li>
<li><p>addressing <a href="https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/51921/6/51921_Llewellyn%20et%20al_2018.pdf">racism</a> at school</p></li>
<li><p>valuing religious, ethnic and cultural diversity and providing meaningful opportunities for children to interact and learn about each others heritage</p></li>
<li><p>having more adults in the playground and reducing low-visibility areas where bullying might occur</p></li>
<li><p>making sure teaching is <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Anne-Morrison/publication/335101498_Anne_Morrison_Lester-Irabinna_Rigney_Robert_Hattam_Abigail_Diplock_TOWARD_AN_AUSTRALIAN_CULTURALLY_RESPONSIVE_PEDAGOGY_A_NARRATIVE_REVIEW_OF_THE_LITERATURE/links/5d4f4c3da6fdcc370a8c2ce2/Anne-Morrison-Lester-Irabinna-Rigney-Robert-Hattam-Abigail-Diplock-TOWARD-AN-AUSTRALIAN-CULTURALLY-RESPONSIVE-PEDAGOGY-A-NARRATIVE-REVIEW-OF-THE-LITERATURE.pdf">culturally responsive</a> and respectful of First Nations students’ families, culture, languages, history and knowledge and that curriculum is relevant to the local context</p></li>
<li><p>implementing quality <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11121-020-01195-3">interventions</a> that include anti-bullying programs and mental health support services</p></li>
<li><p>supporting the development of positive <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0190740918300185?casa_token=2w3yMN0t_f0AAAAA:uWkgnuvamMMZjn6xpuiBqm13dueK0gDyuzBBe7wTmuDWiOA4q7hVDRvMbrH_qMqAkl-Hayzq">school climates</a>, peer-peer and <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.1523698113">teacher-student relationships</a> by engaging students in <a href="https://research.qut.edu.au/c4ie/wp-content/uploads/sites/281/2022/02/Practice-Guide-Student-Driven-School-Change.pdf">school improvement</a> processes</p></li>
<li><p>providing teachers with training and time to plan adjustments, <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.1523698113">empathise</a> with students, use inclusive practices, manage diverse classrooms and problem-solve with support staff and parents.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>Even after all this, some children will still have difficulty complying with expectations. For these children, there are alternatives to suspension.</p>
<h2>Alternatives can reduce suspension and teacher stress</h2>
<p>A growing body of evidence suggests an educative response works better than a punitive one.</p>
<p>One educative approach developed in the US is known as <a href="https://www.cpsconnection.com/">collaborative and proactive solutions</a>. It aims to identify underlying difficulties with particular skills and frame them as “<a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00094056.2018.1494430">unsolved problems</a>”. </p>
<p>The focus is on understanding the cause of behaviour, rather than simply suppressing it. In this model, a teacher might respond to disruptive behaviour by: </p>
<ul>
<li><p>hearing the student’s perspective about the cause</p></li>
<li><p>explaining their own perspective and</p></li>
<li><p>describing the wider impacts for the student and their classmates.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>The teacher and student then work towards a solution addressing the underlying issue: in this case, supporting the student to develop strategies to self-regulate. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/552281/original/file-20231005-29-z8q5z3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/552281/original/file-20231005-29-z8q5z3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/552281/original/file-20231005-29-z8q5z3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552281/original/file-20231005-29-z8q5z3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552281/original/file-20231005-29-z8q5z3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552281/original/file-20231005-29-z8q5z3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552281/original/file-20231005-29-z8q5z3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552281/original/file-20231005-29-z8q5z3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">An educative approach is better than a punitive one.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
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<p>Parents of neurodivergent children have <a href="https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/new-south-wales-education/parents-call-for-collaborative-proactive-solutions-for-challenging-behaviour/news-story/6e5ee16af689e0b6ca942b5ca6bbc107">advocated strongly</a> for Australian education departments to implement collaborative and proactive solutions.</p>
<p>One US study found training teachers in the collaborative and proactive solutions approach can <a href="https://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/iassw/sswj/2011/00000035/00000002/art00007">reduce</a> problem behaviour and teacher stress.</p>
<p>Another approach, used internationally, is known as <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/1/96">restorative justice</a>. The aim is to educate students about the impacts of behaviour, ensure wronged parties are heard and repair relationships. </p>
<p>If implemented correctly – with a focus on educating, not punishing – restorative practices can improve <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/1/96">conflict resolution</a>, promote <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02643944.2018.1528625">positive relationships</a>, reduce <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11121-023-01507-3">suspensions</a> and enhance school <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10964-019-01013-2">connectedness</a>.</p>
<p>The recent report of the <a href="https://disability.royalcommission.gov.au/publications/final-report-volume-7-inclusive-education-employment-and-housing">Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability</a> recommended suspension be the last resort. </p>
<p>Suspension does not provide children with the skills they need to succeed at school and it can make problem behaviour <a href="https://theconversation.com/suspensions-and-expulsions-could-set-our-most-vulnerable-kids-on-a-path-to-school-drop-out-drug-use-and-crime-166827">worse</a>.</p>
<p>Australian schools can, with the right support and leadership from governments, take steps to reduce suspension by finding alternatives that work better for students and teachers alike.</p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/expanding-suspension-powers-for-schools-is-harmful-and-ineffective-106525">Expanding suspension powers for schools is harmful and ineffective</a>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/212249/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Linda J. Graham receives funding from the Australian Research Council (ARC) and the Queensland Department of Education. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Callula Killingly does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Many of incidents resulting in suspension are rooted in emotional overwhelm.Linda J. Graham, Professor and Director of the Centre for Inclusive Education, Queensland University of TechnologyCallula Killingly, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Centre for Inclusive Education, Queensland University of TechnologyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2087412023-07-03T00:35:57Z2023-07-03T00:35:57ZSchool of last resort: how to fix NZ’s vital but ignored alternative education system<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/535167/original/file-20230702-212410-kgb8rn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C4%2C2771%2C1976&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>It wasn’t surprising when last week’s <a href="https://ero.govt.nz/our-research/an-alternative-education-support-for-our-most-disengaged-young-people">Education Review Office (ERO) report</a> found New Zealand’s alternative education (AE) system suffers from inadequate facilities, a lack of qualified teaching personnel and poor long-term outcomes. </p>
<p>After all, alternative education funding had <a href="https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/a-far-better-alternative-to-dropping-out/LDC43JABBWK7JDYSUOJIDANNU4/?c_id=1&objectid=10644999">remained static</a> for its first decade of operation, after which it received only minor increases until <a href="https://www.education.govt.nz/our-work/publications/budget-2023/supporting-those-akonga-who-need-it-the-most/">this year’s government budget</a>. </p>
<p>This is despite around 2,000 young people each year accessing alternative education as a school of last resort, having been excluded or disengaged from mainstream secondary schools. </p>
<p>For many, behavioural and learning difficulties, and a cultural disconnection between school and home, have made schooling challenging. These young people have not received the help they needed earlier in their school years. </p>
<p>But beyond the immediate headlines that alternative education is <a href="https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2023/06/ero-slams-state-of-alternative-education-says-nz-s-most-vulnerable-learners-are-being-failed.html">failing students</a>, a closer reading of the report also reveals how successful the system has been, despite the challenges. Young people in AE told the ERO they:</p>
<ul>
<li><p><a href="https://www.stuff.co.nz/timaru-herald/news/121647070/alternative-education-preferred-to-mainstream">greatly preferred learning</a> in the alternative system to their previous schools</p></li>
<li><p>receive help from their educators (97% of the time, compared to 44% in their old school)</p></li>
<li><p>feel safe (93% compared to 59% in their old school)</p></li>
<li><p>almost never feel lonely (81% compared to 56% in their old school)</p></li>
<li><p>feel cared for (84%) and that their culture is respected (87%).</p></li>
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<p>These young people also reported they had developed their own learning goals, and that their schoolwork was set at the right level. Surely those are things we would wish for all young people, whether in alternative education or not.</p>
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<h2>A system under pressure</h2>
<p>Time and time again, the caring and dedicated AE workforce has been shown to be central to these successes. </p>
<p>Many staff are not qualified teachers, but are <a href="https://www.dunmore.co.nz/p/education-the-tutor-transformational-educators-for-21st-century-learners">tutors</a> with community and youth work experience and training. They artfully mentor young people to develop prosocial skills. The success of their work was further highlighted in the <a href="https://www.youth19.ac.nz/publications/health-wellbeing-alternative-education">Youth19 AE report</a> also released last week.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/mainstream-schools-need-to-take-back-responsibility-for-educating-disengaged-students-71988">Mainstream schools need to take back responsibility for educating disengaged students</a>
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<p>While the ERO report found fewer than one in ten AE students attain NCEA level 2, alternative education’s focus has to be elsewhere. As the report stated, students arrive in AE centres with large gaps in their basic education. They have to catch up on schooling as well as work on developing life and social skills.</p>
<p>Until only recently, students couldn’t stay in alternative education beyond the age of 16. Due to a lack of transitional support, many end up languishing in their later adolescent years.</p>
<p>At the same time, pressures on the system are growing, with more students entering alternative education with high and complex needs. Without adequate funding, others simply <a href="https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/education/129592638/more-children-out-of-school--government-failing-to-help-educators-say">cannot get in</a>.</p>
<h2>Out of sight, out of mind</h2>
<p>The problems in the AE system are in many ways a product of its origins. To begin with, it was never a government initiative. </p>
<p>In 1989, when the “Tomorrow’s Schools” reforms introduced competition between schools, vulnerable students soon became seen as liabilities because most struggled to meet the academic standards schools were judged on. </p>
<p>The 2019 <a href="https://conversation.education.govt.nz/conversations/tomorrows-schools-review/">Tomorrow’s Schools Independent Taskforce</a> found competition had exacerbated ethnic and socioeconomic segregation. Students suspended or excluded from their schools began turning up on the doorsteps of youth organisations, churches and iwi groups. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/millions-of-kids-get-suspended-or-expelled-each-year-but-it-doesnt-address-the-root-of-the-behavior-164539">Millions of kids get suspended or expelled each year – but it doesn't address the root of the behavior</a>
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<p>These communities established alternative education as a makeshift response. In 1996, there were 500 young people being educated in at least 60 AE centres nationwide – effectively educational facilities without government approval, so technically illegal.</p>
<p>Systematic government funding was finally made available in 2000. The fledgling sector became legitimate by virtue of young people being able to remain on a school roll while attending an alternative education centre somewhere else. </p>
<p>It was hailed at the time as a community-school partnership, but as the <a href="https://ero.govt.nz/our-research/secondary-schools-and-alternative-education-april-2011">ERO has found in the past</a>, once young people enter alternative education they have been largely out-of-sight, out-of-mind for referring schools.</p>
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<h2>Focus and funding needed</h2>
<p>Alternative education is not unique to New Zealand. Most Western countries have some system of catering for young people who need a different way of schooling. But New Zealand can do a lot better.</p>
<p>We need to consider how schools can best serve all young people to give them the best chance to stay engaged. Current research investigating <a href="http://www.tlri.org.nz/tlri-research/research-progress/school-sector/critical-moments-education-journeys-students">critical turning points</a> in the education journeys of AE students, due to be released later this year, will give us more insights. </p>
<p>But alternative education is here to stay. So we need to better support young people transitioning into and out of the system.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/schools-need-to-teach-pupils-skills-to-maintain-good-mental-health-heres-how-95885">Schools need to teach pupils skills to maintain good mental health – here's how</a>
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<p>That means we need a bigger workforce of qualified teachers to work alongside tutors in alternative education. In turn, this will require increased funding and support from the Teachers Council of New Zealand to register teachers in this setting.</p>
<p>AE tutors also need to build and extend their expertise. New Zealand is behind other countries in offering qualifications to social educators – a unique profession that works alongside people to develop civic and life skills. </p>
<p>We might look to <a href="https://uclpress.scienceopen.com/hosted-document?doi=10.14324/111.444.ijsp.2020.v9.x.002">Denmark</a>, for example, where tertiary-qualified social educators are highly skilled at working with young people within and beyond mainstream schools.</p>
<p>But most importantly, we need to increase the focus on alternative education. It represents the last, best opportunity to make a sustained difference to the lives of these young people. The significant investment required now will pale in comparison to the future cost to society of failing them.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/208741/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Adrian Schoone was a member of the Expert Advisory Group for ERO's Alternative Education report. He also advises the Alternative Education National Body, of which he was a past chairperson.</span></em></p>Despite a ‘damning’ report, the alternative education system still works wonders with students outside the mainstream. What it needs is more money and commitment.Adrian Schoone, Senior Lecturer in Education, Auckland University of TechnologyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1881392022-09-01T12:23:22Z2022-09-01T12:23:22ZBlack girls are 4.19 times more likely to get suspended than white girls – and hiring more teachers of color is only part of the solution<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/478992/original/file-20220812-24-20aubq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C6709%2C4476&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Race, class and gender can not only impact the education that students receive, but also the punishments they receive.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/diverse-group-of-teenage-high-school-students-royalty-free-image/1135672430">Courtney Hale/iStock / Getty Images Plus via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em><a href="https://faculty.utk.edu/Andrea.Joseph">Andrea Joseph-McCatty</a> is an assistant professor at the College of Social Work at the University of Tennessee. Her research examines disproportional school suspensions and, in particular, the ways in which inequity impacts the experiences of students of color. Below are highlights from an interview with The Conversation. Answers have been edited for brevity and clarity.</em></p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Dr. Andrea Joseph-McCatty discusses her research on understanding and addressing racially disproportional school suspensions.</span></figcaption>
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<p><strong><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GG2xGZELbyg&feature=emb_logo">You recently gave a talk</a> about the disproportionate suspension of Black girls in the U.S. Why is equity so hard in our schools?</strong></p>
<p>Most recently my work has focused on understanding and addressing racially disproportional school suspensions and the ways in which those are also gender disproportionate. For example, we know nationally that in the <a href="https://ocrdata.ed.gov/estimations/2017-2018">2017-2018 academic year</a>, over 2.5 million children received one or more out-of-school suspensions. While these numbers are going down compared to years prior, students of color and students with disabilities are receiving <a href="https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/docs/crdc-exclusionary-school-discipline.pdf">a greater share</a> of suspensions and expulsions. </p>
<p>It’s also important to disaggregate the data to understand trends at the intersection of race, gender, class and other student characteristics. For example, in 2017-2018, Black girls <a href="https://genderjusticeandopportunity.georgetown.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/National-Data-on-School-Discipline-by-Race-and-Gender.pdf">had 4.19</a> times the risk of receiving an out-of-school suspension compared to white girls. Nationally, they are the only group of girls <a href="https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/docs/crdc-exclusionary-school-discipline.pdf">disproportionately suspended</a> in relation to their enrollment. </p>
<p>To address high and disproportional suspensions, schools have implemented multitiered interventions, such as restorative justice practices, and positive behavior interventions, which create positive, predictable, equitable and safe learning environments. While some studies show a reduction in high and disproportional suspensions from these efforts, discipline disparities <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0042085917741725">often persist</a>. </p>
<p>However, some schools are seeking to change these disproportional rates for Black girls and other girls of color by partnering with community organizations such as <a href="https://www.gwensgirls.org/">Gwen’s Girls Incorporated</a>, <a href="https://www.thefinddesign.org/">The F.I.N.D. Design</a> and <a href="https://codeswitch.org/">Code Switch</a>, among others, to provide gender and culturally responsive interventions.</p>
<p>Yet, a major barrier to intervention is the perception adults hold about Black girls. Instead of receiving developmentally appropriate and socioemotional support, <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3000695">many Black girls are adultified</a> – a concept coined to describe how Black girls are disproportionately perceived as less innocent, needing less nurturing, less protection, less support, knowing more about sex and adult topics, and are more adultlike than their peers.</p>
<p>While some may generally assume that students only receive school discipline for breaking school rules, social scientists have used data to show how race, gender, disability and class bias at the intersection of punitive discipline policies and systematic inequities lead to disproportional suspensions. </p>
<p>For example, we know that<a href="https://www.brookings.edu/blog/how-we-rise/2021/02/23/penalizing-black-hair-in-the-name-of-academic-success-is-undeniably-racist-unfounded-and-against-the-law/"> Black girls in particular are getting disciplined</a> in school for wearing their natural hair in afros or having braids, both of which are styles that allow Black girls to embrace their beauty and have cultural pride in the face of Eurocentric beauty ideals that suggest that straight hair is more professional and neat.</p>
<p>In other cases, Black girls are more likely to receive school discipline outcomes for subjective infractions such as tone of voice, clothing and disrespect <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0042085916646610">compared to other girls</a>. And that’s part of the way racial and gender discrimination intersect to create disproportional suspensions for Black girls. In my research, I build on these ideas and also explore how adverse childhood experiences, including neglect, abuse, neighborhood violence and parent incarceration and/or death, become another layer by which Black girls are misunderstood. </p>
<p><a href="https://faculty.utk.edu/Andrea.Joseph">In my research and community partnerships, we explore</a> how race, gender and adultification bias are shaping the way adults perceive the behaviors of Black girls and how this might impact how their trauma-response behaviors are perceived. Will it be met with punishment or support? Increasingly, schools are <a href="https://wapp.capitol.tn.gov/apps/BillInfo/default.aspx?BillNumber=SB0170&GA=111">adopting trauma-informed practices</a> and policies to decrease the punishment of childhood adversities in school. </p>
<p>But I wonder if they account for the way that race, gender and class bias and inequities both inform adverse childhood experiences and inform adult perceptions about children’s behaviors. While school-based trauma-informed practices are a step in the right direction, the next question I also ask is, how are school districts defining what an adverse childhood experience (ACE) is? Are they using the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/s0749-3797(98)00017-8">early measure</a> normed on a predominantly white middle-class population, or are they using the [expanded measure] that surveyed a diverse population and <a href="https://www.philadelphiaaces.org/philadelphia-ace-survey">identified additional ACEs</a> such as racial discrimination, foster care involvement, neighborhood violence and bullying? </p>
<p>Without using the expanded definition, it is possible that schools are continuing to overlook students’ needs and instead punish their trauma. My colleagues and I suggest that practitioners need <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/15313204.2022.2027314">trauma-informed professional development</a> at the intersection of race and gender at minimum to begin to provide robust support for students of color experiencing adversity.</p>
<p><strong>Does the race of the teacher play a role in all this?</strong></p>
<p>I would say yes, but I don’t think it’s a simple answer. I think there is a movement that says, hey, we still need more teachers of color to foster a more equitable environment. While there is research to suggest that Black teachers are less likely to suspended Black students, this is not always a consistent finding for boys and girls, and across school demographics, because having a diverse workforce does not <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/blog/brown-center-chalkboard/2020/07/20/educator-bias-is-associated-with-racial-disparities-in-student-achievement-and-discipline/">totally eliminate bias</a>.</p>
<p>Therefore, having more teachers of color is not the sole solution to addressing disproportional suspensions. It can help in terms of seeing students’ behaviors in context, particularly when an educator of color comes from a similar cultural context, gender context and class as that young person. However, despite these benefits and their training, it is an uphill battle for any educator to teach in a school system that has not addressed past and present funding, practice and policy inequities. </p>
<p>So when we think about change, it’s really systemic change that we need. We need whole school change to begin to address some of these inequities. Meanwhile, as I continue to co-advocate with my community partners for Black girls, we’ll continue to ask, “Is your intervention intersectional”? – meaning does it take into account the the interconnected nature of social categorizations and discrimination.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/188139/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andrea Joseph-McCatty received funding from The University of Tennessee College of Social Work's Social Justice Innovation Initiative for her research on Black girls and disproportional suspension.
