tag:theconversation.com,2011:/us/topics/school-discipline-9197/articlesSchool discipline – The Conversation2024-03-11T12:23:33Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2243132024-03-11T12:23:33Z2024-03-11T12:23:33ZIs the National Guard a solution to school violence?<p>Every now and then, an elected official will suggest bringing in the National Guard to deal with violence that seems out of control.</p>
<p>A city council member in Washington suggested doing so in 2023 to <a href="https://www.fox5dc.com/news/dc-council-member-calls-for-national-guards-help-as-city-grapples-with-escalating-violence">combat the city’s rising violence</a>. So did a Pennsylvania representative concerned about <a href="https://www.pahouse.com/RepAmen/InTheNews/NewsRelease/?id=126748">violence in Philadelphia in 2022</a>.</p>
<p>In February 2024, officials in Massachusetts <a href="https://www.bostonglobe.com/2024/02/20/metro/brockton-school-national-guard/">requested the National Guard</a> be deployed to a more unexpected location – <a href="https://htv-prod-media.s3.amazonaws.com/files/national-guard-final-ltr2024-version-6-1-1-240218-194343-65d2a61e2c19f.pdf">to a high school</a>.</p>
<p>Brockton High School has been struggling with <a href="https://www.bostonglobe.com/2024/02/19/metro/brockton-city-councilors-request-national-guard-aid-deal-with-violence-high-school/">student fights, drug use and disrespect toward staff</a>. One school staffer said she was <a href="https://www.boston.com/news/local-news/2024/02/22/scrambling-leadership-safety-concerns-and-a-looming-deficit-what-is-going-on-with-brockton-schools/">trampled by a crowd</a> rushing to see a fight. Many teachers <a href="https://www.bostonherald.com/2024/02/22/brockton-high-school-national-guard-request-in-national-limelight-shocking-levels-of-chaos/">call in sick to work each day</a>, leaving the school understaffed. </p>
<p>As a <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=MTcxlxMAAAAJ&hl=en">researcher who studies school discipline</a>, I know Brockton’s situation is part of a <a href="https://theconversation.com/educators-say-student-misconduct-has-increased-but-progressive-reforms-or-harsher-punishments-alone-wont-fix-the-problem-204666">national trend of principals and teachers</a> who have been struggling to deal with perceived <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/whatsnew/press_releases/07_06_2022.asp">increases</a> in <a href="https://www.edweek.org/leadership/threats-of-student-violence-and-misbehavior-are-rising-many-school-leaders-report/2022/01">student misbehavior</a> since the pandemic. </p>
<p>A review of how the National Guard has been deployed to schools in the past shows the guard can provide service to schools in cases of exceptional need. Yet, doing so does not always end well.</p>
<h2>How have schools used the National Guard before?</h2>
<p>In 1957, the National Guard <a href="https://nmaahc.si.edu/explore/stories/little-rock-nine#:%7E:text=On%20September%204%2C%20just%2024,ordered%20the%20National%20Guard%20removed.">blocked nine Black students’ attempts to desegregate Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas</a>. While the governor claimed this was for safety, the National Guard effectively delayed desegregation of the school – as did the mobs of white individuals outside. Ironically, weeks later, the National Guard and the U.S. Army would enforce integration and the safety of the “Little Rock Nine” on <a href="https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/little-rock-school-desegregation">orders from President Dwight Eisenhower</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Soldiers with bayonets prod white men from a mob to leave the area." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/579072/original/file-20240301-30-49isva.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/579072/original/file-20240301-30-49isva.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=476&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/579072/original/file-20240301-30-49isva.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=476&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/579072/original/file-20240301-30-49isva.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=476&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/579072/original/file-20240301-30-49isva.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=598&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/579072/original/file-20240301-30-49isva.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=598&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/579072/original/file-20240301-30-49isva.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=598&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">Three men from the mob around Little Rock’s Central High School are driven from the area at bayonet-point by soldiers of the 101st Airborne Division on Sept. 25, 1957. The presence of the troops permitted the nine Black students to enter the school with only minor background incidents.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/three-men-from-the-mob-around-little-rocks-central-high-news-photo/514880574?adppopup=true">Bettmann via Getty Images</a></span>