Dr. Joseph-McCatty is a former employee of Gwen's Girls Inc. (PA) and is a current board member for the FIND Design (TN) whose focus is to "mitigate the effects of systemic and personal trauma on Black girls, and other girls of color ages 11-17".</span></em></p>A social work scholar researches why school suspensions disproportionately affect students from certain groups and what can be done to change that.Andrea Joseph-McCatty, Assistant Professor of Social Work, University of TennesseeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1799442022-05-29T19:54:31Z2022-05-29T19:54:31ZWhat do kids like and dislike about school? This is why it matters – and we can do something about it<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/465449/original/file-20220526-21-qo0vf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C297%2C4819%2C3068&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>“School SUX</em>!”</p>
<p>We’ve all heard it and some of us have felt it. It’s such a common sentiment that parents and teachers might be tempted to dismiss it. After all, school is good for you! Like vegetables. It is something you have to have, whether you like it or not.</p>
<p>But does the intrinsic “good” and compulsory nature of school education mean we should ignore students who say they don’t like it? Or that we shouldn’t try to make it more palatable? </p>
<p>Feeling positive about school is associated with <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/258506119_Persistent_Absenteeism_among_Irish_Primary_School_Pupils">higher attendance</a>, better classroom adjustment and <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/23093716">engagement</a>, and higher <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0140197113000390">academic achievement</a>. </p>
<p>Students don’t have to <em>love</em> school to experience these benefits. Even those who like school will dislike aspects of it: subjects they aren’t good at, having to get up early, lack of tuckshop options, and so on. </p>
<p>But, for some students, dislike for school can become pervasive – they dislike almost everything about it. </p>
<p>Some of these students may <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17367730/">drop out</a> of school, which has serious implications for their future job prospects, financial security and quality of life. So, yes, it matters a great deal if students don’t like school and it’s important to know <em>why</em>, so we can do something about it.</p>
<h2>How did we research dislike for school?</h2>
<p>Our <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.825036/full">recent study</a> investigated associations between school liking and factors that previous research suggests make students more likely to stay in school or leave: teacher <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10648-016-9389-8">support</a>, connectedness to <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1054139X06004228?via%3Dihub">school</a>, and the use of detentions, <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0038040718816684">suspensions</a> and expulsions. </p>
<p>Our aim was to learn how we might be able to improve schooling from the perspective of students who like it the least. We surveyed 1,002 students in grades 7-10 from three complex secondary schools. These are the grades and types of schools with the highest suspension and lowest retention rates. </p>
<p>We wanted to find out how these students feel about school and teachers, as well as their experiences of exclusionary discipline, and whether there were important differences between those who said they did and did not like school.</p>
<h2>What did we find?</h2>
<p>The good news is that two-thirds of our study sample said they like school. Almost half of these students said they had always liked it. One of them said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“Love it. I’d prefer to live at school. Like, if Hogwarts was an actual place, I’d go there.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Worryingly, one-third of students said they do not like school. Although school liking was highest in grade 7, most students indicated their dislike began in the transition to high school. </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“Yeah, it was probably as soon as I hit high school. Year 7 things got a lot harder.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This dislike appears to increase over time, with grade 9 having the highest proportion of dislikers. These patterns correspond with suspension rates, <a href="https://eprints.qut.edu.au/125844/1/IJIE_Suspension%20in%20QLD%202006-2017_FINAL.pdf">which double in grade 7 and peak in grade 9</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/465419/original/file-20220526-24-ncc005.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Table showing grade levels and percentages of students who said dislike of school started in those years" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/465419/original/file-20220526-24-ncc005.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/465419/original/file-20220526-24-ncc005.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=230&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465419/original/file-20220526-24-ncc005.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=230&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465419/original/file-20220526-24-ncc005.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=230&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465419/original/file-20220526-24-ncc005.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=289&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465419/original/file-20220526-24-ncc005.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=289&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465419/original/file-20220526-24-ncc005.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=289&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.825036/full#A1">Source: L. Graham et al, Frontiers in Psychology, 2022</a>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>What do students like and dislike most?</h2>
<p>Our suspicion that students in these two groups like and dislike different things about school proved correct. While “friends” was the most-liked aspect of school for both groups, a much higher proportion of school likers than dislikers chose “learning”. </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“I feel like every day I go to school, I just flex my knowledge. I like to learn. Learning’s alright.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>By contrast, a much higher proportion of dislikers chose “breaktime” as their most-liked aspect. The attraction became clearer through interviews:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“What do you like most about school?” […] “Break. So I get to see my friends.”</p>
</blockquote>
<iframe title="Most-liked aspects of school for school likers and dislikers" aria-label="Grouped Column Chart" id="datawrapper-chart-vevYQ" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/vevYQ/3/" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" style="border: none;" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>A similar pattern emerged for the least-liked aspects of school. A much higher proportion of dislikers than likers selected schoolwork, teachers and discipline policy as the aspects they disliked most.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“Pretty much work, because they give you all the assessments and expect it to be done so quick […]”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>These findings are fairly intuitive and resonate with <a href="https://eprints.qut.edu.au/125846/14/GrahamVanBergen_Sweller_Caught_between_a_rock_a_hard_place_FINAL_pdf.pdf">previous research</a> with students with a history of disruptive behaviour who also nominated schoolwork and teachers. </p>
<p>The previous study found an interesting connection between the two. Students who find learning difficult will often clash with teachers whose job it is to make them do their work. Some teachers are kinder and more supportive in how they do that than others. </p>
<p>High school is especially difficult for these students because they have to navigate more teachers and are not good at “code-switching” to meet diverse rules and expectations.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“It was hard because you go from having a teacher the whole term who would let you do stuff and then if you tried to do that in another class, it would just be like no, you can’t do that. Yeah, and they just yell at you.”</p>
</blockquote>
<iframe title="Least-liked aspects of school for school likers and dislikers" aria-label="Grouped Column Chart" id="datawrapper-chart-GJPZh" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/GJPZh/1/" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" style="border: none;" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>Students who clash with teachers also tend also to experience exclusionary discipline. In our sample, not liking school was significantly associated with having received a detention, suspension or expulsion in the past 12 months. Forty-one percent of dislikers reported having been suspended (versus 14% of likers).</p>
<p>Our analyses also found large differences in students’ ratings of teacher support. Dislikers provided lower ratings on every item. </p>
<p>The highest-rated item for both groups was: “My teacher always wants me to do my best.” The lowest was: “My teacher has time for me.” The largest difference between groups was for “My teacher listens to me.”</p>
<h2>What can schools do?</h2>
<p>Relationships between teachers and students <em>can</em> be improved and educators do not have to wait for governments to act. A simple start would be for school leaders to implement <a href="https://research.qut.edu.au/c4ie/wp-content/uploads/sites/281/2022/02/Practice-Guide-Student-Driven-School-Change.pdf">student-driven school change</a> to address issues from the perspective of <em>all</em> students, but especially those who say they least want to be there. </p>
<p>As for government policy, the findings from our study highlight one possibility for consideration. When Queensland <a href="https://search.informit.org/doi/epdf/10.3316/informit.360099246761570">shifted</a> grade 7 from the primary phase to the secondary phase in 2015, steps were takens to better support children in their first year of high school. Support included a core teacher model, when one teacher takes the same students for English and humanities or maths and science, reducing the number of teachers that students have to navigate, and dedicated play areas for grade 7 students to help reduce anxiety.</p>
<p>The findings from our study of three Queensland secondary schools suggest that initiative may have had some success for up two-thirds of grade 7 students at least. Yet, if school liking declines in grades 8 and beyond, mirroring the rise in suspensions, is it not time to consider whether grade 8s and 9s may benefit from more intensive pastoral care? </p>
<p>We could always ask them!</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/179944/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Linda J. Graham receives funding from the Australian Research Council (ARC), the Queensland Government and the Spencer Foundation. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jenna Gillett-Swan receives funding from the Australian Research Council (ARC) and the Queensland Government.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Callula Killingly and Penny Van Bergen do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A third of students say they don’t like school, and that dislike often begins around the time they enter high school. But the reasons they give point the way to solutions to this problem.Linda J. Graham, Professor and Director of the Centre for Inclusive Education, Queensland University of TechnologyCallula Killingly, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Centre for Inclusive Education, Queensland University of TechnologyJenna Gillett-Swan, Associate Professor in Education, Wellbeing and Children's Rights, Queensland University of TechnologyPenny Van Bergen, Professor in Educational Psychology, University of WollongongLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1736602022-02-08T13:33:51Z2022-02-08T13:33:51ZStudents are suspended less when their teacher has the same race or ethnicity<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/442778/original/file-20220126-13-1h4rb9g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=53%2C0%2C6000%2C3979&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Black and Latino students are suspended at higher rates than their white peers. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/teacher-greeting-or-congratulating-student-with-royalty-free-image/1279382322?adppopup=true">FG Trade/E+ via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>The Research Brief is a short take about interesting academic work.</em></p>
<h2>The big idea</h2>
<p>Black, Latino and Asian American students are less likely to be suspended from school when they have more teachers who share their racial or ethnic background. This is the central finding of <a href="https://doi.org/10.26300/3jqw-5x05">a research study</a> that two colleagues – <a href="https://gse.berkeley.edu/travis-j-bristol-hehimhis">Travis J. Bristol</a> and <a href="https://gse.berkeley.edu/tolani-britton">Tolani Britton</a> – and <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=wJgL0ywAAAAJ&hl=en">I</a> released in October 2021 through the Annenberg Institute for School Reform at Brown University. </p>
<p>To figure out if a teacher’s race or ethnicity affected suspensions, we analyzed 10 years of data – from 2007 through 2016 – on suspensions for every student in fourth through eighth grades in New York City public schools. We followed individual students over time. We examined whether the proportion of teachers of the same race or ethnicity these students were assigned in a given year affected how likely they were to be suspended. </p>
<p>We found that the decrease in suspension likelihood caused by having teachers of the same race or ethnicity as students was roughly the same magnitude for Asian, Black and Latino students – about 3%.</p>
<p>Our results suggest that if the representation of Black teachers for Black students in New York City went from 40% to 80%, and from 20% to 50% for Latino teachers for Latino students, suspension rates for Black and Latino students would drop by roughly 3%. This is because the percentage of Black teachers overall in New York City is not 40% — that is the percentage of Black teachers for Black students in the city, according to our estimates. Similarly, we found that 20% is the percentage of Latino teachers for Latino students.</p>
<p>Such a change during the decade we studied would have resulted in 1,800 fewer suspensions of Black students and 1,600 fewer suspensions of Latino students, with these students spending approximately 9,000 and 8,000 more days in their classrooms, respectively.</p>
<p><iframe id="HWf78" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/HWf78/6/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<h2>Why it matters</h2>
<p>Black and Latino students are <a href="https://doi.org/10.3102%2F0013189X09357621">suspended from school at higher rates than their white peers</a>. </p>
<p>These disparities are apparent <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/228701481_Prekindergarteners_Left_Behind_Expulsion_Rates_in_State_Prekindergarten_Systems">as early as preschool</a>. The disparities are connected to <a href="https://doi.org/10.3102%2F0013189X18779579">lower academic achievement</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0044118X14544675">lower levels of civic participation later in life</a>. </p>
<p>Although Black and Latino students comprise <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d21/tables/dt21_203.70.asp?current=yes">43% of public school students nationwide</a>, the teacher workforce is <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d20/tables/dt20_209.10.asp?current=yes">only 16% Black or Latino</a>. Compared with white teachers, racially and ethnically matched teachers have been found to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1257/000282805774670446">raise student test scores</a> and <a href="https://www.nber.org/papers/w25254">improve the chances of graduating from high school and attending college</a>. The relative lack of Black and Latino teachers who teach Black and Latino students, then, could also contribute to racial and ethnic disparities in school suspensions. </p>
<h2>What still isn’t known</h2>
<p>Our findings demonstrate the importance of learning more about the effectiveness of <a href="https://nycmbk.org/nyc-men-teach/">efforts to hire and retain teachers of color</a>. Our findings also show the importance of investigating why Black, Latino and Asian American students are less likely to be suspended from school when they are taught by teachers who share their racial and ethnic backgrounds. Learning about the practices of these teachers will help educators design training for teachers that can help all teachers – regardless of their backgrounds – approach student discipline in ways that do not harm students of color.</p>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Matthew Shirrell receives funding from the Walton Family Foundation, the Chan/Zuckerberg Initiative, the Spencer Foundation, the William T. Grant Foundation, and the American Educational Research Association. </span></em></p>School suspension rates drop significantly if US teachers came from more diverse backgrounds, a scholar says.Matthew Shirrell, Assistant Professor of Educational Leadership and Administration, George Washington UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1666102021-08-24T12:18:20Z2021-08-24T12:18:20ZBlack parents say their children are being suspended for petty reasons that force them to take off from work and sometimes lose their jobs<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/417454/original/file-20210823-24-1cshsa5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=43%2C34%2C5708%2C3785&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Black parents are having to call off work to deal with their children's minor infractions at school.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/exasperated-black-mother-with-computer-tutoring-royalty-free-image/1285442238?adppopup=true">Cavan Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>When “Mike,” the father of a ninth grade student, got a call from his daughter’s school, the first thing he asked was: “How important is this?”</p>
<p>“They said, ‘Well, it’s important,’” Mike told me during an interview for my research. </p>
<p>When Mike went to his daughter’s school to see what was the problem, school officials told him his daughter was being suspended for giving a boy a hug. He ended up missing out on some of his hourly wages to deal with the situation.</p>
<p>“I was like, ‘Nah. Not only am I missing out on some hours at work, I’m missing out on some important meetings, and also commitments that I have made, to come up here and talk about suspensions, a five-day suspension for giving somebody a hug,” Mike told me. “That’s one of the things that every time they call me, I always raise my voice about that. It’s been times where the school has suspended her, and I told the school, 'Well, she can’t stay home with me. She doesn’t have nowhere else to go, so she has to stay at the school.’”</p>
<p>Mike’s dilemma is just one of dozens that I document in my 2021 book, “<a href="https://jhupbooks.press.jhu.edu/title/suspended">Suspended: Punishment, Violence, and the Failure of School Safety</a>”. The book is part of my <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=VcznCP0AAAAJ&hl=en">ongoing research</a> into how Black families view school punishment and its impact on their daily lives. For my book, I interviewed 55 students from urban and suburban school districts throughout Michigan who received school suspensions, and their parents. I used fake names to protect their confidentiality.</p>
<p>As millions of students transition to in-person learning in the 2021-2022 school year, many may be wondering if an increase in school suspensions will follow. If suspensions do rise, my research suggests that could result in lost wages and even lost jobs for parents of Black students, who are suspended at <a href="https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/docs/school-climate-and-safety.pdf">substantially higher rates</a> than white students.</p>
<h2>Harm to employment</h2>
<p>Much of the research about school suspensions focuses on how suspensions harm students. For instance, although school suspensions are meant to decrease violence and help create a safe environment, research shows suspensions are associated with <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/socpro/spv026">declines in academic achievement</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2020.104757">an increase in Black students leaving school districts with a record of being punitive</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0044118X17752208">dropping out of school</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0022427816643135">being arrested</a>.</p>
<p>However, as my new book shows, school suspensions also harm parents’ employment. Specifically, mothers and fathers told me that school suspensions led to a reduction in wages, job loss and even forced some of them to accept part-time work.</p>
<p>One such parent is Vanessa, the mother of Franklin, a 10th grade student, who told me she met with school officials to create an individualized education plan – known in schools as an IEP – for her son because of his attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD, diagnosis. Instead of implementing the plan as they agreed, she said school officials continued to suspend her son for minor offenses related to his ADHD. During our interview, Vanessa shared one instance in which her son’s suspension cost her a job.</p>
<p>“I was working at [place of employment] as a social worker before this job, and at that time I was making $37 an hour,” Vanessa told me. “My husband and I were going through a little difficulty, as we were separated at that time. They were calling me from the school because Franklin was having a rough time. He was gonna get suspended. I said, ‘Well, I have to leave.’ When you’re a social worker at that job, you can’t keep calling in” to say you have to leave work.</p>
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<h2>Reforms inadequate</h2>
<p>I also learned that the legislative reforms policymakers have passed in recent years to reduce school suspension rates may not be working in some districts. For instance, several parents told me school officials did not use alternatives to suspension in the years after the reforms were enacted, even though they’re supposed to.</p>
<p>One such parent is Dana, whose son Philip, a ninth grade student, got a two-day suspension for fighting after a school official saw him wrestling with his friends in the gym. Dana says the boys were playing. In our interview, Dana expressed considerable doubt regarding the reforms. Dana told me she wished she would have been aware that school officials were supposed to try alternatives to suspension first.</p>
<p>“I wish I would’ve known that because I don’t think they [school administrators] been doing that,” Dana told me. “I feel like it could be effective, but I don’t feel like it was done with my son at all.” </p>
<p>In recent years, legislators in several states, such as <a href="https://malegislature.gov/laws/sessionlaws/acts/2012/chapter222">Massachusetts</a> in 2012, <a href="https://www.ilga.gov/legislation/BillStatus.asp?DocNum=100&GAID=13&DocTypeID=SB&SessionID=88&GA=99">Illinois</a> in 2015 and <a href="http://www.legislature.mi.gov/documents/2015-2016/publicact/pdf/2016-PA-0360.pdf">Michigan</a> in 2016, have passed school punishment reform laws that were intended to reduce suspension rates. </p>
<p>In Michigan, the reform guidelines require school officials to consider a student’s age, disability, disciplinary history and the severity of the offense before issuing a punishment. The reform guidelines also encourage school officials to use <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/15388220.2020.1783670">restorative justice practices</a>, such as peer mediation and conflict resolution strategies, instead of suspensions. Yet, when I interviewed parents, many of them said school officials were not following the rules.</p>
<p>When school officials don’t follow the reforms, it affects parents such as Linda, whose son Deshaun, a 12th grade student, received a three-day suspension because a video showed he was present in the restroom when a fight occurred. When school officials issued the punishment, Deshaun expressed that he entered the restroom before the other boys and did not participate in the fight. Although the video, which I reviewed, shows he was not fighting or talking to the other students, school officials upheld the suspension. Their argument was that all the bystanders should have contacted a school security guard instead of just watching the fight.</p>
<p>When I asked Linda about the effectiveness of the school punishment reforms, she stated:</p>
<p>“I don’t think they have implemented that at all. I haven’t seen that recourse. My son was very upset that he got suspended, ‘cause he was like, 'I wasn’t even part of it.’”</p>
<h2>In search of solutions</h2>
<p>Though school punishment reforms were intended to reduce suspension rates, studies have found schools that enroll a large percentage of minority students are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1541204016681414">less likely</a> to implement restorative justice practices.</p>
<p>In “<a href="https://jhupbooks.press.jhu.edu/title/suspended">Suspended</a>,” I offer some potential reasons why school officials resist implementing the discipline reforms. For example, some school officials told me the reform guidelines did not recommend a course of action for administrators who violated them and continued to issue suspensions. </p>
<p>I also express the need for stronger legislation, emphasizing restorative justice as a means to reduce suspension rates and increase school safety.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/166610/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Charles Bell receives funding from the Midwest Sociological Society.</span></em></p>Suspensions don’t just harm Black children – they also harm their parents’ employment, a school discipline expert argues in a forthcoming book.Charles Bell, Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice Sciences, Illinois State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1649052021-08-16T12:07:58Z2021-08-16T12:07:58Z250 preschool kids get suspended or expelled each day - 5 questions answered<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/415047/original/file-20210806-23-c4l7i7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Pre-K students are more likely to be expelled than any K-12 grade.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/boy-standing-with-arms-crossed-royalty-free-image/760156213">Heather Walker/RooM Collection via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>When parents think of a child getting kicked out of school, they might imagine drugs found stashed in a locker, a classroom that’s been vandalized, or some kind of sexual or other violent assault. But the fact is that it’s not uncommon for students to be suspended or expelled for much less egregious behavior before they even enter kindergarten. </p>
<p>In 2014, the U.S. Departments of Health and Human Services and Education <a href="https://www.acf.hhs.gov/ecd/child-health-development/reducing-suspension-and-expulsion-practices">provided recommendations to states</a> to <a href="https://www.irp.wisc.edu/resource/working-framework-for-research-informed-legislation-prohibiting-preschool-expulsion-suspension/">severely limit and ultimately eliminate</a> early childhood suspensions and expulsions. </p>
<p>Some states, such as <a href="https://www.coloradoshines.com/families?p=Preventing-Suspensions-and-Expulsions">Colorado</a> and <a href="https://www.louisianabelieves.com/docs/default-source/child-care-providers/early-childhood-resource-guide-for-preventing-expulsion-suspension.pdf?sfvrsn=77f26718_2">Louisiana</a>, denounce suspension and expulsion in their administrative guides and reimbursement policies for early childcare programs. <a href="https://childandfamilysuccess.asu.edu/cep/start-with-equity">Other states</a>, including <a href="https://www.ilga.gov/legislation/publicacts/fulltext.asp?Name=100-0105">Illinois</a> and <a href="https://casetext.com/regulation/arkansas-administrative-code/agency-005-department-of-education/division-24-early-childhood/rule-0052406-001-rules-governing-the-arkansas-better-chance-program">Arkansas</a>, have enacted policies aimed at ending expulsion, at least in certain types of programs such as public school-based pre-K.</p>
<p><a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=GzihGmoAAAAJ&hl=en">Early childhood development expert</a> Kate Zinsser is a <a href="https://psch.uic.edu/profiles/zinsser-katherine/">psychology professor</a> at the University of Illinois at Chicago and author of the forthcoming book “No Longer Welcome: The Epidemic of Expulsion from Early Childhood Education,” due out in Spring 2022.</p>
<p>Here she answers five questions about preschool expulsions.</p>
<h2>1. How common is it?</h2>
<p>Nationwide, about <a href="https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/early-childhood/news/2017/11/06/442280/new-data-reveal-250-preschoolers-suspended-expelled-every-day/">250 children</a> are suspended or expelled from preschool each day. Excluded children miss out on critical early learning opportunities that help them be socially, emotionally and academically ready for kindergarten. </p>
<p>As worrisome as these figures are, they are likely underestimated. They don’t account for the myriad ways that children are informally expelled or pushed out of programs. They also do not include counts from all facets of the early childhood system, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/imhj.21845">such as home-based child care</a>, where expulsion <a href="https://indigo.uic.edu/articles/report/Evaluation_Report_of_the_Implementation_of_Illinois_Public_Act_100-0105_Early_childhood_programs_knowledge_of_and_responses_to_the_2018_expulsion_legislation/14522400">can be more common</a>.</p>
<h2>2. What do preschoolers get expelled for?</h2>
<p>Children who are expelled tend to be labeled as “too aggressive” or “too disruptive.” From my interviews with teachers, parents and administrators over the past decade, I’ve heard stories of children expelled for developmentally normal behaviors, like crying too much. But I’ve also heard distressing accounts of children throwing furniture at teachers and injuring themselves or other children. </p>
<p>Working with children with challenging behaviors can be emotionally and physically exhausting. But it’s important to remember that behavior is a form of communication, especially in early childhood. While many children will <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0271121415626130">grow out of these behaviors</a>, a minority of children who struggle to manage their emotions and behavior may need <a href="https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ775044">additional support from caring adults or specialists</a> to learn to communicate appropriately.</p>
<p>At the same time, research has routinely demonstrated how things like <a href="https://doi.org/10.1097/00001163-200607000-00007">large class sizes</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appdev.2017.11.006">high stress levels</a> can lead some teachers to expel more children. </p>
<p>Furthermore, preschool is not immune to what psychologist and race relations expert Beverly Daniel Tatum refers to as our country’s <a href="https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=9I7ExPk-920C&oi=fnd&pg=PA124&ots=raUA4m1DxN&sig=CjXywvvavKUzNRaXkMfZP1Flr0g#v=onepage&q&f=false">“smog” of racism</a>. Just as in <a href="https://doi.org/10.3102/0034654318791582">older grades</a>, teachers’ implicit biases lead them to interpret Black children’s behavior as <a href="https://medicine.yale.edu/childstudy/zigler/publications/Preschool%20Implicit%20Bias%20Policy%20Brief_final_9_26_276766_5379_v1.pdf">more dangerous or difficult</a>. This may explain why Black children make up <a href="https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/db517f89380c40b59276d651badc97a3">more than half</a> of preschoolers expelled, even though they represent less than 20% of enrollment.</p>
<h2>3. What can other states learn from Illinois’ ban?</h2>
<p>I’m working with policymakers, advocates and early childhood administrators to evaluate the implementation and impact of the Illinois expulsion ban. Through surveys and interviews with program administrators, my students and I found that during the 2017-2018 school year, when the law went into effect, expulsion rates were high. In that year <a href="https://5df823c9-87db-4bc2-b25c-56b55c98e749.filesusr.com/ugd/1a138e_e8153ce6e9664181b871166f97777a2f.pdf">nearly 13 out of every 1,000 children</a> enrolled were formally expelled. </p>
<p>As we’ve continued to collect annual data, that number has come down precipitously, but despite the ban on paper, expulsions still happen. In 2019-2020, just over <a href="https://5df823c9-87db-4bc2-b25c-56b55c98e749.filesusr.com/ugd/1a138e_7429c8db0a8a41799479d074499655bd.pdf?index=true">three out of every 1,000 children</a> enrolled were formally expelled. </p>
<p>At the same time, we found twice as many children being informally pushed out as were formally expelled. Also, discipline was applied disproportionately against boys and Black children. While 43% of students attending participating programs were boys, they made up 75% of those expelled. Likewise, Black children were less than 17% of total enrollment but more than 33% of those expelled.</p>
<h2>4. What do I do if my child is expelled?</h2>
<p>If your child’s teacher is expressing concerns about their behavior, meet with them. Be open-minded and try to work together to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/chso.12228">understand why your child is struggling</a> in the classroom. Children are <a href="https://doi.org/10.3102/0002831219838236">less likely to be expelled</a> if the teacher and the parent have a <a href="https://www.doi.org/10.1002/pits.22440">positive and collaborative relationship</a>.</p>
<p>If a program formally expels your child or if you’re feeling pressured to withdraw them, contact your <a href="https://www.childcareaware.org/resources/ccrr-search-form/">local child care agency</a> and learn about your rights and the laws in your state. </p>
<h2>5. What should I do if another child is biting or hurting my child?</h2>
<p>It can be frightening for parents to think that another child is hurting their child. As a mom of two little kids, I know firsthand how tricky the situation can be to navigate. As a developmental psychologist, I know that pushing, hitting and biting are <a href="https://challengingbehavior.cbcs.usf.edu/docs/backpack/BackpackConnection_behavior_biting.pdf">developmentally normal</a> ways for young children to react in social settings, especially if they’re feeling overwhelmed or anxious. As a parent who cares about equity, I want to protect my child without also blaming or ostracizing a child who clearly needs caring adults to work with them to communicate their needs more appropriately. </p>
<p>Your child’s teachers are likely very aware of the situation and working with the child and their family. You can support their efforts by communicating your concerns and recognizing how hard they are working to find a solution. Ask what they plan to do to prevent future incidents and talk with your child about the experience. How did they feel? Why do they think their classmate acted the way they did? What can they say or do if it happens again?</p>
<p>[<em>Over 100,000 readers rely on The Conversation’s newsletter to understand the world.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=100Ksignup">Sign up today</a>.]</p>
<p>Parents could also offer to help the preschool identify resources such as local specialists or consultants, or classroom resources like the <a href="https://www.elizabethverdick.com/blog/series/best-behavior/">Best Behavior picture-book series</a> by Elizabeth Verdick or the <a href="https://consciousdiscipline.com/">Conscious Discipline curriculum</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/164905/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kate Zinsser receives funding from the U.S. Department of Education, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Foundation for Child Development, the Chicago Merchantile Exchange, the Collaborative for Academic, Social & Emotional Learning, and The Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues. She is affiliated with the University of Illinois at Chicago and serves on the Illinois Association of Infant Mental Health board. </span></em></p>An early childhood development expert explains why so many preschoolers are kicked out of child care, and what to do if it happens to your child.Kate Zinsser, Professor of Psychology, University of Illinois ChicagoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1645392021-08-11T12:29:14Z2021-08-11T12:29:14ZMillions of kids get suspended or expelled each year – but it doesn’t address the root of the behavior<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414387/original/file-20210803-16-13tt3lj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C8%2C5617%2C3658&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Kids who've had traumatic experiences are more likely to act out at school.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/want-to-go-home-royalty-free-image/1160693779">LumiNola/E+ Collection via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Each school year, <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d17/tables/dt17_233.28.asp?referer=raceindicators">nearly 3 million K-12 students</a> get suspended and over 100,000 get expelled from school. The offenses range from simply not following directions, to hitting or kicking, to more serious behaviors like getting caught with drugs or a weapon.</p>
<p>And it starts early in students’ education – it’s <a href="https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/early-childhood/news/2017/11/06/442280/new-data-reveal-250-preschoolers-suspended-expelled-every-day/">not uncommon for preschoolers</a> as young as 3 years old to be suspended or expelled from their childcare program.</p>
<p>A big part of the problem has to do with implicit biases. Black students, <a href="https://eric.ed.gov/?q=source%3A%22Office+for+Civil+Rights%2C+US+Department+of+Education%22&id=ED577231">especially boys</a>, are suspended and expelled at much higher rates than white students. Teachers tend to see the behavior of boys in general and students of color as more difficult, and they respond in harsher ways. This is true <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797615570365">even if it is the exact same behavior</a>.</p>
<p>But it’s also important to understand what leads to behaviors that end in suspension and expulsion. As a <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=OzxM5HsAAAAJ&hl=en">licensed clinical social worker</a> for over eight years, I’ve worked with children of all ages who struggled at school. Many of them had been kicked out temporarily or permanently for things like spitting, running out of the classroom or fighting. One thing most of these students had in common was their experience of trauma at home and in their neighborhoods. </p>
<h2>Childhood trauma</h2>
<p>Trauma includes things like child abuse and neglect or witnessing violence at home or in one’s neighborhood. It can lead to challenging behaviors. In my practice, I witnessed how children who saw hitting or heard yelling at home would hit or scream when they got frustrated at school. Or a child who experienced severe neglect might hoard food in their desks or seem detached or hard to connect with.</p>
<p>While researching what leads to school discipline, I found that elementary school <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/26904586.2020.1734516">teachers report</a> more disruptive behaviors – like arguing and temper tantrums – among children who have reported experiencing more frequent violence, such as adults in the home beating each other up. More disruptive behaviors were also related to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/26904586.2020.1734516">more days suspended</a> in the last year.</p>
<p>Among teenagers, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0886260520959635">colleagues and I found</a> that students who reported being beat up, attacked with a weapon or sexually assaulted also had more problem behaviors at school. They got in trouble more often for cheating, fighting or disturbing class. And, similar to the other study, they were suspended and expelled from school more frequently.</p>
<p>Recent work by other researchers has found this to be true for preschoolers, too. One study of more than 6,000 parents of preschool children found that for every additional type of childhood adversity a preschooler experienced, they had an <a href="http://www.doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2019.104149">80% higher risk</a> of being suspended or expelled. Childhood adversity includes things like witnessing violence in the home and being abused or neglected. The World Health Organization warned that added stress and anxiety for caregivers, on top of lockdown and social distancing measures, <a href="https://www.unicef.org/media/70731/file/Global-status-report-on-preventing-violence-against-children-2020.pdf">greatly increased the risk</a> of experiencing violence at home during the pandemic.</p>
<h2>Punishing kids who are hurting</h2>
<p>What makes this issue even harder is that children’s behaviors generally <a href="https://doi.org/10.3102/0162373716652728">don’t improve after being suspended</a>, and the <a href="https://www.doi.org/10.3386/w22042">research is mixed</a> on whether suspension <a href="https://doi.org/10.3102/0162373718794897">helps classmates</a>. </p>
<p>Childhood trauma and adversity is not an uncommon experience. In a 2013 <a href="http://www.doi.org/10.1001/jamapediatrics.2013.42">national study</a> of 4,503 kids ages 1 month to 17 years, 41% had been physically assaulted in the past year and over 1 in 10 had experienced maltreatment at the hands of a caregiver. Over a third of American children – <a href="https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2016.303545">37%</a> – have had an official child maltreatment investigation at some point in their lives.</p>
<p>For a child who has experienced trauma, suspension or expulsion from school may be particularly harmful. As I saw in my clinical practice, being suddenly cut off from teachers and peers can be hard for students who have had sudden losses of other relationships in the past, such as a parent being deported or incarcerated. Suspension and expulsion can also disconnect students from a potentially safe environment and lead to more time in an abusive or dangerous environment, as well as loss of trust in the school system in general.</p>
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<h2>New discipline policies</h2>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.3102/0091732X18821123">Many schools</a> are now incorporating what’s called a “trauma-informed lens” into their training and education policies. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Two adults comfort a second grade student" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414881/original/file-20210805-17-yrjxtp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414881/original/file-20210805-17-yrjxtp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=443&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414881/original/file-20210805-17-yrjxtp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=443&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414881/original/file-20210805-17-yrjxtp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=443&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414881/original/file-20210805-17-yrjxtp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=556&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414881/original/file-20210805-17-yrjxtp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=556&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414881/original/file-20210805-17-yrjxtp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=556&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Some schools are using mindfulness and meditation as an alternative to discipline.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/holistic-life-foundation-employees-michelle-lee-and-oriana-news-photo/623129340">Linda Davidson / The Washington Post via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Being “<a href="https://ncsacw.samhsa.gov/userfiles/files/SAMHSA_Trauma.pdf">trauma-informed</a>” involves understanding the effects of past trauma and recognizing the signs and symptoms of trauma. Trauma-informed approaches also focus on providing mental health or other resources to address traumatized students and making efforts not to re-traumatize them. This may include training teachers to understand and recognize what trauma looks like, and making referrals for students to mental health counselors. Incorporating an understanding of racial trauma, or the painful effects of racism and discrimination, can also help <a href="https://doi.org/10.3102/0034654320938131">combat bias and racial inequities</a> in schools. </p>
<p>Knowing the link between past trauma and the difficult behaviors that get kids suspended and expelled, schools can revise their discipline policies to better support young students. The 2015 documentary “<a href="https://kpjrfilms.co/paper-tigers/">Paper Tigers</a>” shows how discipline policies can change after taking a trauma-informed approach. <a href="https://www.doi.org/10.1007/s10643-021-01159-4">Over a dozen states</a> are trying to do away with expulsion entirely, particularly in preschools.</p>
<p>Trauma-informed approaches can flip the script on “<a href="http://kirwaninstitute.osu.edu/implicit-bias-training/resources/From-Punitive-to-Restorative1.pdf">zero-tolerance</a>” policies by going from a “no questions asked” approach to one where teachers try to figure out <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1523698113">what is behind the student’s behavior</a>.</p>
<p>Without these approaches, I believe schools risk further hurting children who have already been hurt.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/164539/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alysse Loomis does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Abuse, neglect or witnessing violence at home can lead kids to misbehave. Some schools are doing away with expulsions to focus on childhood trauma instead.Alysse Loomis, Assistant Professor of Social Work, University of UtahLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1502402020-11-24T13:09:31Z2020-11-24T13:09:31ZSchool suspensions don’t just unfairly penalize Black students – they lead to lower grades and ‘Black flight’<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/369977/original/file-20201118-15-1dzjolw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=49%2C0%2C5472%2C3628&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Suspensions have continued throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, while children are attending remotely from their homes.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/tired-african-teenager-girl-with-headache-royalty-free-image/1202565621?adppopup=true"> Marie-Claude Lemay/iStock/Getty Images Plus</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>School suspensions are intended to deter violence and punish students who demonstrate problematic behavior.</p>
<p>Yet, when I interviewed 30 Black high school students in southeast Michigan who had been suspended from school and 30 of their parents, I learned that many students were suspended because school officials misinterpreted their behaviors. Additionally, the suspensions led to students’ grades dropping significantly and to some parents withdrawing their children from their school districts.</p>
<p>I published my findings in the <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0190740919312034">Children and Youth Services Review</a> and <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0042085920968629">Urban Education</a> journals as part of my <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=VcznCP0AAAAJ&hl=en">ongoing research</a> on how Black students and parents view school punishment and its impact on their daily lives.</p>
<p>You might assume that these punitive disciplinary practices have stopped since so many children are not physically in school due to the COVID-19 pandemic. You would be wrong. News reports show that suspensions have continued throughout the pandemic, while children are attending school remotely from their homes. </p>
<p>For example, in September, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/09/26/us/student-suspended-gun-virtual/index.html">school officials suspended</a> 9-year-old Louisiana student Ka’Mauri Harrison for six days because he placed a BB gun on a shelf in his room after one of his siblings tripped over it during virtual learning. In other incidents, such as when 12-year-old Isaiah Elliot played with a toy gun during virtual art class, school officials sent <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/sep/08/colorado-springs-boy-suspended-toy-gun-virtual-class-police">law enforcement officers</a> to his home – terrifying everyone in their household. Although these cases attracted considerable media attention, I believe most do not.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A man, woman and teenager pose together" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/370351/original/file-20201119-22-3h56zn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/370351/original/file-20201119-22-3h56zn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=379&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/370351/original/file-20201119-22-3h56zn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=379&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/370351/original/file-20201119-22-3h56zn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=379&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/370351/original/file-20201119-22-3h56zn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=476&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/370351/original/file-20201119-22-3h56zn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=476&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/370351/original/file-20201119-22-3h56zn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=476&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Curtis and Dani Elliott were shocked when armed El Paso County Sheriff’s deputies came to their house. Their 12-year-old son Isaiah was suspended for playing with a toy gun during his virtual art class.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Courtesy Dani Elliott</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Collectively, these instances of unwarranted school punishment raise important questions about their impact on millions of individuals – <a href="https://www.usnews.com/news/education-news/articles/2020-10-13/school-suspension-data-shows-glaring-disparities-in-discipline-by-race">particularly Black students and parents</a>. The <a href="https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/docs/school-climate-and-safety.pdf">most recent data shows</a> Black students represent 15% of K-12 public school students in the U.S. but receive 39% of school suspensions. </p>
<h2>Students and parents silenced</h2>
<p>In one interview after another, students told me they were denied the opportunity to explain their side, which could have led school officials to determine a suspension was unnecessary. Parents also said educators and administrators ignored them throughout the disciplinary process. </p>
<p>For example, Sandra, a ninth grader, received a five-day suspension for deescalating a fight between peers.</p>
<p>“I feel like they didn’t hear me out,” she said. “I told my mom and my dad and they was like, ‘Yeah, I don’t see why they suspended you.’ … [T]he [school officials] was like, ‘We feel like you threatened her.’ I’m like, ‘I didn’t, and the girl even said I didn’t threaten her.’ When I came back to school she was like, ‘Why did you get suspended?’ and I was like, ‘[Because] they said I threatened you,’ and she was like, ‘How did you threaten me?’ I’m like, exactly. So, I just felt like they should have listened to me and let me explain the whole situation.” </p>
<p>Mike’s daughter Kimberly, a ninth grade student, received a five-day suspension for hugging a boy. </p>
<p>“To suspend a child for five days for giving a person a hug is ridiculous,” he said. “I raised my voice about it many times. Their policies around suspension are very unnecessary.”</p>
<h2>Grades declined</h2>
<p>Students also told me their achievement declined by as much as two letter grades due to suspensions. Students and parents attributed the academic declines to missing high-point-value assignments, experiencing difficulty catching up, missing vital instruction and educators’ unwillingness to distribute makeup assignments to suspended students. </p>
<p>“[School discipline] affected my grades a lot,” said Marcus, a 10th grade student who received a 39-day suspension after he punched a gated window in response to his teacher calling him a “failure.” “I go up there to get my work, but it’s hard to do the work when you are outside of school. You get where you’re not receiving the proper guidance to do the work.”</p>
<p>Tangie’s 10th grade son received a 10-day suspension for defending himself after several gang members attacked him at school.</p>
<p>“I was going back up to the school every other day, fighting to get his makeup work from the teachers,” she said. “I kept calling and calling, and finally I ended up taking him to [a new school], which is terrible. But I had to because his teachers would not give me the damn work.”</p>
<h2>Black educational flight</h2>
<p>Several parents told me that excessive school suspensions motivated them to remove their child from a school district.</p>
<p>Lisa’s son, a 10th grader, borrowed a cellphone from a classmate. Then another student stole the cellphone from him. In response, school officials handcuffed him to a railing, suspended him for five days, and referred the case to the local prosecutor.</p>
<p>“I just feel at that time they failed him,” she told me. “He is asking to be transferred so I am looking into another school for him.”</p>
<p>Patrice met with school officials after her son was diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in order to create an individualized education plan for him. Although school officials created the plan, she said, they didn’t implement it. Instead, they continued to suspend him. </p>
<p>“He is going to another school this year,” she said. “How are you going to have an IEP and not follow through with what’s on the IEP? That’s a big issue! It’s just a lack of communication and too much suspension.”</p>
<p>[<em><a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=experts">Expertise in your inbox. Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter and get expert takes on today’s news, every day.</a></em>]</p>
<h2>Rethinking school discipline</h2>
<p>My findings suggest that schools should use alternatives to school suspensions. They also suggest that teachers should be required to distribute assignments to students who receive suspensions, and consider using virtual learning to reduce the negative impact of suspensions on student achievement. </p>
<p>Schools should also better understand how students and parents view school discipline and involve them in establishing school rules. Students changing schools is a <a href="https://www.nea.org/advocating-for-change/new-from-nea/unexplored-consequences-student-mobility">major concern</a> for administrators, and my study shows excessive school discipline motivates Black families to leave a district. </p>
<h2>Discipline transparency</h2>
<p>Several states, such as <a href="https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/politics/2016/06/02/zero-tolerance-schools/85317800/">Michigan</a> and <a href="https://ieanea.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/SB-100-FINAL.pdf">Illinois</a>, have passed school discipline reforms to reduce suspension rates. However, the data I collected, which will be featured in my upcoming book “<a href="https://www.drcharlesbell.com/">Code of the School</a>,” suggests the discipline reforms have been ineffective in some districts because school suspension data is not publicly available. </p>
<p>School discipline data that is anonymous and separated by race, gender, disability and infraction type should be published annually on the district’s website. Without school discipline transparency, parents and legislators cannot hold school districts accountable for the disciplinary reforms. I am working with Michigan legislators to resolve this issue.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/150240/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Charles Bell receives funding from the American Society of Criminology and the Midwest Sociological Society.</span></em></p>Schools can consider virtual learning and other ways to reduce the negative impact of suspensions on student achievement.Charles Bell, Assistant Professor, Illinois State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1446762020-10-21T04:44:10Z2020-10-21T04:44:10ZNSW wants to change rules on suspending and expelling students. How does it compare to other states?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/364659/original/file-20201021-19-3v5jnc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/lonely-teenager-city-sport-place-look-513367483">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The disability royal commission <a href="https://disability.royalcommission.gov.au/rounds/public-hearing-7-barriers-accessing-safe-quality-and-inclusive-school-education-and-life-course-impacts">heard from experts last week</a> on the disproportionate number of <a href="https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/parenting/school-life/boy-with-disabilities-was-suspended-from-nsw-school-seven-times/news-story/dddcbf4f16114d461d5abc23622986a1#.gor7d">students with a disability who have been suspended</a> or expelled from school for “problem behaviour”.</p>
<p>The commission’s public hearings come at the same time the NSW education department is receiving submissions on a new <a href="https://education.nsw.gov.au/student-wellbeing/attendance-behaviour-and-engagement/student-behaviour/behaviour-strategy/a-new-student-behaviour-strategy-draft-for-review">behaviour management strategy</a>. This plan, among other things, would see the maximum number of days students can be suspended for cut from 20 to ten. </p>
<p>The strategy was designed after inquiries showed too many suspensions being given to students who have a disability, are Indigenous, experience socioeconomic disadvantage, are in out-of-home care, and live in remote and regional areas.</p>
<p>In 2019, <a href="http://ro.ecu.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2356&context=ajte">more than 113,000 students</a> across Australia were removed from government schools, either for a set period or permanently — representing 4.3% of all government school enrolments. This figure is based on the limited data released by state and territory education departments. The true number is likely higher.</p>
<p>So, what are the rules around suspensions and expulsions in NSW, and the rest of Australia? And what needs to be done to reduce discrimination?</p>
<h2>Different rules for different states</h2>
<p>Schools use suspensions and expulsions to help change <a href="http://ro.ecu.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2356&context=ajte">unproductive student behaviours</a>, and allow time for other strategies to be implemented, to help avoid repeat situations.</p>
<p>Each state and territory has its own legislation (except NSW, which has a policy) that defines and guides the use of expulsions and suspensions.</p>
<p>The length of time students can be suspended for varies between states. For instance, a student in Queensland (and <a href="http://classic.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/nsw/consol_act/ea1990104/">NSW under current legislation</a>) can be suspended for up to 20 days. But in WA, the <a href="https://www.legislation.wa.gov.au/legislation/statutes.nsf/main_mrtitle_878_homepage.html">maximum is ten</a>, and the school needs approval from the education department if it wants to extend it.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1315510615268442112"}"></div></p>
<p>Suspensions in <a href="https://www.education.vic.gov.au/Documents/school/teachers/studentmanagement/MinisterialOrder1125SIGNED.PDF">Victoria can generally be given for up to five days</a>, but this can be extended to 15 with education department approval.</p>