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</figure>
<p>One of the most tragic cases of the National Guard in an educational setting came in 1970 at Kent State University. The <a href="https://www.kent.edu/may-4-historical-accuracy">National Guard was brought to campus</a> to respond to protests over American involvement in the Vietnam War. The guardsmen fatally shot four students. </p>
<p>In 2012, then-Sen. Barbara Boxer, a Democrat from California, <a href="https://theworld.org/stories/2012-12-19/sandy-hook-shooting-sen-boxer-proposes-using-national-guard-school-security">proposed funding</a> to use the National Guard to provide school security in the wake of the Sandy Hook school shooting. The bill <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/112th-congress/senate-bill/3692?s=1&r=22">was not passed</a>.</p>
<p>More recently, the National Guard <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/states-call-in-the-national-guard-to-mitigate-school-staffing-shortages#:%7E:text=For%20two%20years%2C%20the%20pandemic,to%20fill%20in%20the%20gaps.">filled teacher shortages</a> in New Mexico’s K-12 schools during the quarantines and sickness of the pandemic. While the idea did not catch on nationally, teachers and school personnel in New Mexico generally reported <a href="https://www.the74million.org/article/fulfilling-the-mission-more-than-70-new-mexico-national-guard-members-step-in-as-substitute-teachers-to-keep-schools-open/">positive experiences</a>. </p>
<h2>Can the National Guard address school discipline?</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://nationalguard.com/guard-history">National Guard’s mission</a> includes responding to domestic emergencies. Members of the guard are part-time service members who maintain civilian lives. Some are students themselves in colleges and universities. Does this mission and training position the National Guard to respond to incidents of student misbehavior and school violence? </p>
<p>On the one hand, New Mexico’s pandemic experience shows the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/20/us/politics/substitute-teachers-national-guard-new-mexico.html">National Guard could be a stopgap to staffing shortages in unusual circumstances</a>. Similarly, the guards’ eventual role in ensuring student safety <a href="https://nmaahc.si.edu/explore/stories/little-rock-nine#:%7E:text=On%20September%204%2C%20just%2024,ordered%20the%20National%20Guard%20removed.">during school desegregation</a> in Arkansas demonstrates their potential to address exceptional cases in schools, such as racially motivated mob violence. And, of course, many schools have had military personnel teaching and mentoring through <a href="https://www.usarmyjrotc.com/">Junior ROTC programs</a> for years. </p>
<p>Those seeking to bring the National Guard to Brockton High School <a href="https://www.bostonglobe.com/2024/02/19/metro/brockton-city-councilors-request-national-guard-aid-deal-with-violence-high-school/">have made similar arguments</a>. They note that staffing shortages have contributed to behavior problems.</p>
<p>One school <a href="https://www.wcvb.com/article/call-for-national-guard-help-brockton-high-school-security/46855550">board member stated</a>: “I know that the first thought that comes to mind when you hear ‘National Guard’ is uniform and arms, and that’s not the case. They’re people like us. They’re educated. They’re trained, and we just need their assistance right now. … We need more staff to support our staff and help the students learn (and) have a safe environment.”</p>
<p>Yet, there are reasons to question whether calls for the National Guard are the best way to address school misconduct and behavior. First, the National Guard is a temporary measure that does little to address the <a href="https://www.ojp.gov/pdffiles1/nij/302346.pdf">underlying causes of student misbehavior and school violence</a>. </p>
<p>Research has shown that students <a href="https://doi.org/10.3102/01623737026003237">benefit from effective teaching</a>, meaningful and sustained <a href="https://www.nasbe.org/why-school-climate-matters-and-what-can-be-done-to-improve-it/#:%7E:text=A%20positive%20school%20climate%E2%80%94where,of%20poverty%20on%20academic%20achievement.">relationships with school personnel</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/2372966X.2021.1926321">positive school environments</a>. Such educative and supportive environments have been <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/2372966X.2021.1926321">linked to safer schools</a>. National Guard members are not trained as educators or counselors and, as a temporary measure, would not remain in the school to establish durable relationships with students. </p>