<p>Each state also provides different grounds on which schools can suspend or expel students. In <a href="https://www.legislation.qld.gov.au/view/html/inforce/current/act-2006-039">Queensland</a> and <a href="https://www.legislation.tas.gov.au/view/html/inforce/current/act-2016-051#GS128@EN">Tasmania</a>, a student can be suspended for disobedience or misbehaviour. Whereas in <a href="https://www.education.vic.gov.au/Documents/school/teachers/studentmanagement/MinisterialOrder1125SIGNED.PDF">Victoria</a>, a student has to “consistently behave in an unproductive manner that interferes with the well-being, safety or educational opportunities of any other student”. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-suspending-or-expelling-students-often-does-more-harm-than-good-93279">Why suspending or expelling students often does more harm than good</a>
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<p>In <a href="https://legislation.sa.gov.au/LZ/C/A/EDUCATION%20ACT%201972.aspx">South Australia</a>, a student can be expelled for similar behaviour to Victoria — for “persistently interfering with the ability of a teacher to instruct students or of a student to benefit from that instruction”. But an SA student can also be suspended for “persistent and wilful inattention or indifference to school work”. </p>
<p>Under the proposed changes in NSW, a school can only expel a student in kindergarten (the first year of school) to Year 2 for serious violence or possession of a weapon. And the maximums days a student in these year levels can be suspended would be reduced from 20 to five. </p>
<p>For students in Years 3 to 12, the maximum days for suspensions would be reduced from 20 to ten.</p>
<h2>Problems with suspending or expelling kids</h2>
<p>Children with disability aren’t the only group excluded from school more than others. Data from <a href="https://data.sa.gov.au/data/dataset/suspensions-and-exclusions-in-sa-government-schools">South Australia</a> and <a href="https://www.education.vic.gov.au/about/department/Pages/factsandfigures.aspx">Victoria</a> show male students accounted for three-quarters of all suspensions and expulsions in 2019. </p>
<p>Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students also receive disproportionately more suspensions and expulsions than non-Indigenous students. In <a href="https://qed.qld.gov.au/publications/reports/statistics/schooling/students">Queensland</a>, Indigenous students accounted for 10% of all state school enrolments in 2019, but they made up 25% of all suspensions. And 25% of all students expelled in the state were Indigenous, too. </p>
<p>Research consistently shows removing children from school is not the best way to manage behaviour. It fails to address the underlying cause, and can often exacerbate the problem. An <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2017-22815-006">analysis of several studies</a> conducted mainly in the US found suspensions are associated with poor academic achievement and dropout. </p>
<p>Removing students from school for indifference or inattention is unlikely to promote greater engagement. Research <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2017-22815-006">indicates suspensions exacerbate</a> disengagement.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/364650/original/file-20201021-23-uo30p4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A bored girl in class." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/364650/original/file-20201021-23-uo30p4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/364650/original/file-20201021-23-uo30p4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/364650/original/file-20201021-23-uo30p4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/364650/original/file-20201021-23-uo30p4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/364650/original/file-20201021-23-uo30p4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/364650/original/file-20201021-23-uo30p4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/364650/original/file-20201021-23-uo30p4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Removing a disengaged student from school will likely only exacerbate the problem.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/bored-girl-reading-tablet-elementary-school-388664521">Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>Within 12 months of being suspended from schools, students are 50% more likely to engage in anti-social behaviour and 70% more likely to engage in <a href="https://www.rch.org.au/uploadedFiles/Main/Content/cah/School_suspension_booklet.pdf">violent behaviour</a>. In the US, many students who have been suspended or excluded from school end up in the <a href="https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781498534949/Understanding-Dismantling-and-Disrupting-the-Prison-to-School-Pipeline">juvenile justice system</a>.</p>
<h2>What needs to be done</h2>
<p>Suspending or expelling a student should be considered a last resort. In determining whether to remove a student, principals should first investigate whether other issues could be impacting their behaviour. </p>
<p>They should also prepare a plan to support students and minimise repeat behaviours. This could include supporting the teacher, teaching the student social skills, providing them with literacy support and offering counselling.</p>
<p>The NSW proposal does encourage principals to first consider alternative strategies such as preparing a prevention and intervention plan, professional learning for staff and conflict resolution. But the proposal has gaps in other areas.</p>
<p>Children and their parents/guardians have a right to <a href="https://www.alrc.gov.au/publication/traditional-rights-and-freedoms-encroachments-by-commonwealth-laws-alrc-report-129/14-procedural-fairness-2/procedural-fairness-the-duty-and-its-content/">procedural fairness</a> which means giving them opportunity to be heard before a decision is made and ensuring the decision-maker is impartial. The NSW proposal doesn’t include this. </p>
<p>Victoria’s legislation has the most comprehensive expectations for procedural fairness which include the opportunity to be heard and considering other forms of action that could address the behaviour for which the student is being suspended.</p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/excluded-and-refused-enrolment-report-shows-illegal-practices-against-students-with-disabilities-in-australian-schools-125812">Excluded and refused enrolment: report shows illegal practices against students with disabilities in Australian schools</a>
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<p>Most states also include an appeal process (through the school or education department) for expulsions. Queensland and the ACT have an appeal process for suspensions. But the NSW proposal does not include an appeal process for suspensions or expulsions.</p>
<p>Schools should develop a plan that outlines educational support during the students’ absence, so they can continue their education. In the case of expulsion, a principal must take reasonable steps to arrange for access to an educational program that allows the student to continue their education. </p>
<p>The NSW plan includes this expectation. Queensland, Western Australia, Victoria, ACT and Tasmania have similar requirements.</p>
<p>And finally, a school should outline how it will support a successful transition back for a suspended student. This <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/13603116.2018.1540668">could include</a> reintegration meetings with parents, children and other service agencies, and a phased re-introduction into the school.</p>
<p>The NSW proposal commits to improved guidance on reintegration, but few details are given on how it would go about doing this. It is important schools develop such a plan in consultation with the student and their parents.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/144676/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Anna Sullivan receives funding from Australian Research Council. This publication is an outcome of research which was supported by the following Partner Organisations who contributed funds and/or in-kind support:
• UNICEF Australia
• The Commissioner for Children and Young People, South Australia
• Commissioner for Children and Young People, Western Australia
• Commission for Children and Young People, Victoria
• Australian Secondary Principals Association
• Australian Primary Principals Association
• South Australian Secondary Principals Association
• South Australian Primary Principals Association
• Queensland Secondary Principals’ Association
• Western Australian Secondary School Executives Association
She is Board Chair and Director of the Media Centre for Education Research Australia.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Bruce Johnson receives funding from the Australian Research Council. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jamie Manolev is a member of the Australian Association for Research in Education.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Neil Tippett does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>What are the rules around suspensions and expulsions in NSW, and the rest of Australia? And what needs to be done to reduce discrimination?Anna Sullivan, Associate Professor of Education, University of South AustraliaBruce Johnson, University of South AustraliaJamie Manolev, Doctoral Researcher, Research Assistant, University of South AustraliaNeil Tippett, Research fellow, University of South AustraliaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1110422019-02-05T11:40:51Z2019-02-05T11:40:51ZRestorative practices may not be the solution, but neither are suspensions<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/256901/original/file-20190202-109820-1ttajt1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">School experiments with new ways to discipline students without suspending them show mixed results.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/sad-african-american-boy-school-521052718?src=dWpUxBgalhhb1TIkY4n1cg-2-52">Africa Studio / www.shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Proponents of restorative justice suffered a blow recently with the late 2018 release of a much anticipated <a href="https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RR2840.html">RAND study</a> of restorative practices in Pittsburgh schools. The study’s results showed restorative practices were not as effective as many hoped – or as they are sometimes <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2019/01/restorative-practices-school-climate/579391/">portrayed by proponents and in the media</a> .</p>
<p>Unlike traditional disciplinary approaches, such as suspension, which remove students from school, <a href="https://www.ewa.org/blog-educated-reporter/ins-and-outs-restorative-justice-schools">restorative practices</a> focus on repairing harm done by getting victims and perpetrators together to talk.</p>
<p>The idea is to rebuild and restore a sense of dignity and community.</p>
<p>As an <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=MTcxlxMAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">educational researcher</a> who studies school discipline, I think it would be misguided to use the study as a reason to go back to the old way of doing things, as <a href="https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/education/k-12/bs-md-co-county-school-discipline-20181018-story.html">is currently under debate in some locales</a>. </p>
<p>First, let’s look at what the study found.</p>
<h2>Mixed results</h2>
<p>On the positive side, the study found evidence that teachers in schools using restorative practices reported better classroom management and school climate. Restorative practices led to an almost 15 percent decline in days lost to suspension overall. The intervention decreased the days lost to suspension for both black students and students from lower income households. However, it had no significant impact on white students or students from more affluent households. Furthermore, impacts were particularly large in elementary schools – there, the intervention led to an over 50 percent decline in days lost to suspension.</p>
<p>At the same time, however, there were a number of negative outcomes. Restorative practices did not lead to lower rates of suspension in middle schools. Nor did it result in declines in suspensions for violence or arrests. Furthermore, there were negative, statistically significant impacts on standardized achievement test scores in middle schools and for black students.</p>
<p>And, contrary to how teachers saw restorative practices, students reported worse classroom management and relationships. </p>
<p>In my opinion, it’s fair to say the findings were mixed at best.</p>
<h2>Strong design, different takes on results</h2>
<p>While the new study is not the first to examine restorative practices, it is notable for the strength of its research design. <a href="https://ies.ed.gov/ncee/pubs/evidence_based/randomized.asp">Schools were randomly assigned</a> to use the <a href="https://www.iirp.edu/projects/safer-saner-schools">Institute for Restorative Practices’ SaferSanerSchools</a> Whole-School Change program or not. Since randomized controlled trials are considered the “gold-standard” of evaluating the effectiveness of an intervention, the RAND study theoretically provides more credible estimates of the true effect of the program separate from other school policies and practices.</p>
<p>Perhaps unsurprisingly, the mixed findings have resulted in differing interpretations of the results. </p>
<p>For instance, Max Eden, of the Manhattan Institute, <a href="https://edexcellence.net/articles/restorative-justice-isnt-working-but-thats-not-what-the-media-is-reporting">criticized</a> the study’s original authors and popular media for focusing on the positive findings and downplaying the negative results. Ironically, Eden <a href="https://edexcellence.net/articles/restorative-justice-isnt-working-but-thats-not-what-the-media-is-reporting">played up the negative findings</a> claiming that “restorative justice isn’t working”.</p>
<p>In addition to the RAND study of restorative practices, other recent studies of discipline reforms, including <a href="https://edexcellence.net/publications/discipline-reform-philadelphia">bans on the use of suspension for minor offenses</a> and <a href="https://consortium.uchicago.edu/sites/default/files/publications/Suspending%20Chicagos%20Students.pdf">shortening the length of suspensions</a>, have also resulted in mixed findings.</p>
<h2>A return to suspensions is not the solution</h2>
<p>So what should educators and policymakers do with these results?</p>
<p>Even though the RAND study presents a speed bump on the road to discipline reform, turning back to what research has shown to be <a href="https://www.apa.org/pubs/info/reports/zero-tolerance.aspx">ineffective and inequitable</a> exclusionary discipline practices would also be a mistake. Numerous studies have found that being suspended from school is predictive of a host of negative outcomes. Those outcomes include decreased <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.3102/0013189X18779579">academic achievement</a>, a higher likelihood of <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/07418825.2016.1168475">involvement with the justice system</a>, and decreased <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0044118X14544675">civic engagement</a> as adults. </p>
<p><a href="http://edsuspended.com/2016/07/26/zero-tolerance-laws-increase-suspension-rates-for-black-students/">Zero tolerance policies</a> have also been shown to result in greater <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0895904812453999">uses of suspensions</a> and <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.3102/0162373716652728">little benefit</a> in terms of improved school climate.</p>
<p>Exclusionary practices are also disproportionately used against students of color. <a href="https://ocrdata.ed.gov/downloads/crdc-school-discipline-snapshot.pdf">Federal data</a> and other studies have repeatedly shown that black students are three to four times as likely to be suspended as white students, with a large number of these suspensions being for <a href="http://www.marylandpublicschools.org/about/Documents/DCAA/SSP/20162017Student/2017ProdSuspExpulHRExc.pdf">lower level misconduct</a> like “disrespect.” </p>
<p>Such disparities <a href="http://www.indiana.edu/%7Eatlantic/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/African-American-Differential-Behavior_031214.pdf">can’t be explained</a> by differences in behavior across racial groups. The disparities may be the result of <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0895904817691840">differences in the use of exclusionary discipline policies</a> across schools.</p>
<p>Reducing suspensions and improving equity in school discipline is still a valid policy goal. The fact that initial reforms have not produced immediate positive results is disappointing, but hardly surprising. After all, changing practice and finding effective interventions in the field of education is hard work. Instead of settling for suspensions, I believe this is the time when states and local school districts should double down on trying innovative alternative approaches to discipline.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/111042/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>F. Chris Curran receives funding from the National Institute of Justice for ongoing work on school safety.</span></em></p>Although new evidence shows mixed results for “restorative justice” practices, that’s no reason for schools to stop looking for alternatives to school suspensions, a school safety scholar argues.F. Chris Curran, Assistant Professor of Public Policy, University of Maryland, Baltimore CountyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1105612019-01-30T11:52:59Z2019-01-30T11:52:59ZSchool suspensions don’t stop violence – they help students celebrate it<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/255976/original/file-20190128-108342-16kn227.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The code of the street – where respect is won by fighting – often follows children into school.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/bully-africanamerican-teenage-boy-on-dark-1176066490?src=s57C8tZvGEC5LA9OHsHXvA-1-65">Pixel-Shot/www.shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>When school officials suspend students, the idea is to maintain a safe environment and <a href="http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/pediatrics/112/5/1206.full.pdf?download=tru">deter violence</a> and other problematic behavior on the school campus. </p>
<p>But when I interviewed 30 children in southeast Michigan who had been suspended from school, I learned that suspensions might actually be having the opposite effect.</p>
<p>That’s because students use school suspensions strategically to earn respect and build a reputation for being tough. I made this finding – which will be published in the <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rjcj20">Journal of Crime and Justice</a> – as part of my <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=VcznCP0AAAAJ&hl=en">ongoing research</a> into how black students and their parents view school discipline, school safety measures and the police.</p>
<p>To interview the students, I obtained permission from their parents. I also took a look at students’ disciplinary records. All of the students I spoke with were black. I only spoke with 30 students because after a short while, the same themes began to emerge. I also interviewed 30 parents.</p>
<p>What the students and parents told me has implications not only for educators, parents and policymakers, but for the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/racial-disparities-in-school-discipline-are-growing-federal-data-shows/2018/04/24/67b5d2b8-47e4-11e8-827e-190efaf1f1ee_story.html?utm_term=.dac808b334a3">millions of students</a> who are suspended in the U.S. each year. The implications are even more serious for black students, who represented <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/racial-disparities-in-school-discipline-are-growing-federal-data-shows/2018/04/24/67b5d2b8-47e4-11e8-827e-190efaf1f1ee_story.html?utm_term=.8b9dbab929e8">31 percent</a> of all law enforcement referrals and arrests in the 2015-2016 school year, even though they only represented 15 percent of the school population.</p>
<h2>Doesn’t deter violence</h2>
<p>In interview after interview, students told me that being suspended from school would not stop them from fighting in the future.</p>
<p>For example, a 9th-grade girl who got suspended from school five times for fighting said being suspended “probably makes it more likely” for her to fight because it will lead other students to test her.</p>
<p>“So if you push my buttons or press me the wrong way, I will end up fighting you and I told my mom this, and she said if you fight … OK … just let me know,” the student said.</p>
<p>A 10th-grade girl who has been suspended from school more than 30 times told me that being suspended made her seem “more tough and popular” and helped her establish friendships with other students.</p>
<p>“Because they’d be like ‘well we can be friends because I know you have my back no matter what,’” the girl explained. “If they don’t think you’re tough enough they will bully you.”</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/256162/original/file-20190129-127151-1y6uxhn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/256162/original/file-20190129-127151-1y6uxhn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/256162/original/file-20190129-127151-1y6uxhn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/256162/original/file-20190129-127151-1y6uxhn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/256162/original/file-20190129-127151-1y6uxhn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/256162/original/file-20190129-127151-1y6uxhn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/256162/original/file-20190129-127151-1y6uxhn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Several girls in the study indicated that fighting gives a boost to their reputation.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/beautiful-girl-doing-different-expressions-sets-323489441?src=x6hWsDrsDgwpqMXoRgj9rQ-2-69">Chris Bourloton/www.shutterstock.com</a></span>
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<p>A 10th-grade boy who has been suspended 12 times also told me his popularity “went up” after being kicked out of school.</p>
<p>“People like people to get suspended,” the boy said. “You get in trouble, ‘Oh, you coming back, bro? What’s up?’ Everybody trying to talk to you when you come back.”</p>
<p>In my interviews with parents, I found they often advised their children not to walk away from fights.</p>
<p>“The fantasy is that we believe we will only be hit once with a soft right paw and will be able to walk away to tell the authority and they come and resolve the problem,” the father of a 10th-grade girl who has been suspended 15 times told me. “The reality is that you are either going to get hit to get knocked out or you are going to get hit and keep getting hit. You only get to walk away after somebody ass has been kicked.”</p>
<h2>Street code in effect</h2>
<p>So what lurks behind the rationale of students who see being suspended as a way to get a rep, so to speak? For clues and answers to this question, I drew from sociologist Elijah Anderson’s “<a href="https://sociology.yale.edu/publications/code-street-decency-violence-and-moral-life-inner-city">Code of the Street</a>.” I wanted to see how the social norms that Anderson found were embedded in street culture might influence violence in school.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/255982/original/file-20190129-108338-1m2xiej.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/255982/original/file-20190129-108338-1m2xiej.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/255982/original/file-20190129-108338-1m2xiej.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/255982/original/file-20190129-108338-1m2xiej.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/255982/original/file-20190129-108338-1m2xiej.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/255982/original/file-20190129-108338-1m2xiej.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/255982/original/file-20190129-108338-1m2xiej.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/255982/original/file-20190129-108338-1m2xiej.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<p>The comments I got from the students show how the code of the street that Anderson describes in his book does not cease to operate once students pass through the schoolhouse door. Rather, the social norms that are embedded in street culture establish a code that regulates violence in public high schools.</p>
<p>Anderson found that respect is difficult to obtain and easy to lose on the streets, and so people who live by this code believe respect must be continuously earned. Some of the students in my study got up to 30 out-of-school suspensions for their repeated involvement in fights, suggesting the same dynamics were at play as they sought to exhibit toughness and maintain respect.</p>
<h2>Tough choices</h2>
<p>This poses a serious dilemma for educators and policymakers who have a duty to maintain a safe school environment. On one hand, every school principal needs a reasonable deterrent that discourages violence and prioritizes student safety. On the other hand, my findings show out-of-school suspension actually exacerbates physical violence in the school setting and sets up a competition for popularity based on perceived toughness and respect.</p>
<p>Given the widespread use of school suspension in America’s schools, this is a dilemma that cannot be ignored. The most recent U.S. Department of Education Office of Civil Rights report shows approximately <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/racial-disparities-in-school-discipline-are-growing-federal-data-shows/2018/04/24/67b5d2b8-47e4-11e8-827e-190efaf1f1ee_story.html?utm_term=.dac808b334a3">2.7 million children</a> received a school suspension during the 2015 to 2016 school year. In light of what suspended students told me, one has to wonder how many of those millions of suspensions were actually caused by other suspensions.</p>
<p>The issue takes on an added layer of importance when you consider how U.S. education secretary Betsy DeVos recently decided to <a href="http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/campaign-k-12/2018/12/betsy_devos_revokes_obama_discipline_guidance_students_of_color_protect.html">rescind an Obama-era policy</a> that advised schools to address racial disparities in school discipline. Her argument was that school discipline is best left to schools. But evidence shows black children are <a href="https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2018/05/02/black-students-bear-uneven-brunt-of-discipline.html">suspended at disproportionately higher rates</a> than their white counterparts.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">‘School Suspensions Are an Adult Behavior,’ Rosemarie Allen’s TEDxMileHigh talk.</span></figcaption>
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<h2>The need for alternatives</h2>
<p>My findings also show the need for a thorough review of the consequences associated with school suspension. Prior research has consistently shown the adverse effects associated with out-of-school suspension, such as <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/socpro/spv026">poor academic achievement</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0042085912454442">school dropout</a>, and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0044118X17752208">future incarceration</a>.</p>
<p>So what should school leaders and policymakers do if suspensions are so problematic? Since research shows that conflicts typically originate in a child’s neighborhood and <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/07418820802245060">carry over</a> into the school setting, I think it would be wise for school leaders to consider establishing partnerships with violence prevention organizations such as <a href="http://cureviolence.org/">Cure Violence</a> and <a href="http://www.philaceasefire.com/">CeaseFire</a>. Such organizations are often <a href="https://johnjayrec.nyc/2017/10/02/cvinsobronxeastny/">uniquely skilled</a> at identifying the source of a conflict and <a href="http://cureviolence.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/McCormick-CeaseFire-Evaluation-Quantitative.pdf">effective at intervening</a> before a violent altercation occurs. Violence prevention partnerships would help identify conflicts when they are still brewing in the streets – and potentially stop them before they take place in school.</p>
<p>School leaders can <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1207/S1532768XJEPC1204_02">improve school culture</a> if they involve students in the development of school discipline policies, reward students for positive behaviors and provide guidance on conflict resolution.</p>
<p>Regardless of what kind of preventive measure or remedy is pursued, it’s important to include the voices of students in the way I have done in my study. There’s simply no way to fully understand the root of school violence or how to effectively deter it if students are shut out of the discussion.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/110561/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Charles Bell works for Illinois State University. He has received funding from the American Society of Criminology. </span></em></p>While school suspensions are meant to deter violence and other troublesome behavior, some students see being suspended as something that makes them more popular and tough, a researcher has found.Charles Bell, Assistant Professor, Illinois State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1036672018-12-10T11:41:44Z2018-12-10T11:41:44ZHow activists are fighting racial disparities in school discipline<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/249506/original/file-20181207-128214-js9mbj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Numerous data show black students are kicked out of school at disproportionate rates.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/young-boy-sitting-alone-sad-feeling-1088478776?src=t2-CPSGXnNGnVeUMMZLJGQ-1-0">Rido/www.shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Harsh and racially disparate discipline practices are widespread in America’s schools.</p>
<p>Not so long ago in Texas, for instance, <a href="https://csgjusticecenter.org/youth/breaking-schools-rules-report/">75 percent</a> of black students had been suspended at some point in high school. For black males in Texas, 83 percent were suspended.</p>
<p>Nationally, black students lost nearly <a href="https://www.aclu.org/sites/default/files/field_document/final_11-million-days_ucla_aclu.pdf">five times as many days of instruction</a> due to out-of-school suspensions as white children. Meanwhile, <a href="https://www.aclu.org/issues/juvenile-justice/school-prison-pipeline/race-discipline-and-safety-us-public-schools?redirect=issues/juvenile-justice/school-prison-pipeline/doing-math-devos">1.7 million students</a> attend schools with police officers but no counselors.</p>
<p>As a <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=XdrHNkkAAAAJ&view_op=list_works&sortby=pubdate">public policy scholar</a> who focuses on education reform, community organizing and racial justice – and as I argue in my book, <a href="https://www.liftusupmovement.org/">“Lift Us Up, Don’t Push Us Out”</a> – none of these staggering statistics will change unless there is a <a href="https://scholarworks.umb.edu/nejpp/vol26/iss1/11/">new grassroots movement</a> led by people of color. </p>
<p>More specifically, I believe there needs to be an educational justice movement to build the power to transform the nation’s public education system to provide a quality and equitable education for all.</p>
<p>I speak not just as an observer, but as one who has actually collaborated with one of several organizations that are beginning to coalesce into a grassroots movement that is national in scope. That organization – the <a href="https://dignityinschools.org/">Dignity in Schools Campaign</a> – along with others like the <a href="http://schottfoundation.org/content/spotlight-alliance-educational-justice">Alliance for Educational Justice</a>, the <a href="https://www.j4jalliance.com/">Journey for Justice Alliance</a>, the <a href="http://www.reclaimourschools.org/">Alliance to Reclaim Our Schools</a>, are all fighting to end the racial disparities that beset school systems throughout the United States.</p>
<h2>Victories at the local level</h2>
<p>The new movement is creating important changes in districts across the country. </p>
<p>For example, Zakiya Sankara-Jabar had to drop out of college when her 3-year-old son was repeatedly suspended and expelled from preschool in Dayton, Ohio. As she spoke with other black parents and did some research in her college library, Zakiya learned that her experience was not unusual. She co-founded <a href="https://rjnohio.org/">Racial Justice NOW!</a> to organize other parents to advocate for change.</p>
<p>The group joined the Dignity in Schools Campaign, which provided the new group with much needed support and resources – like a <a href="http://dignityinschools.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Model_Code_2013-1.pdf">model alternative code of student conduct</a> to replace zero tolerance policies. It also provided training opportunities for parents to learn how to advocate for policy change.</p>
<p>In a few short years, parents in Racial Justice NOW! achieved a <a href="https://www.liftusupmovement.org/zakiya-sankara-jabar">series of victories</a>. For instance, they won a moratorium on <a href="https://www.mydaytondailynews.com/news/dayton-public-limit-suspensions/uM7yB628rYnS1OBX1uQNnL/?clearUserState=true">pre-K to third-grade suspensions</a> in Dayton schools. They also changed the district’s code of conduct to <a href="https://www.dps.k12.oh.us/students-parents/student-information/student-code-of-conduct/">end zero tolerance policies</a> and won the <a href="https://www.dps.k12.oh.us/students-parents/student-information/student-code-of-conduct/restorative-justice.html">implementation of restorative justice alternative programs</a> in eight schools. Restorative justice approaches help schools get at the root causes of behavioral issues. Rather than punish and suspend, students and teachers gather in circles to discuss the harm caused by conflicts and attempt to restore relationships.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/249505/original/file-20181207-128208-g1xxuv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/249505/original/file-20181207-128208-g1xxuv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=350&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249505/original/file-20181207-128208-g1xxuv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=350&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249505/original/file-20181207-128208-g1xxuv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=350&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249505/original/file-20181207-128208-g1xxuv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=440&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249505/original/file-20181207-128208-g1xxuv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=440&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249505/original/file-20181207-128208-g1xxuv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=440&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Using a restorative justice model, which includes teachers and students gathering in circles for discussions, seventh-graders at Ed White Middle School in San Antonio talk with school officials about a recent conflict in 2015. Three years after starting a restorative discipline program at the school, out-of-school suspensions have dropped by 72 percent, principal Philip Carney said, shown in the bottom right.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/School-Punishments/a13cfdcbcca042b09dc62b11ad45372f/43/0">Eric Gay/AP</a></span>
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<p>Similar victories have taken place at large school districts elsewhere. For instance, a number of organizing groups working with youth of color in Los Angeles schools who faced repeated suspensions – often for minor misbehavior – formed the <a href="https://www.libertyhill.org/brothers-sons-selves">Brothers, Sons, Selves Coalition</a>. The coalition led a campaign to lobby the Los Angeles Unified School District to adopt a <a href="https://achieve.lausd.net/cms/lib/CA01000043/Centricity/Domain/416/School%20Climate%20Bill%20of%20Rights%20-%20Elementary.pdf">School Climate Bill of Rights</a>.</p>
<h2>Allies are crucial</h2>
<p>With allies like Board of Education member Monica Garcia, the bill passed in 2013 and ended suspensions for “willful defiance,” an offense that is subjectively interpreted by teachers and affected by <a href="http://kirwaninstitute.osu.edu/racial-disproportionality-in-school-discipline-implicit-bias-is-heavily-implicated/">racial bias</a>. As a result, the number days lost to out-of-school suspensions fell from <a href="https://home.lausd.net/apps/news/article/262220">nearly 75,000 per 2007-2008 school year</a> to just over <a href="http://schoolinfosheet.lausd.net/budgetreports/getdrpdf?reporttype=LAUSDSummary&schoolyear=20162017&district=&school_name=&school_code=&prop=TCIBCfwDEq8ZVcVy%2B845cpt9NdNIwJRFgFhbXenbtYt7jXi757PbkkYDP3591uy0Dfnd95UNsHKg%0D%0ARsruyVFIzqapHDb8HYOsTD2MrugBGxM6YhShcr%2BGF2jdafgX17i1et%2Bqu9AuSlI47XqrkEcEjJ0L%0D%0A5eIEnp3xTNE43KI8HqtFKa4IPI1lO07VXMPCGw1Gzu6NIsHjum4%3D">5,000 by the 2016-17 school year</a>.</p>
<p>The bill also supported <a href="https://www.edutopia.org/blog/restorative-justice-resources-matt-davis">restorative justice programs</a>. Research has shown that <a href="https://safesupportivelearning.ed.gov/safe-and-healthy-students/school-climate">less punitive and more positive school climates</a> – both chief aims of restorative justice – are tied to improving attendance rates, test scores, promotion rates and graduation rates.</p>
<p>Teacher allies have proved critical to the movement’s ability to implement restorative alternatives. Movement activists fear that restorative justice might fail if it is simply imposed on teachers without their buy-in or the resources to faithfully implement it.</p>
<p><a href="https://teachersunite.org/publications/building-safe-supportive-restorative-school-communities-new-york-city-vol-i/">Teachers Unite</a>, a group of New York City public school teachers, lobbies their fellow teachers to change their “hearts and minds” away from zero tolerance discipline and toward less punitive approaches such as restorative justice. At these schools, restorative justice is more than a “program.” It becomes a <a href="https://teachersunite.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/DSC-NY_CaseStudyVol.III_2015.pdf">true partnership</a> with students, families and teachers to transform relationships and create positive school cultures that support student success.</p>
<h2>Larger problems loom</h2>
<p>Racial disparities in discipline aren’t the only problems the movement must confront. Children from low-income communities of color attend schools that are <a href="https://webspm.com/Articles/2018/01/11/Funding-Inequity.aspx">systematically underresourced</a>. These schools <a href="https://webspm.com/Articles/2018/01/11/Funding-Inequity.aspx">often have less</a> qualified teachers, larger class sizes and less challenging curriculum. </p>
<p>Technical changes – like improvements to curriculum or teaching methods – can help in small ways but ultimately fail to address the <a href="https://www.tcpress.com/learning-power-9780807747025">systemic nature</a> of inequities in education. </p>
<p>Changing those larger problems requires more services - like social-emotional supports and health care services located in community schools – and greater resources to lower teacher-student ratios, modernize school facilities and provide up-to-date classroom materials.</p>
<p>The new educational justice movement faces challenges with the current administration as well. For instance, the Trump administration is <a href="https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2018/04/11/betsy-devos-weighing-action-on-school-discipline.html">contemplating withdrawing</a> federal guidance that warns school districts against zero tolerance discipline policy.</p>
<p>Yet the movement’s strong local base continues to create change at district and even state levels where the majority of education policy is determined and funded. Public education remains vital to the promise of <a href="http://education.oxfordre.com/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780190264093.001.0001/acrefore-9780190264093-e-25">American democracy</a>: It profoundly shapes the <a href="https://www.russellsage.org/publications/whither-opportunity">life opportunities</a> of future generations. The new grassroots educational justice movement is working hard to make this promise a reality in the lives of children of color and their families.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/103667/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mark R Warren receives funding from the Ford Foundation and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. He has previously received funding from the Nellie Mae Education Foundation and the NEA Foundation. Although he has no formal affiliation, he collaborates with the Dignity in Schools Campaign. </span></em></p>A grassroots movement to end racial disparities in schoolhouse discipline is beginning to take root throughout the nation and winning important victories at the local level. Can it sustain the effort?Mark R. Warren, Professor of Public Policy and Public Affairs, UMass BostonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1065252018-11-12T19:02:41Z2018-11-12T19:02:41ZExpanding suspension powers for schools is harmful and ineffective<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/244967/original/file-20181112-35554-jsc2zx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Suspending a student for wagging school likely wouldn't have the desired punitive effect.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">www.shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>New <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13603116.2018.1540668">research</a> released today reveals extraordinary increases in suspensions and exclusions in Queensland state schools. But these increases don’t necessarily mean student behaviour is getting worse. </p>
<p>Education reform and changes in school policy can also contribute to rising rates of school exclusions and suspensions. Some groups of students can be more adversely affected by these changes than others. It is important to examine policy effects because suspensions and exclusions are more harmful than helpful and tend not to resolve the behaviour in question. </p>
<p>This research is relevant to all education sectors and states as rising school suspension rates are <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/education/nsw-primary-school-suspensions-skyrocket-20180215-p4z0ee.html">not unique</a> to Queensland. Other states are implementing <a href="https://www.education.sa.gov.au/sites-and-facilities/year-7-high-school">reforms</a> that could lead to similar problems. </p>
<h2>Why were changes to legislation made?</h2>
<p>In 2014, the Queensland government introduced <a href="https://www.legislation.qld.gov.au/view/pdf/asmade/act-2013-059">legislation</a> to grant school principals greater disciplinary powers. Among these new powers were options to impose community service and <a href="http://statements.qld.gov.au/Statement/2013/10/31/green-light-for-tougher-school-discipline-powers">Saturday detentions</a>. </p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-suspending-or-expelling-students-often-does-more-harm-than-good-93279">Why suspending or expelling students often does more harm than good</a>
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<p>The Queensland government also changed the maximum length of short suspensions from five to ten days and axed the appeals process. Parents are now <a href="http://behaviour.education.qld.gov.au/disciplinary-decisions/disciplinary-consequences/Pages/suspensions.aspx">unable to appeal</a> short suspensions and, in the case of a long suspension (11 to 20 days), must apply to the Director-General of the Education Department.</p>
<p>One <a href="http://statements.qld.gov.au/Statement/2013/10/31/green-light-for-tougher-school-discipline-powers">rationale</a> provided for the Queensland government’s change to legislation was school <a href="http://behaviour.education.qld.gov.au/disciplinary-decisions/disciplinary-consequences/Pages/exclusions.aspx">exclusions</a> were increasing and the government wanted to give principals more flexible options to respond to problem behaviour. In response to early <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2014/s4140718.htm">community concern</a> about emerging effects, the Education Minister promised schools would adjust and these changes would soon lead to a reduction in suspensions and exclusions. </p>
<p>They didn’t. </p>
<h2>Which students were most affected and why?</h2>
<p>Expanding principals’ disciplinary powers adversely affected students in all year levels in Queensland state schools but, particularly, high school students and those entering primary or secondary school for the first time. </p>
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<p>In this study, exclusions and suspensions were examined as a proportion of enrolments. This takes into account increases or decreases in student numbers which may affect the number of suspensions reported each year.</p>
<p>Between 2013 and 2014, suspensions in the first or Preparatory year of primary school rose by 51.28% (as a proportion of enrolments) and have continued to increase each year since. Suspensions in year seven increased by 19.92% in 2014 and again, by a whopping 82.54%, in 2015. These rates show no sign of slowing.</p>
<p>Although some of the increases may appear moderate, if suspensions were keeping pace with enrolment growth, there should be no proportional increase. In other words, suspension growth outstripped enrolment growth in the Queensland state school system, which suggests something other than student numbers is driving suspension increases. </p>
<p>Two other education reforms occurred in Queensland around the same time as the expansion of principals’ powers. The first involved a reduction in the school starting age which meant children entering Prep in 2015 can be as young as <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-are-more-parents-choosing-to-delay-when-their-child-starts-school-59375">four and a half years old</a> when they first begin formal schooling. The second reform, also in 2015, involved moving year seven from the primary to secondary schooling phase. </p>
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<p>The most powerful indication something other than student behaviour is driving suspension increases is the doubling of the suspension rate for year sevens in 2015. The only observable difference between the year sevens in that year and those every year before them is the school environment. </p>
<h2>Why do increases in suspension matter?</h2>
<p>Research shows suspension is associated with an increase in <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1054139X06001947">anti-social behaviour</a> and contact with the <a href="https://civilrightsproject.ucla.edu/resources/projects/center-for-civil-rights-remedies/school-to-prison-folder/federal-reports/upcoming-ccrr-research/">criminal justice system</a>, due to a lack of adult supervision and greater freedom to associate with deviant peers. Contrary to popular belief, suspension does not promote <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/15388220.2012.646641">behavioural change</a>. </p>
<p>This is because inappropriate behaviours need to be replaced, and replacement behaviours need to be explicitly taught. Sending kids home doesn’t give them the skills they need to do better next time or help <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Daniel_Quin/publication/260125871_Students'_experiences_of_school_suspension/links/5755108808ae17e65eccd0c2.pdf">solve the problem</a> that led to the suspension. </p>
<p>There is <a href="https://edsource.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Noltemeyer_Ward_2015_Meta-Analysis.pdf">conclusive evidence</a> suspension leads to academic failure and school dropout, even after controlling for prior achievement. This is because suspension <a href="http://youthjusticenc.org/download/education-justice/suspension-and-expulsion/Predictors%20of%20Suspension%20and%20Negative%20School%20Outcomes:%20A%20Longitudinal%20Investigation.pdf">weakens students’ sense of school belonging</a> and makes <a href="https://edsource.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Noltemeyer_Ward_2015_Meta-Analysis.pdf">gaps in achievement</a> worse by taking vulnerable children <em>away</em> from teaching and learning, rather than providing them with the <a href="https://theconversation.com/help-disruptive-students-dont-just-suspend-them-28919">support and positive guidance</a> they need.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/244971/original/file-20181112-116820-1mlpb3p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/244971/original/file-20181112-116820-1mlpb3p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/244971/original/file-20181112-116820-1mlpb3p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/244971/original/file-20181112-116820-1mlpb3p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/244971/original/file-20181112-116820-1mlpb3p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/244971/original/file-20181112-116820-1mlpb3p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/244971/original/file-20181112-116820-1mlpb3p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Suspension can predict contact with the criminal justice system.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">from www.shutterstock.com</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Disadvantaged children, children with a disability, Indigenous children and children in <a href="https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/national/queensland/damaging-educational-prospects-for-kids-in-care-says-new-study-20181106-p50ec3.html">out-of-home care</a> are all significantly <a href="http://apo.org.au/node/32180">overrepresented</a> in school suspension statistics. These are the children who most need to be at school and for whom suspension is most likely to have serious and long-term negative impact.</p>
<p>Suspension is also known to <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/15388220.2012.652912">reinforce</a> problem behaviours. For example, if a student is persistently engaging in task avoidance, disruption or truanting, suspension will reward that behaviour. Rather than decrease the behaviour, suspension will increase it.</p>
<p>In short, there is no evidence to support the increased use of suspension and ample evidence governments should try to limit or even eradicate its use. </p>
<h2>When is suspension appropriate and when is it not?</h2>
<p>There are times when suspension is appropriate, such as when a student brings drugs or a weapon to school, or engages in physical violence resulting in injury. Hitting a teacher is never OK. But even here, it’s important to make sure a frightened five-year-old accidentally connecting with a teacher mid-meltdown is not construed as a deliberate act of violence.</p>
<p>Sustained <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/bullying-in-schools-11262">bullying</a> (cyber or otherwise) is another example where suspension may be appropriate. But <a href="https://edsource.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Noltemeyer_Ward_2015_Meta-Analysis.pdf">in-school suspension</a>, where students are removed from their regular classes and required to complete their work in a supervised setting, is a better option than out-of-school suspension. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/excluding-indigenous-youth-from-schools-may-severely-increase-their-risk-of-incarceration-82500">Excluding Indigenous youth from schools may severely increase their risk of incarceration</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Extreme behaviours are not the only <a href="https://eprints.qut.edu.au/118673/">reasons</a> principals suspend and there are instances where it’s done for the wrong reason. Suspending a student to appease teachers or other parents, or to “send a message” to other students are inappropriate uses of suspension. </p>
<h2>What are better ideas?</h2>
<p>Knowing the source of behaviour is the most important key to solving it. This is because similar behaviours can have very different <a href="https://bcotb.com/antecedents-the-a-in-the-abcs-of-behavioral-analysis/">antecedents</a> and responses that don’t address the root problem will fail. </p>
<p>For example, a common frustration for teachers is when students appear not to listen in class and continually ask for further explanation or don’t follow instructions. Careful observation and clarification with students will provide clues as to why some appear not to be listening. </p>
<p>Some may have a <a href="https://research.qut.edu.au/selb/explainer-what-is-developmental-language-disorder/">language disorder</a> and may be experiencing difficulty understanding what was said. Others may have <a href="https://academic.oup.com/jpepsy/article/32/6/643/1021192">attention difficulties</a> or <a href="https://thepsychologist.bps.org.uk/volume-21/edition-5/working-memory-classroom">poor working memory</a> and may miss key information. </p>
<p>Such difficulties are common among students receiving suspensions. Without consistent, high-quality responsive teaching, these students will experience failure and frustration, leading to classroom disruption and conflict with teachers. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/244968/original/file-20181112-35554-1mc6rec.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/244968/original/file-20181112-35554-1mc6rec.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/244968/original/file-20181112-35554-1mc6rec.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/244968/original/file-20181112-35554-1mc6rec.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/244968/original/file-20181112-35554-1mc6rec.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/244968/original/file-20181112-35554-1mc6rec.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/244968/original/file-20181112-35554-1mc6rec.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Negative behaviours need to be replaced with positive ones, not just removed from the classroom.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">from www.shutterstock.com</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>For students who have language disorders or attention difficulties, teachers can adopt <a href="https://www.ldaustralia.org/response-to-intervention.html">proactive</a> strategies that benefit all students. These strategies include: </p>
<ul>
<li><p>clear and consistent routines</p></li>
<li><p>well-designed seating plans </p></li>
<li><p>variations in verbal tone and pace with frequent pauses to allow students to process information</p></li>
<li><p>clear and simple verbal instructions delivered in logical sequence</p></li>
<li><p>visual aids to enhance students’ comprehension of verbally described concepts and/or complementary written instructions </p></li>
<li><p>regular reiteration of learning objectives, instructions, and classroom expectations </p></li>
<li><p>positive reinforcement of good behaviour and recognition of effort </p></li>
<li><p>providing one-to-one clarification and feedback to students who experience learning and behavioural difficulties</p></li>
<li><p>in-class pairing with another student who is a friendly and academically supportive role model.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>For some students these strategies will not be enough on their own and these students will need more intensive supports, such as <a href="https://campbellcollaboration.org/media/k2/attachments/0235_CJCG_Valdebenito_-_School_exclusions.pdf">targeted interventions</a> to enhance academic skills, counselling, mentoring/monitoring, and skills training for teachers. </p>
<p>Using proactive supports to address underlying issues, de-escalating conflict when it occurs, and using in-school suspension as a last resort will help address rising suspension rates. Governments should be acting in the best interests of everyone by backing approaches that have positive evidence and backing away from those for which there is none.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/106525/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Linda J. Graham receives funding from the Australian Research Council (ARC), the Financial Markets Foundation for Children, and the Queensland Government through their Education Horizon research grants scheme. </span></em></p>There is conclusive evidence that in most cases, suspension only reinforces negative behaviour.Linda J. Graham, Professor in the School of Early Childhood & Inclusive Education, Queensland University of TechnologyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/945582018-04-25T10:49:53Z2018-04-25T10:49:53ZKids of color get kicked out of school at higher rates – here’s how to stop it<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/213459/original/file-20180405-189807-pogwe3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Black students and students with disabilities get suspended at higher rates, federal data show.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/troubled-young-man-491263282?src=cmGwqLnUN1d4bLOeZI8gCA-4-68">From www.shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>When two black men were <a href="https://www.yahoo.com/gma/men-arrested-starbucks-were-business-meeting-hoping-change-114103068--abc-news-topstories.html">arrested</a> at a Philadelphia Starbucks where they had been waiting for a business meeting on April 12, the incident called renewed attention to the bias that racial minorities face in American society.</p>
<p>A few days later, a similar incident unfolded at an <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2018/04/20/us/la-fitness-apology/index.html">LA Fitness</a> in New Jersey.</p>
<p>While these two incidents involved adults at places of business, the reality is black children face similar treatment in America’s schools.</p>
<p>The latest evidence is in a recent <a href="https://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-18-258?utm_campaign=usgao_email&utm_content=daybook&utm_medium=email&utm_source=govdelivery">federal report</a> that shows boys, black students and students with disabilities get kicked out of school at higher rates than their peers.</p>
<p>Findings like this are disturbing, but they are hardly surprising. As a trainer of <a href="http://www.apa.org/about/division/div16.aspx">school psychologists</a>, consultant and <a href="https://unlvcoe.org/directory/faculty/index.php?directory_id=132">researcher</a>, I have <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10474412.2016.1246972?src=recsys">worked with schools</a> on the matter of racial disparities in school discipline, along with <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/e/9781136326264">other problems of justice</a>.</p>
<p>I believe racial disparities in school discipline will persist until educators seriously examine the role their decisions play in the matter. They will also persist until schools begin to implement new strategies that have proven it’s not necessary to kick kids out of school to effectively deal with their behavior.</p>
<h2>The source of disparities</h2>
<p>Racial disparities in school discipline are nothing <a href="http://www.childrensdefense.org/library/archives/digital-library/school-suspensions-are-they-helping-children.html">new</a>. In 2014 – after years of <a href="https://www.apa.org/pubs/info/reports/zero-tolerance.pdf">“zero tolerance”</a> policies proved <a href="https://www.apa.org/pubs/info/reports/zero-tolerance.pdf">problematic</a> – the Obama administration issued a <a href="https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/letters/colleague-201401-title-vi.pdf">guidance</a> to remind schools of their obligation to teach all children and not to suspend or expel them unfairly. </p>
<p>Yet, the new federal data show that for virtually every school in the country for the 2013-14 school year, racial disparities were present irrespective of the type of disciplinary action, level of school poverty, or type of school attended. The bottom line is that some sort of bias is at play.</p>
<p>In research on the subject, this bias is known as implicit bias. This is defined as automatic, unconscious associations and stereotypes about groups of people that affect our understanding, actions and decisions. This topic has been <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/0553804642?_encoding=UTF8&isInIframe=0&n=283155&ref_=dp_proddesc_0&s=books&showDetailProductDesc=1#product-description_feature_div">studied extensively</a> and popularized by a collaborative research project housed at <a href="https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/aboutus.html">Harvard University.</a></p>
<p>How real is implicit bias? In a series of four experimental studies, the fourth study, using state-of-the-art <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0956797617705399">eye-tracking methodology</a>, demonstrated that – when asked to judge who was telling the truth – whites gazed more quickly at the “lie” response for blacks, which suggests a spontaneous mistrust of blacks. This is consistent with what <a href="https://theconversation.com/measuring-the-implicit-biases-we-may-not-even-be-aware-we-have-74912">other researchers have found</a>. Interestingly, Starbucks CEO Kevin Johnson <a href="https://news.starbucks.com/press-releases/starbucks-to-close-stores-nationwide-for-racial-bias-education-may-29">mentioned implicit bias as one of the issues</a> potentially at play in the Starbucks incident.</p>
<p>One study on <a href="http://kirwaninstitute.osu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/implicit-bias-2016.pdf">implicit bias in schools</a> concluded that teachers and staff <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0038040717694876">viewed black girls’ behavior differently</a>. The same study found that black girls were three times more likely to receive office referrals for discipline compared to white girls for subjective discipline violations. A different study found that black students were disciplined for <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.17988/bedi-41-04-178-195.1">subjective interpretations</a> of behaviors, such as “disobedience” and “disruptive behavior.”</p>
<p>An experimental study conducted at Yale found that preschool teachers <a href="https://medicine.yale.edu/childstudy/zigler/publications/Preschool%20Implicit%20Bias%20Policy%20Brief_final_9_26_276766_5379_v1.pdf">gazed at black boys longer compared to other children</a> when asked to look for challenging behavior on video clips.</p>
<p>This tendency to view black children with more suspicion harms the relationships between teachers and black students.</p>
<p>In issuing the <a href="https://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-18-258?utm_campaign=usgao_email&utm_content=daybook&utm_medium=email&utm_source=govdelivery">new report</a>, the U.S. Government Accountability Office, or GAO, lists several areas to target racial disparities in school discipline. In my experience working with schools, I believe the GAO’s recommendations are correct, but will only work under certain conditions.</p>
<h2>In search of alternatives</h2>
<p>The first recommendation is to implement alternative forms of discipline that focus on proactive and preventative <a href="https://www.nasponline.org/research-and-policy/current-law-and-policy-priorities/policy-priorities/the-every-student-succeeds-act/essa-implementation-resources/essa-and-mtss-for-decision-makers">strategies for the whole school</a> rather than reactive punishment. In my work with schools implementing such approaches, the biggest <a href="https://www.ernweb.com/educational-research-articles/maryland-study-finds-biggest-challengeof-pbis-is-accentuating-the-positive/">problem</a> is the degree to which teachers and staff may not have buy-in on the strategies to implement them properly.</p>
<p>For example, some teachers and staff with one particular initiative became frustrated with certain challenging students and rarely gave praise or “behavior bucks,” which could be traded in for privileges and stickers. And when teachers did distribute the “behavior bucks,” they were sarcastic about it and often belittled students rather than being encouraging. In essence, teachers turned a positive strategy into a harmful one. </p>
<p>Due to the potential lack of buy-in from teachers, it is important to use strategies that enable a more collaborative approach to deciding the consequences.</p>
<p>This is the strength of <a href="https://www.edutopia.org/blog/restorative-justice-resources-matt-davis">the restorative justice approach</a>. Restorative justice is built upon a foundation of empowering students to collaboratively have their voices heard, take responsibility for one’s actions, and make hurt relationships right again through community dialogue.</p>
<p>For example, restorative justice approaches will gather students and adults together in a circle to discuss the infraction by focusing on who was harmed and what the community can do to make the hurt relationship right again, which is often a plan of amends. These circle discussions with various adults and students allow for all parties to understand one another’s perspective and produce empathy for students, teachers and classmates. In my view, collaborative decision-making is the key to reducing biases.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0190740914002485">Restorative justice</a> has been <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10474412.2014.929950?src=recsys">shown</a> to reduce racial disparities in discipline directly, which perhaps explains why other programs are <a href="http://www.pbis.serc.co/docs/PBIS%20and%20%20Restorative%20Practices%20final.pdf">integrating</a> restorative justice strategies into their programs.</p>
<p>Second, there need to be new laws and policies to discourage punitive, exclusionary disciplinary practices in schools and to encourage alternative approaches to school discipline. </p>
<p>For example, <a href="https://www.aclunc.org/our-work/know-your-rights/school-discipline">California</a> prohibits the use of suspensions and expulsions for children in grades K-3 for willful defiance. Other states and school districts, such as <a href="https://will.illinois.edu/news/story/illinois-issues-new-school-discipline-philosophy-one-year-later">Illinois</a> and <a href="https://www.seattleschools.org/cms/One.aspx?portalId=627&pageId=2391903">Seattle</a>, have done so as well.</p>
<p>Finally, it would be helpful if America’s schools had more school psychologists on hand. Unfortunately, the nation’s schools suffer from a <a href="https://www.nasponline.org/resources-and-publications/resources/school-psychology/shortages-in-school-psychology-resource-guide">shortage of school psychologists</a> at a time when they are needed most to help address complex issues of racial disparities in school discipline.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/94558/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Samuel Song does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The recent arrest of two black patrons who were waiting on a business meeting at a Starbucks has parallels to how black children are unfairly discipline in school, a researcher argues.Samuel Song, Associate Professor of School Psychology, University of Nevada, Las VegasLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/906312018-03-20T10:42:32Z2018-03-20T10:42:32ZSome officials want to ban school suspensions – here’s how that could backfire<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/207649/original/file-20180223-108116-18ici6t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Efforts to ban school suspensions to reduce racial disparities are on the rise, but experts warn they could backfire.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/african-american-student-having-problems-school-489131368?src=n5AoXVz0pKGOz2SBcIU8WA-2-68">pixelheadphoto digitalskillet/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>When it comes to school discipline, the fact that low-income and minority students are <a href="https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/docs/2013-14-first-look.pdf">more likely to get suspended</a> than students who are white or more well off is <a href="http://www.childrensdefense.org/library/archives/digital-library/school-suspensions-are-they-helping-children.html">nothing new</a>.</p>
<p>In an effort to turn things around, some education policymakers are beginning to take a critical look at the use of school suspensions.</p>
<p>A recent example is <a href="https://www.scribd.com/document/365068068/FACT-SHEET-Student-Fair-Access-to-School-Act-of-2017">this proposed measure</a> for the District of Columbia Public Schools.</p>
<p>Among other things, the proposed measure would prohibit automatic suspensions. It would also prohibit suspension and expulsion for preschool through middle school students, except in cases of threatened or actual serious physical or emotional injury. High schools would be prohibited from suspending students for being absent or tardy, not wearing their uniforms and “purely behavioral” incidents such as willful defiance.</p>
<p>Since <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/272417370_Office_referrals_and_suspension_Disciplinary_intervention_in_middle_schools">research</a> shows <a href="http://www.jstor.org/stable/42900535">most suspensions</a> are for subjective, minor rule infractions such as tardiness, disrespect, insubordination or dress code violations, and that minority students, particularly African-American students, are <a href="http://www.jstor.org/stable/42900535">disroportionately</a> disciplined for such infractions, the proposed suspension ban for the District of Columbia’s school system might appear to be a step in the right direction.</p>
<p>However, speaking as a <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=guVr9ukAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=sra">researcher</a> of education policy, I believe the reality is that a suspension ban could potentially harm the very students it is designed to help. For this reason, a careful look at the pros and cons of getting rid of suspensions altogether is warranted.</p>
<h2>A broader trend</h2>
<p>As a policy proposal, the “Student Fair Access to School Act” is not unique. It is part of a trend of <a href="http://www.aft.org/sites/default/files/ae_winter2015.pdf">efforts to move away</a> from the zero tolerance policies of the early 2000s and to hopefully reduce or eliminate the racial <a href="https://glcc-achievement.org/content/how-educators-can-eradicate-disparities-school-discipline-briefing-paper-school-based">discipline gap</a>.</p>
<p>States such as <a href="https://scholars.duke.edu/display/pub1128913">North Carolina</a> have moved to prohibit out-of-school suspensions and expulsions unless they are required under federal or state law. Many others, like Connecticut, California and Texas, have imposed such restrictions for suspensions for <a href="http://www.endzerotolerance.org/legislation">younger students</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://scholars.duke.edu/display/pub1128913">Several urban school districts</a>, such as those in <a href="http://www.bcps.org/system/handbooks/Student-Handbook.pdf">Baltimore</a>, <a href="https://www.mathematica-mpr.com/our-publications-and-findings/publications/the-academic-and-behavioral-consequences-of-discipline-policy-reform-evidence-from-philadelphia">Philadelphia</a>, <a href="https://www.boarddocs.com/co/dpsk12/Board.nsf/files/ANAN9H5B86EE/$file/JK-R%20editable.pdf">Denver</a> and <a href="http://articles.latimes.com/2013/may/14/local/la-me-lausd-suspension-20130515">Los Angeles</a>, have also undergone school discipline reform.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/XTy7ibVzBsA?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">A public forum on school suspension.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The potential benefits of this movement away from suspensions are broad. In theory, it will likely benefit <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.3102/0002831214541670">black and low-income students the most</a> because black students are <a href="https://archive.org/details/ERIC_ED577231">three times</a> more likely to be suspended or expelled from school compared to white students. Similarly, <a href="https://www.repository.law.indiana.edu/facpub/28/">low-income</a> students are more likely to be suspended than well-off students.</p>
<h2>Benefits seen</h2>
<p>The strongest and most consistent benefit of these reforms is increased <a href="https://scholar.uwindsor.ca/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=https://scholar.google.com/&httpsredir=1&article=1019&context=educationpub">school attendance</a>.</p>
<p>School systems that cut back on suspensions should also see an <a href="http://www.shankerinstitute.org/sites/shanker/files/Gregory-et-al.-The-Achievement-Gap-and-the-Discipline-Gap-Two-Sides-of-the-Same-Coin.pdf">increase</a> in <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/249682240_Achievement_and_Enrollment_Status_of_Suspended_StudentsOutcomes_in_a_Large_Multicultural_School_District">academic achievement</a>. The reason is simple: Students spend more time in class when they don’t get suspended. It is also beneficial when suspension policies <a href="https://www.scribd.com/document/365068068/FACT-SHEET-Student-Fair-Access-to-School-Act-of-2017">require schools to continue</a> education for suspended students, as does the proposed measure in Washington, D.C.</p>
<p>School systems that cut back on suspensions may also see a decrease in the <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/001440290006600305">dropout rate</a>. </p>
<p>Also, if school systems include <a href="https://www.edutopia.org/blog/restorative-justice-resources-matt-davis">restorative justice</a> – that is, a peer mediation process – in their discipline plans, the level of willful defiant behaviors and general misbehavior may <a href="https://scholar.uwindsor.ca/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=https://www.google.com/&httpsredir=1&article=1019&context=educationpub">decrease</a>. This should lead to improvements in school climate and morale.</p>
<h2>Potential drawbacks</h2>
<p>Despite the various benefits that may result from fewer suspensions and better use of alternative forms of discipline, there could be unintended consequences.</p>
<p>For starters, the ban on suspensions would remove an important tool that teachers use to maintain classroom order. For this reason, teachers often <a href="https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2013/07/10/36disciplineside.h32.html">resist</a> efforts to replace suspensions with less punitive measures.</p>
<p>In schools that have curtailed the use of suspensions, teachers <a href="https://co.chalkbeat.org/posts/co/2013/05/14/concerns-about-discipline-flare-in-denver-schools/">frequently complain</a> about time-consuming paperwork, <a href="https://edsource.org/2017/most-teachers-in-california-say-they-need-more-training-in-alternatives-to-suspensions-survey-finds/581195">limited training</a> and inadequate resources to properly administer alternative discipline practices. This leads to a poor work environment for teachers and a weak academic climate for students. </p>
<p><a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0013161X15607617">Dissatisfaction</a> with poorly designed and poorly implemented discipline policies is a top reason that teachers leave schools. Without teacher commitment and buy-in, <a href="https://www.pdffiller.com/384916573-Year-3-FINAL-Ed-White-reportpdf-Ed-White-Middle-School-Restorative-Discipline-Evaluation-irjrd-Various-Fillable-Forms">discipline reform runs the risk</a> of failure. </p>
<p>Along similar lines, though <a href="http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.966.6919">many scholars dispute it</a>, the simple threat of punitive <a href="http://psycnet.apa.org/record/1984-24477-001">disciplinary action has been shown to be effective</a> for some students. Getting rid of suspensions may increase rule violations and more severe infractions.</p>
<p>For instance, Philadelphia schools saw an <a href="https://www.mathematica-mpr.com/our-publications-and-findings/publications/the-academic-and-behavioral-consequences-of-discipline-policy-reform-evidence-from-philadelphia">increase</a> in more serious rule infractions after banning suspensions for less severe issues.</p>
<h2>Not a cure-all</h2>
<p>A ban on suspensions may also increase the use of <a href="https://consortium.uchicago.edu/publications/discipline-practices-chicago-schools-trends-use-suspensions-and-arrests">in-school suspensions</a>. And just because a student has an <a href="https://concept.journals.villanova.edu/article/viewFile/138/109">in-school suspension</a> does not ensure that a student is integrated and engaged in the learning environment. In fact, in-school suspensions can be just as <a href="https://concept.journals.villanova.edu/article/viewFile/138/109">harmful</a> as <a href="http://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/40365423.pdf?refreqid=excelsior%3A8f4f5e8b98c50bff7b3f779842a5b976">out-of-school</a> suspension if students are held in isolation without instruction or rehabilitative counseling.</p>
<p>A ban on suspensions might begin to make a dent in longstanding disparities in school discipline. However, unless suspension bans are accompanied by funding for alternative tools, such as restorative justice programs or professional training in adolescent development and classroom conflict management, I believe suspension bans may cause more problems than they solve.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/90631/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>K. Juree Capers has received funding from American Educational Research Association. She is affiliated with a host of professional academic associations,including the American Political Science Association. </span></em></p>Some school districts are moving to cut back on the use of suspensions. But if school discipline reforms are not implemented in a thoughtful way, classrooms may become harder to manage.K. Juree Capers, Assistant Professor of Public Management and Policy, Georgia State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/825002017-09-19T02:42:48Z2017-09-19T02:42:48ZExcluding Indigenous youth from schools may severely increase their risk of incarceration<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/186150/original/file-20170915-16273-jryvjv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">For many young Indigenous children, schools are Eurocentric establishments offering minimal cultural connections.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Many Indigenous children, particularly boys aged 10 to 17 years, <a href="http://www.childcomm.tas.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Student-Suspensions_A-Research-Review-November-2013.pdf">are receiving lengthy suspensions</a> from schools throughout Australia. Even more concerning is the over-representation of young Indigenous males incarcerated in Australia’s juvenile detention facilities.</p>
<h2>Indigenous youth in juvenile correctional facilities</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/youth-justice/youth-justice-in-australia-2015-16/contents/table-of-contents">Data</a> show Indigenous youth are incarcerated at 25 times the rate of non-Indigenous youth. </p>
<p>Young Indigenous people constitute 8% of Queensland’s population aged 10 to 17 years, but make up <a href="https://www.aihw.gov.au/getmedia/b85be60c-9fef-436d-85df-82d8e5c5f566/20705.pdf.aspx?inline=true">53% of those under youth justice supervision</a> on an average day. This is higher than the national level at 45%. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/journals/CICrimJust/2006/1.pdf">Research</a> suggests young Indigenous people are more likely to experience incarceration if they have limited educational opportunities, experience socioeconomic hardship or are dealing with an addiction. </p>
<h2>Educational contexts</h2>
<p>The <a href="http://www.rch.org.au/iyds/">International Youth Development Study</a>
found young people who were suspended or excluded from education were much more likely to develop anti-social behaviours and engage in criminal activity, which could eventually result in incarceration.</p>
<p>Despite these decisive factors, there is still a gap in the area of research related to the education of Indigenous Australian youth in mainstream schooling and their over-incarceration. This means we lack empirical evidence as to why Indigenous students are being excluded from education.</p>
<h2>Cultural disconnect</h2>
<p>For many young Indigenous children, schools are Eurocentric establishments offering minimal cultural connections. Many Indigenous students are acutely aware of the cultural disconnect between school and their home lives, which they must deal with every day.</p>
<p>Historically, there have been many political, social and economic decisions that have had a profound impact on the attainment of good educational outcomes for many Indigenous peoples. In the past, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples were excluded and segregated from mainstream education. For many, this has resulted in trans-generational disadvantage. </p>
<p>Although there have been numerous policy documents addressing educational disadvantage for Indigenous children, over the past few decades little has changed systemically. For example, the ninth annual <a href="http://closingthegap.pmc.gov.au/sites/default/files/ctg-report-2017.pdf">Closing the Gap</a> report released in February this year indicates only one of seven targets is on track.</p>
<p>A lack of cultural knowledge about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples within the educational and juvenile justice sectors hinders practical strategies for change. Many policymakers have little, if any, understanding of the historical disparities faced by Indigenous Australians. </p>
<p>The impact of policies that remove children from their homes and place them in confinement, whether in out-of-home care or incarceration, continues to be a complex issue not duly acknowledged by educators, policymakers or authorities. </p>
<h2>Indigenous-led strategies need to be heard</h2>
<p>There are many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples who are willing to offer solutions to these complex issues. </p>
<p>However, according to <a href="https://www.amnesty.org.au/report-heads-held-high/">Amnesty International</a>, only two out of the 16 justice programs currently operating in Queensland are Indigenous-led. Community Elders have identified that many children who come into contact with the juvenile justice system should have an opportunity to reaffirm their spiritual and cultural connections to country. Governments need to listen to, work with and support local Indigenous community-led programs at a grassroots level.</p>
<p>One such positive, Indigenous-led strategy in Queensland is the forming of the new <a href="http://www.justice.qld.gov.au/corporate/business-areas/youth-justice/youth-justice-initiatives/youth-justice-first-nations-action-board">Youth Justice First Nations Action Board</a>. It is the first of its kind in Australia. The board’s representatives include Indigenous youth justice workers from throughout Queensland, who continue to work to support young Indigenous people at the local level. We are yet to see what difference this will make, but it is certainly a step in the right direction.</p>
<p>Ultimately, the challenge for policymakers, educators and communities in Australia is to achieve a significant reduction in the numbers of Indigenous students who receive lengthy suspensions or exclusions from school. This could very well have a direct effect on the high numbers of Indigenous youth incarcerated in juvenile detention centres.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/82500/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dr Grace O'Brien does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Indigenous youth are over-representation in juvenile detention centres, and excluding them from education could make this worse.Dr Grace O'Brien, PhD Candidate, University of Technology SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/787532017-06-13T02:34:55Z2017-06-13T02:34:55ZReport sparks concern about how schools support students with disabilities<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/172386/original/file-20170606-16864-rucegm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Students with disabilities are regularly segregated from their peers in the playground, classroom and lessons.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">from shutterstock.com </span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Two years ago a South Australian select committee was formed to inquire into the educational experiences of students with disabilities. The committee’s remit was to determine what was working well, and what still needed improving. The <a href="https://www.parliament.sa.gov.au/Committees/Pages/Committees.aspx?CTId=3&CId=320">final report</a> has now been released, complete with 93 recommendations. While some recommendations were expected, others were surprising, and revealed a need for greater transparency from schools.</p>
<p>How schools responded to challenging behaviours was seen as a considerable concern. The report noted that students with disabilities were over-represented in both suspensions and exclusions.</p>
<h2>‘Cage-like’ facilities</h2>
<p>Segregation of students with disabilities was described as a “nuanced phenomenon”, occurring in playgrounds, classrooms, and individual lessons. Some students missed literacy programs with peers in order to be removed for remedial tasks. Others had been left alone for long periods in order for teachers to avoid behavioural confrontations.</p>
<p>Disability units within schools were described by parents as appearing “cage-like”, and even similar to correctional facilities. </p>
<p>Although teachers suggested fencing needed to become more “aesthetically pleasing”, fences and gates were nevertheless positioned as necessary spatial solutions to safety issues. One primary school noted:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Our enclosed areas were created with our student’s safety in mind. We do have several students that are at risk of running away and our school does not have secure boundaries. The safety of our students is paramount and we therefore made the decision to enclose the unit.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Such responses can make behavioural issues worse</h2>
<p>Growing concerns of aversive approaches to behaviour, such as restraint and suspension, are evident. </p>
<p>Although suspension is actually <a href="https://search.informit.com.au/fullText;dn=330127019585684;res=IELHSS">detrimental to students</a>, it is often justified, within policy, as being beneficial. </p>
<p>The removal of students with disabilities, who are at increased risk of mental health difficulties, is particularly worrying. Many require <a href="http://www.forsterpsychologist.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/1-s2.0-S1750946715000938-main.pdf">behavioural interventions at an earlier stage</a> as part of a <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-psychologists-and-counsellors-in-schools/article/mental-health-and-students-with-disabilities-a-review-of-literature/C7DD0A37C44E61BB14F6DEF8DEA06EA1">coordinated framework of support</a>.</p>
<p>The select committee’s report illustrated that suspension policies were not always used as intended - as a last resort, following a full examination of what occurred. The Guardian of the Office for Children and Young People expressed concern:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The education department does have a policy for children in care that suspensions and exclusions are used only as a last resort. We don’t believe that that is the case. There is certainly evidence in individual situations where suspension and exclusion has been the first response.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>It’s recommended that educational authorities engage better with their stakeholders in order to understand the ramifications of suspension, and to develop better approaches. </p>
<p>When parents are contacted and asked to collect their child from school, clarification is required as to whether this is being used as a method of “informal suspension”.</p>
<h2>Number of suspensions very high</h2>
<p>Although the South Australian public system outlined a “dramatic fall across the board” in relation to suspensions and exclusions, this was not supported by <a href="http://www.educatoronline.com.au/news/alarming-student-suspension-figures-revealed-236897.aspx">recently released data</a>. </p>
<p>Suspensions remain very high, with almost 1,000 students suspended on more than one occasion within a school term in South Australia. </p>
<p>Increased segregation has been positioned as a potential solution, which contrasts with a recommendation put forward by the select committee, suggesting schools adopt positive behaviour approaches, such as Positive Behaviour Interventions and Supports (<a href="http://www.pbis.org">PBIS</a>). </p>
<p>Another recommendation from the report was for systems to better audit schools’ practices in order to determine compliance and use of aversive behavioural approaches. </p>
<p>Information from audits would be shared externally in order to provide oversight. It has been recommended that the Equal Opportunity Commissioner (or Ombudsman) assume a role in evaluating parental complaints regarding educational access or participation.</p>
<p>A need for transparency was highlighted in discussions on Negotiated Education Reports (NEPs). </p>
<p>These planning documents are typically instrumental in supporting access, participation and student achievement. However, parents viewed them as “static” due to them not being sufficiently updated. </p>
<p>Schools appeared to be struggling to engage with families effectively, at times predetermining NEP outcomes for students rather than entering into genuine negotiation.</p>
<p>One submission highlighted concern that NEPs were used to initiate the removal of a students:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>It’s sometimes documented in the NEP as if it’s an ongoing issue when it’s actually a one-off event. In each state we need to record all behaviour to justify current funding, but then this accumulative behaviour is used to justify why a child is no longer able to attend mainstream school.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>It’s been recommended that parents should be able to check NEP progress online, rather than wait for formal meetings to occur with teachers.</p>
<p>Some recommendations echo those from last year’s <a href="http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Education_and_Employment/students_with_disability/Report/b01">Australian Senate Committee report</a> into access to learning for students with disabilities. In particular, recommendation eight, which advocated for better data collection and publication in a wide range of areas, in order to better illustrate practices and performance of schools. And also recommendation ten, which called for an end to restrictive practices such as restraint in order to sharpen focus on preventative approaches.</p>
<p>Despite these registered concerns, the select committee report highlighted that good practices are indeed occurring in many South Australian schools. Examples were provided of principals who created welcoming environments, developed inclusive cultures, and strongly advocated for open enrolment policies. </p>
<p>However, much work still needs to be done by universities in preparing inclusive teachers, by educational authorities, and by schools. </p>
<p>At a time when Australia is increasingly <a href="http://www.aihw.gov.au/WorkArea/DownloadAsset.aspx?id=60129559751">segregating students with disabilities</a>, it is critically important that good quality inclusive practice becomes normal business for schools.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/78753/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Peter Walker is affiliated with the Australian Association of Special Education.</span></em></p>‘Cage-like’ facilities, segregation, and high numbers of exclusions show the concerning ways schools have responded to challenging behaviours by students with disabilities.Peter Walker, Lecturer in Special Education, Flinders UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/651622016-09-15T20:15:41Z2016-09-15T20:15:41ZAre we expelling too many children from Australian schools?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/137497/original/image-20160913-19237-letm9h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Schools increasingly use expulsion as a way to tackle bad behaviour.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">from www.shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>School expulsions in Victoria have increased significantly – by more than 25% in the past year – resulting in an <a href="http://www.theioi.org/ioi-news/current-news/victorian-ombudsman-investigates-expulsion-at-government-schools">ombudsman investigation</a>. </p>
<p>These latest findings show vulnerable children are significantly over-represented, and families are struggling to appeal expulsions and find alternative education placements for their child when they are expelled.</p>
<p>So how effective are expulsions? Are we expelling too many children? And is this an appropriate and effective action to take?</p>
<h2>Lack of data around school expulsions</h2>
<p>While there is little research in the Australian context that explores the rise in school expulsions, schools seem to be taking a less permissive approach to disruptive behaviour. </p>
<p>Although the statistics are not readily available, <a href="http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/victorian-primary-school-student-expel-numbers-double-in-two-years/news-story/2f1c89625e0e1d1402491b7b1f754e44">news reports quote</a> the following Victorian Department of Education suspension and expulsion rates for 2015. In primary schools, 2,160 students suspended and 26 expelled; and in secondary schools, 11,282 students suspended and 172 expelled. In <a href="http://education.qld.gov.au/schools/statistics/absences.html">Queensland</a> in 2015, 1,525 students were excluded. And in <a href="http://www.dec.nsw.gov.au/documents/15060385/15385042/suspension-data-factsheet.pdf">NSW</a> in 2014, 262 students were excluded from school.</p>
<p>Such approaches reflect the views by some that young people are not developing or displaying appropriate levels of civic responsibility so a zero-tolerance approach to behaviour is necessary. </p>
<p><a href="http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/131/3/e1000">But research shows</a> mass punishment or individual punishment as a deterrent rarely works – and if it does, it is not the only way to establish positive outcomes. </p>
<h2>Why do children get expelled from schools?</h2>
<p>Each Australian state has explicit <a href="http://www.lawstuff.org.au/vic_law/topics/school/article13">education policy</a> relating to suspension (the temporary exclusion from class and/or school for a specified period) and exclusion (cancellation of enrolment).</p>
<p>While each varies slightly, all claim that expulsion should be only considered as a last resort. </p>
<p>Students may be expelled from one or more schools for a defined period and in some circumstances, all schools permanently. </p>
<p>Throughout the process the school and the principal must keep the family fully informed. The student and family have the right to appeal any decisions made.</p>
<p>While ultimately the reasons given for suspension or exclusion relate specifically to student behaviour, a number of <a href="http://www.mdpi.com/2075-471X/2/1/20">studies</a> have found that it is not necessarily the behaviour, but rather the individual student – including their attitude and academic commitment – that influences the school’s response.</p>
<p>The attitude of the school, its socioeconomic status and level of diversity also impact on the level of suspension and/or subsequent exclusion. </p>
<p>While antisocial, unsafe (drugs and alcohol) or violent behaviour are the most common reasons for suspension and exclusion, a recent <a href="http://www.kidsmatter.edu.au/health-and-community/enewsletter/kids-online-statistics">trend</a> has <a href="http://news.bullyingnoway.gov.au/the-facts/Snapshots/Literature%20Review%20Bullying%20by%20SSSC.pdf">emerged</a> that includes the inappropriate use of online and social media to demean, intimidate or threaten peers and school communities. </p>
<p>The use of punitive measures, such as exclusion, often reflects a breakdown in communication between schools, families and students and preferences an educational focus on meeting the priorities of the majority over the individual. </p>
<p>Excluding children from school for any period, puts their personality and social development at risk.</p>
<h2>Exclusion during primary years</h2>
<p>The long-term effects of being excluded from school are significant at any age, but when such measures are implemented at the primary school level (approximately 5-7% of all exclusions), the consequences are magnified. </p>
<p>During the primary years many of the key skills of social development, behaviour and self discipline are learnt and practised. </p>
<p>By excluding young children from these opportunities, the ability to cope and thrive in pressured environments will be challenged. </p>
<p>On the other hand, there are significant management challenges for teachers and schools when individuals repeatedly disrupt classes with threatening behaviour. </p>
<p>School pressure, peer pressure, distractions and student-teacher interactions are nominated by the students as the <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03004279.2012.668139">main cause of problem behaviour</a>. They also note that relationships are built slowly but can be broken down easily.</p>
<p>Other <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0190740913003782">research</a> has shown that suspension from school leads to increased antisocial behaviour and actually increases the likelihood of future suspensions and ultimately exclusion. </p>
<h2>Pressure on principals</h2>
<p>In an increasingly commercialised education systems, school principals are under pressure to protect their school’s “brand” as the public reach of a schools image is no longer confined to the visible uniformed student during the morning commute. </p>
<p>The behaviour of students (and teachers) is now far more widely scrutinised via social networks and other media. </p>
<p>As such, the impact of any activity that threatens the schools image must be dampened. </p>
<p>Firm action against individual students provides a clear and visible message that a school is asserting and strong moral focus. </p>
<h2>Effective techniques</h2>
<p>Inclusive approaches and positive behaviour techniques such as <a href="http://www.pbis.org/school/pbis-in-the-classroom">“positive classroom behaviour support”</a> that respond to individual needs within the group context are equally, and in most cases, more effective than punishment-based systems. Such approaches work with the students and their families to identify the underlying needs of the individual and utilise peer and specialist support where possible to improve connectedness within the school community. Such approaches take time but are effective in the long term. </p>
<p>The primary effect of punishments and exclusion reinforces to the student that their needs are not able to be met.</p>
<p>In primary school, the child may not have the skill to behave, and exclusion from the learning environment, where such skills can be developed, will not assist in achieving good behaviour. </p>
<p>Research shows that improving teacher skill in <a href="http://eer.sagepub.com/content/14/2/177">preventative behaviour</a> management can lead to less referrals to the office for action.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/65162/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jonathon Sargeant does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>School expulsions are on the rise in Australia. But research shows individual punishment as a deterrent rarely works.Jonathon Sargeant, Lecturer in Inclusive Education and Classroom Management, Australian Catholic UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/619002016-07-25T03:23:15Z2016-07-25T03:23:15ZZero tolerance laws increase suspension rates for black students<p>The State Senate of Michigan is currently considering <a href="https://www.legislature.mi.gov/documents/2015-2016/billengrossed/House/htm/2016-HEBH-5618.htm">legislation</a> that would scale back “zero tolerance” discipline policies in the state’s public schools. </p>
<p>Zero tolerance discipline laws require automatic and generally severe punishment for specified offenses that could range from possessing weapons to physical assault. They leave little leeway for consideration of the circumstances of the offense.</p>
<p>The bill, <a href="http://michiganradio.org/post/legislation-relax-zero-tolerance-schools-moves-senate">already approved</a> by the State House, proposes to add provisions that would consider the contextual factors around an incident, such as the student’s disciplinary history, and would ask whether lesser forms of punishment would suffice.</p>
<p>In other words, suspension and expulsion would no longer be as “mandatory” and there would be a little more “tolerance” in these state discipline laws.</p>
<p>As a researcher of education policy and school discipline, I would highlight that these revisions, some of which have been passed in <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/illinois-school-discipline-reform_us_55dcc9c0e4b0a40aa3ac8907">other states</a>, represent a significant change of course for state school discipline law. </p>
<p>In fact, my recent work and that of others suggests that the shift away from zero tolerance approaches is for the better.</p>
<h2>Why zero tolerance policies were introduced</h2>
<p>Throughout the 1990s, the number of states with zero tolerance laws, those requiring suspension or expulsion for specified offenses, <a href="http://epa.sagepub.com/content/early/2016/05/24/0162373716652728.full">increased significantly</a>. </p>
<p>The rapid adoption of such laws was spurred in part by the passage of the <a href="http://www2.ed.gov/policy/elsec/leg/esea02/pg54.html">1994 Gun-Free Schools Act</a>, federal legislation that required states to adopt mandatory expulsion laws for possessing a firearm in school. </p>
<p>These safety concerns were further heightened by the <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2013/09/18/us/columbine-high-school-shootings-fast-facts/">shooting</a> that took place at Columbine High School, a public high school in Littleton, Colorado. </p>
<p>Following Columbine, <a href="http://doi.org/10.3102/0162373716652728">by the early 2000s</a>, nearly every state had a zero tolerance law in place. Many of these laws expanded beyond firearms to include other <a href="http://doi.org/10.3102/0162373716652728">weapons, physical assaults and drug offenses</a>.</p>
<h2>Push back against zero tolerance</h2>
<p>Clearly, such zero tolerance laws were meant to improve the safety and order of the school environment. However, in recent years, they have been seen as being <a href="http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2013/09/16/bill-zero-tolerance-goes-too-far.html">overly prescriptive</a> and as contributing to <a href="https://www.aclu.org/dignity-denied-effect-zero-tolerance-policies-students-human-rights">racial disparities</a> in school discipline. </p>
<p>For instance, there are cases of students being suspended for accidentally bringing a <a href="http://www.slate.com/articles/life/education/2014/10/atiya_haynes_case_zero_tolerance_school_choice_and_one_detroit_student_s.html">pocketknife to school</a>. In one high-profile case, a student was suspended for <a href="http://reason.com/blog/2016/06/16/judge-upholds-suspension-of-the-pop-tart">chewing a pastry into the shape of a gun</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/131648/original/image-20160722-26805-1whmmnh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/131648/original/image-20160722-26805-1whmmnh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/131648/original/image-20160722-26805-1whmmnh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/131648/original/image-20160722-26805-1whmmnh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/131648/original/image-20160722-26805-1whmmnh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/131648/original/image-20160722-26805-1whmmnh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/131648/original/image-20160722-26805-1whmmnh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Black kids are suspended at a higher rate.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/s/black+kids+school/search.html?page=2&thumb_size=mosaic&inline=137209721">Children image via www.shutterstock.com</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Additionally, <a href="http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/rulesforengagement/disparities.JPG">federal data</a> show that black students are suspended at rates two to three times higher than their white peers.</p>
<p>As a result, in 2014, the U.S. Department of Justice and Department of Education issued a joint <a href="http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/letters/colleague-201401-title-vi.html">“Dear Colleague”</a> letter directed to public school districts. The letter was a call for reductions in the use of suspensions and expulsions and, instead, for a focus on ensuring the fair use of school discipline for students of all backgrounds.</p>
<h2>Here’s what new research shows</h2>
<p>In a <a href="http://doi.org/10.3102/0162373716652728">newly published study</a>, I explored the implications of state zero tolerance laws – laws that require school districts to adopt zero tolerance policies.</p>
<p>In particular, I sought to find out if they contributed to increased use of suspensions and if they led to racial disparities. Given <a href="http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/dec01/vol59/num04/The-Dilemma-of-Zero-Tolerance.aspx">claims</a> by proponents of such laws that they increase the safety and order of the school overall, I also wanted to see if these laws contributed to decreases in perceptions of problem behaviors in the school as a whole.</p>
<p>I used national data collected by the U.S. Department of Education as part of the <a href="http://ocrdata.ed.gov/">Civil Rights Data Collection</a> and the <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/surveys/sass/">Schools and Staffing Survey</a>. The sample included thousands of school districts and principals spanning the late 1980s to the mid-2000s.</p>
<p>The study revealed three important findings. </p>
<p>First, the study showed that state laws requiring schools to have zero tolerance policies increased suspension rates for all students. Second, suspension rates increased at a higher rate for African-American students, potentially contributing to racial disparities in discipline. Finally, principals reported few decreases in problem behaviors in schools, suggesting that the laws did not improve the safety and order of schools.</p>
<h2>The findings, in context</h2>
<p>The findings show that the adoption of state zero tolerance laws result in increases in district suspension rates. For the average-sized district, such laws resulted in approximately 35 more suspensions per year.</p>
<p>Though this number may seem small, the potential impact is quite large. </p>
<p>A <a href="https://www.civilrightsproject.ucla.edu/resources/projects/center-for-civil-rights-remedies/school-to-prison-folder/federal-reports/the-high-cost-of-harsh-discipline-and-its-disparate-impact">recent study</a> by researchers at UCLA, for example, suggests that a one percentage point reduction in the suspension rate nationally would result in societal gains of over US$2 billion through reduced dropout and increased economic productivity. In short, state zero tolerance laws may be imposing significant financial costs on society.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/131650/original/image-20160722-26837-1e5dnof.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/131650/original/image-20160722-26837-1e5dnof.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/131650/original/image-20160722-26837-1e5dnof.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/131650/original/image-20160722-26837-1e5dnof.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/131650/original/image-20160722-26837-1e5dnof.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/131650/original/image-20160722-26837-1e5dnof.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/131650/original/image-20160722-26837-1e5dnof.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Burden of zero tolerance laws is not shared equally.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/cat.mhtml?lang=en&language=en&ref_site=photo&search_source=search_form&version=llv1&anyorall=all&safesearch=1&use_local_boost=1&autocomplete_id=&search_tracking_id=3FRJI3Et6Sdk9xLkJxr_iA&searchterm=school%20discipline%20black%20kids&show_color_wheel=1&orient=&commercial_ok=&media_type=images&search_cat=&searchtermx=&photographer_name=&people_gender=&people_age=&people_ethnicity=&people_number=&color=&page=1&inline=1883582">Boy image via www.shutterstock.com</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Furthermore, the burden of these costs are not equally shared across all groups. </p>
<p>The results of my study suggest that the increase in suspension rates for black students as a result of these laws is approximately three times the size of that for white students. </p>
<p>Coupled with <a href="http://doi.org/10.1177/0895904812453999">other research</a> that finds links between zero tolerance policies and racial disparities, this finding demonstrates that these laws, though supposedly neutral with regard to race, are disproportionately impacting students of color.</p>
<p><a href="http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/docs/2013-14-first-look.pdf">Recent data</a> released by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights also point to persistent disparities by race in the use of school discipline. </p>
<h2>No reduction in misbehavior</h2>
<p>Proponents of zero tolerance discipline have argued that the use of suspensions and expulsions increases the <a href="http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/dec01/vol59/num04/The-Dilemma-of-Zero-Tolerance.aspx">safety and order</a> of the learning environment as a whole. My study found evidence to refute the claim. </p>
<p>In my data set, principals rated the degree to which various behavior problems (i.e., fighting, disrespect, use of drugs, weapons) were problems in their schools. </p>
<p>I found that, in the view of principals, the presence of a state zero tolerance law did not decrease their rating of the degree to which these various behaviors are problems. In other words, state zero tolerance laws did not appear to be contributing to improved levels of safety and order overall.</p>
<h2>What the results mean for policy and practice</h2>
<p>Students, parents and other stakeholders have an expectation that schools should be safe and orderly environments that treat all students equitably. While it is imperative that schools take active steps to achieve these goals, the findings of my work call into question whether state zero tolerance discipline laws are the most effective way to do so.</p>
<p>While suspension and expulsion may still be appropriate tools in some circumstances, it is important for schools to consider context, and states to allow such discretion, in the administration of school discipline. Furthermore, it is important to have safeguards in place to ensure that such discretion is utilized equitably for students of color, who too often experience disproportionate disciplinary exclusion. </p>
<p>The revised disciplinary laws under consideration in Michigan and similar revisions to school disciplinary policies in other states represent more promising steps to ensuring effective and fair school discipline.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/61900/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>F. Chris Curran received funding for work described in this article from the American Educational Research Association, which receives funds for its “AERA Grants Program” from the National Science Foundation under Grant DRL-0941014.</span></em></p>New research finds state zero tolerance laws do not improve student safety. In fact, they increase the use of suspensions and racial disparities in discipline.F. Chris Curran, Assistant Professor of Public Policy, University of Maryland, Baltimore CountyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/618962016-07-13T23:18:11Z2016-07-13T23:18:11ZRacial inequality starts early – in preschool<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/130460/original/image-20160713-12380-gog27q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Why should kids get suspended in preschool?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/moominmolly/3745920593/in/photolist-BBCC9-hKEHj-PaDH1-36MX1-8TyLw1-bwTx1-4E8cJ-778AdQ-PaDH3-81f9T-4dQKd-4QVyDQ-PbagM-3rLDA4-4QkWLt-4QqatW-mwM1Re-fzU9gS-mwMHVZ-cEBhbW-7JUAQ-jjqhQ-9J562P-no3qW-nTBAaz-jjtYS-6ar6E-ciD69-6H1PFP-a3tQjk-7JUH7-3Nb5ed-7JUHV-n1b39-9Mhsj3-7JUFJ-E6nuJ-5uHzmC-s4yVc-5uHy73-2PE6kp-wufUx-L4EXx-2PJxZf-anKnao-6Rjro3-2PE6s2-29Q9Vs-7m9rM-9G77kj">Molly</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>On Wednesday, July 6, the four-year-old daughter of Diamond Reynolds <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/08/us/philando-castile-facebook-police-shooting-minnesota.html?_r=0">witnessed</a> the killing of Philando Castile by a Minnesota police officer. She and her mother sat in close proximity to Castile when he was shot.</p>
<p>A 2009 Department of Justice study showed that <a href="https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/ojjdp/227744.pdf">more than 60 percent of American children</a> had directly or indirectly been exposed to violence within the past year. Exposure to such violence has long-term physical, psychological and emotional implications. </p>
<p>When these children enter school, they have unique needs. Many are ill-prepared for the social, emotional and academic rigor that is anticipated and required. Conversely, many schools are not prepared to handle the needs of children who have been victims of poverty, trauma or who have special education needs.</p>
<p>Preschool experience could help prepare children for learning in academic, social and emotional spheres of elementary education. In my role as a clinical professor of law and director of the Education and Health Law Clinic at Rutgers Law School, it is not uncommon for me to represent parents of young children who have been suspended or have had a history of being suspended as early as preschool or kindergarten. </p>
<h2>Preschool suspensions and black kids</h2>
<p>For the first time in March 2014, the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Civil Rights (OCR) collected data regarding how early learners are disciplined during the 2011-12 school year. </p>
<p>That report showed that while black children represent 18 percent of preschool enrollment, they accounted for <a href="https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/docs/crdc-early-learning-snapshot.pdf">48 percent of students</a> receiving one or more suspensions. White children, on the other hand, represented over 40 percent of the total enrollment, but a little more than 25 percent of such suspensions. </p>
<p>A suspension involves the removal of a student from school for violations of a school’s code of conduct for one or more days. These violations could vary depending on the state and local school district policies. They could include infractions such as tardiness, dress code violations, failure to follow directions and “willful disobedience.” In public schools, short-term suspensions typically are 10 days or less. More than 10 consecutive days of suspension require greater due process rights. </p>
<p>A March 2016 OCR report shows a continuation of the disturbing trends and disparities of the 2014 report. This time, the OCR provided more data by breaking down preschool suspension rates based upon race and gender. For the 2013-14 year, the report shows that black children attending public preschools were <a href="http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/docs/2013-14-first-look.pdf">3.6 times more likely</a> to receive one or more suspension compared to their white counterparts. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/130462/original/image-20160713-12386-1hvzqb5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/130462/original/image-20160713-12386-1hvzqb5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/130462/original/image-20160713-12386-1hvzqb5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/130462/original/image-20160713-12386-1hvzqb5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/130462/original/image-20160713-12386-1hvzqb5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/130462/original/image-20160713-12386-1hvzqb5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/130462/original/image-20160713-12386-1hvzqb5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Black boys are at a greater risk of suspension.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/acplinfo/7396312596/in/photolist-cgA33Y-cgA7h1-cipoiS-6vM5fk-f8e9nB-eN1j2n-7QWLzR-raNTY-6vRgoq-oNxJ1o-eN1wrM-9a38oy-bWZT2m-5yoAio-KBzdg-7L1q2G-eNcLRJ-6XeHQ2-4JVf3W-pKttXQ-oQ8VcT-bWZNVm-9fTdtp-qaqD7k-6vRgiy-6hxSab-fQqaKQ-9vmeuw-6vRgnA-9i72jF-8fgptC-qhv5S4-9fWAqL-4Yz494-ndMBAs-7R167u-gs8TBn-nUXzPb-fmm54k-dDpj8p-dK6HM5-eg3ZTY-cipqjw-fgLBzC-cgAaZS-55k9rb-cgA9cY-cipd5E-fgLtzm-cgA5zJ">Allen County (IN) Public Library</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>According to the 2016 OCR report, black boys were at greater risk for preschool suspensions. Even though preschool boys represented almost 20 percent of enrolled preschoolers, they represented 45 percent of male students receiving one or more out-of-school suspensions. Even more problematic were the statistics for black girls. Although they represented 20 percent of female preschool enrollment, they accounted for over 50 percent of female students with one or more out of school suspensions. </p>
<p>A national pre-kindergarten study conducted in 2005 identified similar disparities with respect to these vulnerable children. That study, conducted by <a href="http://childstudycenter.yale.edu/faculty_people/walter_gilliam-2.profile">Walter S. Gilliam</a> at Yale University, concluded that preschool children were expelled at a rate of more than three times that of students in K-12. </p>
<p>According to the same report, African-American children attending state-funded preschools [were about twice as likely](http://challengingbehavior.fmhi.usf.edu/explore/policy_docs/prek_expulsion.pdf “) to be expelled as Latino and Caucasian children. </p>
<p>More than 10 years has passed since this study, and the problem still persists.</p>
<h2>Why are kids suspended?</h2>
<p>The root causes of suspensions and expulsions of early learners vary. An overwhelming majority focus on behavior. </p>
<p>Studies have differed on the causes of behaviors that <a href="http://nieer.org/resources/policybriefs/16.pdf">lead to suspension</a> of children. </p>
<p>These vary from lack of prenatal and maternal care, poverty, <a href="http://www.nctsn.org/trauma-types/complex-trauma/effects-of-complex-trauma">exposure to trauma</a> and harsh discipline practices to language disorders and disability-related diagnoses. </p>
<p>Children born into poverty lack exposure to educational experiences that would prepare them to enter a formal school setting. African-Americans and American Indian children are about <a href="http://www.aecf.org/m/resourcedoc/aecf-the2016kidscountdatabook-2016.pdf">three times as likely to live in poverty</a> as their white counterparts. About half had no parent with full-time employment. Latino families also had high rates of poverty, at 32 percent.</p>
<p>Environmental issues such as exposure to <a href="http://www.apa.org/action/resources/research-in-action/lead.aspx">lead and toxins</a> could also play an important role. </p>
<p>Less tolerant and discriminatory treatment based on race could also be a factor. In such instances, black children are <a href="http://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2014/03/black-boys-older.aspx">viewed as more mature</a> and less innocent than their white counterparts. They are removed from school for minor infractions. </p>
<p>Often, these children may suffer from neurological, psychological, learning or medically based disabilities. However, based on my experience, these factors are not always considered or identified in a timely manner. </p>
<h2>School environment through K-12</h2>
<p>Suspensions at the preschool level are the tip of the iceberg. Black and brown students continue to be <a href="https://civilrightsproject.ucla.edu/resources/projects/center-for-civil-rights-remedies/school-to-prison-folder/federal-reports/out-of-school-and-off-track-the-overuse-of-suspensions-in-american-middle-and-high-schools/OutofSchool-OffTrack_UCLA_4-8.pdf">suspended disproportionately</a> at the elementary and secondary levels.</p>
<p>The media is full of examples of black children being suspended, handcuffed or arrested by police at a young age. For instance, a <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2012/04/17/justice/georgia-student-handcuffed/">six-year-old girl in Georgia was handcuffed</a> and taken to the police station for throwing a tantrum and destroying school property. A seven-year-old with Attention Deficit Disorder was <a href="http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/king-7-year-old-black-child-adhd-handcuffed-school-article-1.2422191">handcuffed for acting out</a>, and a six-year-old Florida girl was handcuffed and <a href="http://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local/6-Year-Old-Handcuffed-at-School-84136922.html">sent to a mental institution</a> for hitting the school principal. The manner in which these children were treated is not characteristic of nurturing or caring school environments.</p>
<p>According to OCR’s 2016 report, of the 2.8 million K-12 students receiving one or more suspension, 1.1 million were black; 600,000 were Latino; 660,000 were disabled; and 210,000 were English language learners. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/130472/original/image-20160713-12377-111skah.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/130472/original/image-20160713-12377-111skah.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/130472/original/image-20160713-12377-111skah.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/130472/original/image-20160713-12377-111skah.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/130472/original/image-20160713-12377-111skah.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/130472/original/image-20160713-12377-111skah.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/130472/original/image-20160713-12377-111skah.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The rate of suspension is higher for African American girls as well.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/wwworks/3120816179/in/photolist-5KLZVv-pbHtvN-pbHwym-oUgh6X-oUghni-aTFaar-pbKwqz-8ahuKF-3qN7cJ-7EsSio-bcQ3xV-9chSab-7EsSQL-3qNkKb-fpGqvf-a3jmtp-fpGrv1-c1hJrC-fps9KD-p9Hpx3-6anhTR-7EsSB1-7EsUbu-pbtKEt-pbHvDA-p9HqwC-eTfqX4-avSjih-oUgcT9-oUggEg-fpsc6t-pbtGNM-Ecyjzg-oUgbUq-oUgbdq-a3ndDu-7EsXQS-pbKya6-9Y6YFo-99PyaL-fpscfc-p9Hpb1-eTfqjR-DGXXFU-7EsXdf-7Ep7QM-5AYrYd-g7jWYj-dHGoqx-by56G6">woodleywonderworks</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>School districts have criminalized and dehumanized very vulnerable children for minor school infractions, such as talking back to the teacher or not wearing a school uniform. A blatant example of this draconian behavior occurred in Meridian, Mississippi where small infractions led to the <a href="http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/03/criminal-kids-juvenile-justice-sentencing-reform-incarceration-116065_full.html?print#.V4ZgD2QrJ-U">arrest, confinement and conviction of students</a> in what was characterized by the Department of Justice as a "school-to-prison-pipeline.” Some of these children were as young as 10. </p>
<p>The Meridian School District referred students to the Police Department for small infractions. All students referred were handcuffed, arrested and sent to the County juvenile justice system without consideration of their rights to due process or representation by an attorney at all stages of the process. </p>
<h2>Against the law</h2>
<p><a href="https://www2.ed.gov/policy/gen/guid/school-discipline/policy-statement-ece-expulsions-suspensions.pdf">Federal laws prohibit</a> such discrimination. Special Education laws also <a href="http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED504922.pdf">prohibit school districts</a> from suspending and expelling students with disabilities without providing procedural protections. </p>
<p>In fact, a joint policy letter, issued in 2014 by the the U.S. Departments of Health and Human Services and Education, <a href="https://www2.ed.gov/policy/gen/guid/school-discipline/policy-statement-ece-expulsions-suspensions.pdf">strongly urged</a> early child care providers to establish policies and procedures aimed at eliminating the suspension of preschoolers.</p>
<p>But intentionally or unintentionally, these laws or policies are often overlooked or blatantly ignored. </p>
<p>Some states and local school districts are taking action to address this problem. States such as Arkansas, Colorado, Maryland and Oregon have passed bills focused on <a href="http://kirwaninstitute.osu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/ki-interventions.pdf">improving outcomes</a> and addressing the disproportionate suspension of students of color. </p>
<p>But much more needs to be done to address this issue. Young students are still pushed out and suspended. In fact, by the time some children reach first grade, they may have had several negative school experiences. </p>
<h2>Repairing broken men is harder</h2>
<p>The problem that many schools face is a lack of resources attributable to a lack of funding. Unfortunately, sometimes, students are suspended because schools lack the resources to address their specific and unique needs. </p>
<p>In contrast to the <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=66">decrease in funds in education</a>, the funding for the prison industry has increased geometrically. </p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/130469/original/image-20160713-12358-p3xbz1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/130469/original/image-20160713-12358-p3xbz1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/130469/original/image-20160713-12358-p3xbz1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/130469/original/image-20160713-12358-p3xbz1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/130469/original/image-20160713-12358-p3xbz1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/130469/original/image-20160713-12358-p3xbz1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/130469/original/image-20160713-12358-p3xbz1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Suspended kids have a greater risk of dropping out later.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/thetasha/3635223378/in/photolist-5grNvo-358Jnn-dxe44R-8uTG6Z-g8uA3-5R7TTd-6xetg9-7LpvaT-eFA8QY-9JV3Sr-68BCjF-68FpN5-4SjE5p-atfbt-87iJb-bjpaxM-4SoSm1-a5XM3T-68FAiN-NVQVZ-68FXWQ-atfi2-bsuLj9-8d2NXP-68G3wj-7cFwC-35dgLo-diCmN-6xakCX-51GqtR-9JXSiJ-g8uA4-68Bvn2-8rqp9P-HNUeTr-a61BZL-atffE-5oaUYJ-BGpwZ-Q25Pb-PjhRo-buv3qx-NVhC7-4S6RZg-8EyTKk-7q72n1-bsuLej-4SoSjb-8d67Cs-c4vQdA">tasha little</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Children who are suspended or expelled from school at such an early age have a <a href="https://civilrightsproject.ucla.edu/resources/projects/center-for-civil-rights-remedies/school-to-prison-folder/federal-reports/out-of-school-and-off-track-the-overuse-of-suspensions-in-american-middle-and-high-schools/OutofSchool-OffTrack_UCLA_4-8.pdf">greater risk for dropping out of school</a> and entering the juvenile justice or prison system.</p>
<p>When children are suspended for substantial periods of time, it becomes a <a href="http://www.apa.org/pubs/info/reports/zero-tolerance.pdf">more difficult task</a> to keep up with school work and to catch up once he or she returns to school. There is no positive rationale for the degree to which zero tolerance policies have been used. </p>
<p>For the cost of incarcerating a juvenile in some states, a child could receive a quality private school college education.</p>
<p><a href="http://today.law.harvard.edu/it-is-easier-to-build-strong-children-than-fix-broken-men-at-hls-summit-edelman-says-we-must-move-from-punishment-to-justice-video/">A quote</a> by <a href="http://www.americaslibrary.gov/aa/douglass/aa_douglass_leader_1.html">Frederick Douglass</a>, an abolitionist born into slavery, is still appropriate today. </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men.” </p>
</blockquote>
<p>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/61896/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Esther Canty-Barnes does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Black kids get suspended in preschool for minor offenses. A 2016 report shows 45 percent of preschool boys were suspended, once or more.Esther Canty-Barnes, Clinical Professor of Law and Director of the Education and Health Law Clinic, Rutgers University - NewarkLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/430992015-06-16T10:08:09Z2015-06-16T10:08:09ZWhen researchers ask for data on penalization of black kids, schools resist, cover up<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/85085/original/image-20150615-5846-1oj1oza.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Students of color are more likely to be suspended.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/unirodlibrary/8726689218/in/photolist-ei9yEW-ei3Q8D-ei3P7x-ei9ypW-ei9yvu-fVx6Ld-aUkPAz-i6Ukv8-9DDm9K-aUkPZr-aUkQYP-ei9zwW-ei9zaU-ei9zj3-ei9xMQ-ei3QmD-ei3QdP-ei9ywY-ei3NSP-ei3NMV-ei3R6c-ei9zJA-ei3QBH-ei9yim-ei3QFM-ei3Qop-ei9xXf-ei3R1n-ei3QsH-ei9zWh-ei9ziQ-ei3Pc8-ei9yLy-ei3PXv-ei9zpE-ei3PCk-ei9y69-ei9ypj-ei9yzY-ei9y1u-ei3NVR-ei3Qjz-ei3QvM-ei3QPV-ei3PWK-ei9yB5-ei3P2D-ei3Qzr-ei9z7y-ei3Q9v">Rod Library</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>That students of color bear the <a href="https://theconversation.com/with-harsher-disciplinary-measures-school-systems-fail-black-kids-39906">brunt</a> of the zero tolerance discipline policies in schools has been <a href="https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/docs/crdc-discipline-snapshot.pdf">well-established</a>. What is not so well known is that some school administrations are actually <a href="http://www.tcrecord.org/Content.asp?ContentId=17975">complicit</a> in this act of racial disciplining.</p>
<p>Nationally, students of color are <a href="https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/docs/crdc-discipline-snapshot.pdf">more likely</a> to be suspended than white students. On average, black boys are <a href="http://ocrdata.ed.gov/Downloads/CRDC-School-Discipline-Snapshot.pdf">suspended</a> four times more than white boys. Latino students are also <a href="http://ocrdata.ed.gov/Downloads/CRDC-School-Discipline-Snapshot.pdf">suspended</a> more frequently than white students, and female students of color are also disciplined more frequently than white female students. </p>
<h2>The policy ‘problem’</h2>
<p>But this is not all. A recent <a href="http://www.tcrecord.org/Content.asp?ContentId=17975">study</a> that we conducted over a period of two years in Texas found that schools were in fact negligent when it came to addressing such practices of disciplining. The study covered four school districts in Texas with a population of nearly 200,000 students.</p>
<p>As researchers, we have been studying this issue since 2010. But what prompted this study was the suspension of one of the researcher’s sons from school. The child was given a US$500 court citation. And when we showed up for our court appointment, we saw that all the children were either black or brown. Did it mean that white children never fought in school?</p>
<p>We knew this was part of what is now known as the <a href="https://www.aclu.org/issues/racial-justice/race-and-inequality-education/school-prison-pipeline">school-to-prison pipeline</a> for children of color. It led us to take on a scholar-activist role. </p>
<p>Most schools and districts claim to be following <a href="http://uex.sagepub.com/content/early/2013/03/05/0042085913475635.abstract">“race-neutral” discipline policies</a>. School officials even point to their race-neutral suspension and expulsion policies to show how they are <a href="http://eaq.sagepub.com/content/39/1/68.short">“fair” with students</a> of all race and ethnic subgroups.</p>
<p>However, researchers have found that the problem lies in the application of these policies. </p>
<p>For example, black students are more likely to be suspended for breaking <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19083368">subjective school rules</a> such as a lack of respect for teachers than for objective ones, like having a weapon. Researchers point to <a href="http://link.springer.com/article/10.1023/A:1021320817372#page-1">cultural stereotypes</a> and misunderstandings from a primarily white teaching force as the reasons for the “disciplining gaps.” </p>
<h2>Data on discipline</h2>
<p>Our <a href="http://www.tcrecord.org/Content.asp?ContentId=17975">recent study</a> found that some schools are, in fact, negligent and even defensive when it comes to addressing the problem of school discipline practices and the discipline gap. </p>
<p>The kind of responses we got when we asked for school districts’ discipline data resembled a “corporate cover-up.” </p>
<p>Some school administrators resisted our attempts to provide information under the <a href="http://www.foia.gov/">Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)</a>, and some others released data that were not helpful. For example, in the discipline data submitted by a school district, we were not able to discern the race of the children who had been suspended or expelled from school. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/85087/original/image-20150615-5812-1pf540f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/85087/original/image-20150615-5812-1pf540f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/85087/original/image-20150615-5812-1pf540f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/85087/original/image-20150615-5812-1pf540f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/85087/original/image-20150615-5812-1pf540f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/85087/original/image-20150615-5812-1pf540f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/85087/original/image-20150615-5812-1pf540f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Some schools have been found to be negligent about school disciplining issues.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/cat.mhtml?lang=en&language=en&ref_site=photo&search_source=search_form&version=llv1&anyorall=all&safesearch=1&use_local_boost=1&autocomplete_id=14343824922903054000&search_tracking_id=3QRhFZ-NxCkmZBsSnyJAuQ&searchterm=school%20children%20african%20american%20&show_color_wheel=1&orient=&commercial_ok=&media_type=images&search_cat=&searchtermx=&photographer_name=&people_gender=&people_age=&people_ethnicity=&people_number=&color=&page=1&inline=147613502">Student image via www.shutterstock.com</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It is hard for us to imagine that schools are not keeping track of usable disciplinary data, considering that in recent years, widespread attention has focused on the disciplinary treatment of black boys and other students of color. President Obama has even initiated <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/my-brothers-keeper">My Brother’s Keeper</a>, a national program intended to help black and Latino boys succeed. </p>
<h2>Responses from schools</h2>
<p>Our biggest surprise was finding out that districts perceived our request for data as a threat. We found that school administrations became secretive, defensive and even more protective of the data. It seemed to us that districts were essentially complicit in the process of oppression of youth of color. </p>
<p>Even the districts that provided the data were very defensive when informed of the discipline gaps that occurred in their schools. For example, when presented with data in his district, one data administrator responded, “Well, other districts in Texas are higher than us” and “We are not far off from the state average.” </p>
<p>It was very troubling for us to see schools reacting in this way, especially when lives of youth were at risk. These responses were unacceptable and deflected the district’s responsibility. </p>
<p>In the end, only one school district, out of four, instituted a district-wide program for the principals of their schools to learn more about the racial discipline gaps. It was the only one to take steps on how to begin reducing and eliminating racial discipline gaps at both the school and at the district level. </p>
<p>As we conducted the study, we also realized that there is no national legislation that prompts schools to address disparities in education. While No Child Left Behind (NCLB) and other national legislation have at least attempted to draw attention to <a href="http://www2.ed.gov/nclb/accountability/achieve/edpicks.jhtml">racial disparities</a> in achievement, no legislation exists that actually compels schools to address the problem.</p>
<p>This is unfortunate, given the close connection between the <a href="http://edr.sagepub.com/content/39/1/59.short">academic achievement gap</a> and the discipline gap. </p>
<h2>What must be done?</h2>
<p>It is important that schools make policies and goals for racial and ethnic groups more explicit. For example, a goal for “75% proficiency for students in math” is not as impactful as “75% proficiency for each student subgroup based on their racial, gender or language-based identity.” The reason we say this is: what if the population of a school is 25% Latino and that happens to be the same population of nonproficient math students? </p>
<p>At the policy level, what is needed is intensive training on <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2014/12/08/across-america-whites-are-biased-and-they-dont-even-know-it/">implicit racial bias</a> in most districts. In addition, school districts should be required to report overall suspension rates and discipline gaps within each of their schools. </p>
<p>Furthermore, state or federal policies must begin to regulate both the collection of discipline data and the rate of compliance of schools.</p>
<p>Parents too need to pay more attention. Parents of color and from other subgroups should begin to identify which schools are more likely to suspend students of color.</p>
<p>All this together can be a powerful impetus for districts and schools to attend to this problem. Otherwise, disciplining practices will continue to have devastating consequences for our kids.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/43099/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dr. Muhammad Khalifa works as a private consultant (schoolequityproject.com) and helps districts to close their achievement and discipline gaps, and to establish culturally responsive leadership. He is also a professor of educational administration for Michigan State University, and continuously trains school leaders to become culturally responsive leaders.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Felecia Briscoe does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Students of color are subjected to harsher disciplinary measures. Are schools doing enough to check this practice?Muhammad Khalifa, Assistant Professor of Educational Administration, Michigan State UniversityFelecia Briscoe, Associate Professor of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies, The University of Texas at San AntonioLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/399062015-05-28T10:07:39Z2015-05-28T10:07:39ZWith harsher disciplinary measures, school systems fail black kids<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/83014/original/image-20150526-24751-jfz3vj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Black students are more likely to get suspended for minor violations.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/mcgeorgeblsa/5605655056/in/photolist-9xmrX7-9xisuM-9xirTz-jzzjUF-jzzk4D-jzBsbE-jzABBK-8eb8XF-8eb9gT-8eepkU-8eb8SB-8eepuN-8eb8Jp-8eepKU-8eepd7-8eepzu-8eepDu-p9cFFs-5zGgmE-9q4kzu-9X1aUf-6yfGAt-5w9zeC-jzCpwb-jzAByP-jzzjjn-jzAB1V-jzAAXZ-jzzjFe-jzAAKp-jzCq5f-jzABSz-jzCq2E-jzzjJk-jzAB9a-jzBrx5-jzzknV-jzAAMP-jzCqaW-jzBrVj-jzAC34-jzCqKo-jzCqk5-jzzk1T-jzCpBw-jzzjUk-jzCqeo-jzCpQC-jzCqqA-jzCpB1">McGeorge BLSA</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Although it has been over 60 years since the <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/347/483">Brown v Board of Education</a> decision, black students are still more likely to receive out-of-school suspensions for minor violations of the code of conduct. As a result, they are more likely to <a href="http://csgjusticecenter.org/youth/school-discipline-consensus-report/">drop out of school</a> or enter the juvenile justice system. </p>
<p>Black students constituted 32%-42% of those <a href="http://ocrdata.ed.gov/Downloads/CRDC-School-Discipline-Snapshot.pdf">suspended</a> during the 2011-12 school year, even though they represented 16% of the student population. </p>
<p>As racial tensions resurface in the aftermath of the conflicts and riots in Ferguson and Baltimore, we need to consider whether some of these issues have their origins in the manner in which children of color are treated in our schools. </p>
<p>As a clinical professor of law at the Rutgers University Law School’s Education and Health Law Clinic, I provide legal representation to parents and their children in cases where they are being denied an appropriate education or are suspended from school. </p>
<p>This includes filing legal complaints, attending meetings and assessing the appropriateness of a student’s educational program. At the clinic, my colleagues and I have seen firsthand the disparities in the treatment and resources provided by schools. And often, I have seen that suspension of young black students begins as early as kindergarten. </p>
<h2>Educational inequities for black kids</h2>
<p>Our educational system continues to fail children of color. </p>
<p><a href="http://hepg.org/hep-home/books/racial-inequity-in-special-education">Research shows</a> that black males are disproportionately more likely to be placed in special education and classified as mentally retarded and emotionally disturbed. </p>
<p>They are also <a href="http://hepg.org/hep-home/books/racial-inequity-in-special-education">more likely</a> to be placed in segregated placements, more likely to be educated in poorly performing schools and more likely to be referred to the juvenile justice system for infractions that occur in school. </p>
<p>They are also the least likely to be provided the positive supports and the assistance that they need in order to succeed. </p>
<p>None of this is new.</p>
<p>Children of color have historically been subjected to educational inequities. After the landmark decision of <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/347/483">Brown v Board of Education</a> in 1954, where the Supreme Court held that it was unconstitutional to maintain segregated schools, practices and policies were developed to maintain segregated settings. </p>
<p>States in the South refused to comply with Brown, while other parts of the country developed practices such as IQ testing and tracking students into specific programs that often kept children of color in <a href="http://www.cambridge.org/us/academic/subjects/history/early-republic-and-antebellum-history/jim-crow-moves-north-battle-over-northern-school-segregation-18651954?format=HB">different classes</a> from their white counterparts. </p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.childrensdefense.org/?referrer=https://www.google.com/">Children’s Defense Fund (CDF)</a>, headed by <a href="http://www.childrensdefense.org/about/leadership/marian-wright-edelman/">Marian Wright Edelman</a>, was one of the first organizations to look at the disparities in access to education. In its groundbreaking report in 1975, <a href="http://www.childrensdefense.org/library/archives/digital-library/school-suspensions-are-they-helping-children.html">“School Suspensions: Are They Helping Children?,” </a> the CDF analyzed the reports submitted to the <a href="http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/index.html">Office of Civil Rights</a>.</p>
<p>Although black students accounted for 27.1% of the students enrolled in the school districts reporting to the Office of Civil Rights in the 1972-73 school year, the report found that they made up 42.3% of the racially identified suspensions. </p>
<p>At the high school level, black students were suspended at more than three times the rate of white students: 12.5% versus 4.1%.</p>
<h2>Persistent patterns of suspensions</h2>
<p>These inequities in suspensions and removal from school continue to persist. </p>
<p>In recent times, the term “<a href="https://www.aclu.org/what-school-prison-pipeline">school-to-prison pipeline</a>” is often used to describe systemic practices that ultimately lead students of color into the criminal justice system. These policies often cause the suspension or removal and sometimes the arrest of students from school for nonviolent or minor violations.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/83018/original/image-20150526-24740-lr4zss.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/83018/original/image-20150526-24740-lr4zss.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/83018/original/image-20150526-24740-lr4zss.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/83018/original/image-20150526-24740-lr4zss.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/83018/original/image-20150526-24740-lr4zss.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/83018/original/image-20150526-24740-lr4zss.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/83018/original/image-20150526-24740-lr4zss.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Arrested students fall behind the class, thus perpetuating the cycle of poverty.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/megstewart/4708081840/in/photolist-4NEq3X-4NJBt3-4NJBjW-4NJAX1-4NEpQe-4NEmpZ-4NEnQg-4NJBeY-4NJEbG-4NJB81-4NEmxg-4NEpoH-4NEpDF-4NEp8x-4NEmZr-4NJBWs-4NJAqj-4NJE8U-8aYW2e-kLQEU-kLQDb-bpZbAb-4fgeGF-kLQHz-8b39GQ-8b37zS-9zg5L1-CWpuh-9AupEb-2BYecv-8DMEuR-F9aAy-4mxUwa-9AQLZQ-3dKGdW-wWy8-kLPMZ-wWEz-8BMPvR-kLQDV-kLPdD-6ueSc2-Kgsj2-7Zn5HM-92Hgey-92HfLQ-92EeJp-92HgbL-92E8UB-92Hg8J">Meg Stewart</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
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<p>The <a href="http://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED541735">vast majority</a> of suspensions are not for serious or violent offenses. Most are for minor infractions such as tardiness, dress code violations or disruptive behavior. </p>
<h2>Why suspension matters</h2>
<p>Students who are suspended for substantial periods <a href="https://www.aclu.org/files/assets/aclu_statement_for_sjc_subcomm_hearing_on_the_school_to_prison_pipeline_12_2012.pdf">lose valuable instruction</a> time and fall behind in school. </p>
<p>The unfairness of these practices increases gaps in learning and eventually makes it difficult for black kids to keep up in school. <a href="http://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED541735">Researchers</a> have found that the use of harsh punishment for minor offenses has a negative impact on children, including increasing the chances of dropping out of school. </p>
<p>The US Department of Education Office of Civil Rights in its 2014 <a href="http://ocrdata.ed.gov/Downloads/CRDC-School-Discipline-Snapshot.pdf">Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC)</a> on discipline provides a stark example of how the educational system continues to fail children of color. </p>
<p>For the 2011-12 school year, for out-of-school suspensions by race/ethnicity and gender, black students on average were suspended or expelled at a rate three times greater than white students. </p>
<p>At the preschool level, although black children represented 18% of enrolled students, they represented 48% of the students suspended more than once. </p>
<p>Although black students represented 16% of the student population, they <a href="http://ocrdata.ed.gov/Downloads/CRDC-School-Discipline-Snapshot.pdf">accounted</a> for 27% of the students who were referred to law enforcement and 31% of the students who were arrested. </p>
<h2>Prejudices against students with disabilities</h2>
<p>Students of color with disabilities are also <a href="http://ocrdata.ed.gov/Downloads/CRDC-School-Discipline-Snapshot.pdf">disproportionately suspended</a> from school compared to their white counterparts. They are twice as likely to be suspended than their non-disabled peers. And they are referred to law enforcement at greater rates. </p>
<p>Although students in special education represent 12% of enrollment, they <a href="http://ocrdata.ed.gov/Downloads/CRDC-School-Discipline-Snapshot.pdf">constitute</a> one-quarter of students arrested and charged with juvenile offenses.</p>
<p>The <a href="http://idea.ed.gov/explore/view/p/%2Croot%2Cstatute%2C">Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)</a> outlines specific protections for parents and their disabled children and requires that school districts provide an appropriate education and services such as counseling, social skills and other supports to meet their unique needs. However, the needs of these children are often not met. </p>
<p>Moreover, there are many protections that apply before a disabled student could be considered for suspension or removal for substantial periods of time. Often, these protections are ignored, and the services that should be provided are not. </p>
<h2>Change is needed</h2>
<p>Suspension of students for minor infractions is certainly not the solution. We don’t have to look far to see the consequences of policies that take students out of school and place them in vulnerable, nonproductive settings. </p>
<p>The cost - a life of poverty or incarceration – further continues to perpetuate a cycle of failure. </p>
<p>Myriad systems have worked against poor children of color to deprive them of the educational opportunities that their white counterparts have taken for granted. Poverty, violence, inadequate housing and other systemic inequities place these children in a pipeline for failure. Most of us would not be able to endure the burden, if placed in their small shoes. </p>
<p>A great deal of change is needed to combat these pervasive educational inequities. The US Departments Of Education and Justice have begun to take some important steps by issuing <a href="http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/letters/colleague-201401-title-vi.html">guidelines</a> to school districts to reduce the numbers of students who are being removed or suspended from school and encouraging schools to find alternatives to suspensions. </p>
<p>These are important steps, but much work remains to be done.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/39906/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Esther Canty-Barnes does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Black students get suspended or expelled at a rate three times greater than white students. The cost: they fall behind in school, and the cycle of poverty and failure is perpetuated.Esther Canty-Barnes, Clinical Professor of Law and Director of the Education and Health Law Clinic, Rutgers UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.