<p>What is more, a military presence – particularly if uniformed or armed – may make students feel less welcome at school or escalate situations. </p>
<p>Schools have already seen an increase in militarization. For example, school police departments have gone so far as to acquire <a href="https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-schools-weapons-20140917-story.html">grenade launchers and mine-resistant armored vehicles</a>.</p>
<p>Research has found that school police make students more likely to <a href="https://www.ojp.gov/pdffiles1/nij/302346.pdf">be suspended</a> and to be <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/pam.21954">arrested</a>. Similarly, while a National Guard presence may address misbehavior temporarily, their presence could similarly result in students experiencing punitive or exclusionary responses to behavior. </p>
<h2>Students deserve a solution other than the guard</h2>
<p>School violence and disruptions are serious problems <a href="https://fordhaminstitute.org/national/commentary/when-students-feel-unsafe-absenteeism-grows">that can harm students</a>. Unfortunately, schools and educators have increasingly <a href="https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520284203/the-real-school-safety-problem#:%7E:text=About%20the%20Book,-Schools%20across%20the&text=Evidence%20shows%20that%20current%20school,arrests%2C%20incarceration%2C%20and%20unemployment.">viewed student misbehavior as a problem</a> to be dealt with through suspensions and police involvement. </p>
<p>A number of people – from the NAACP to the local mayor and other members of the school board – <a href="https://www.bostonglobe.com/2024/02/20/metro/brockton-school-national-guard/">have criticized</a> Brockton’s request for the National Guard. Governor Maura Healey has said she will <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/boston/news/national-guard-brockton-high-school-security-maura-healey/">not deploy the guard</a> to the school. </p>
<p>However, the case of Brockton High School points to real needs. Educators there, like in other schools nationally, are <a href="https://www.masslive.com/news/2024/02/heres-what-brockton-high-school-educators-say-they-have-been-dealing-with.html">facing a tough situation and perceive a lack of support</a> and resources.</p>
<p>Many schools need more teachers and staff. Students need access to mentors and counselors. With these resources, schools can better ensure educators are able to do their jobs without military intervention.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/224313/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>F. Chris Curran has received funding from the US Department of Justice, the Bureau of Justice Assistance, and the American Civil Liberties Union for work on school safety and discipline.</span></em></p>School board members in one Massachusetts district have called for the National Guard to address student misbehavior. Does their request have merit? A school discipline expert weighs in.F. Chris Curran, Associate Professor of Educational Leadership and Policy, University of FloridaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2223182024-02-15T20:17:51Z2024-02-15T20:17:51ZTrauma-informed approaches to discipline matter for equitable and safe schooling<p>Schools across North America are increasingly implementing policies and practices to reduce suspensions and expulsions. </p>
<p>Yet the disproportionate application of school discipline for <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-adversity-impacts-the-disproportionate-suspensions-of-black-and-indigenous-students-177676">Black and Indigenous students</a> remains a significant concern. </p>
<p>Trauma and adversity <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2017.06.021">can have a significant and negative impact on student outcomes</a>. Due to systemic inequity, trauma and adversity also <a href="http://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0749379715003190">disproportionately affects</a> Black and Indigenous students.</p>
<p>We wanted to understand what is already known about the contribution, role or prevalence of trauma and early childhood adversity for students who are disciplined at school. We found there is very little <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2017.06.021">research on the relationship between childhood adversities and school discipline</a>. </p>
<p>Without research on students’ experiences of adversity in school discipline, it is difficult for educators to recognize, understand and support students who are coping with adversity. Additional research — particularly from Canada — would provide schools with the knowledge necessary for evidence-based, trauma-informed and culturally attuned approaches to school discipline.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Students seen on a landing overlooking a foyer." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/575100/original/file-20240212-28-tilkmf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/575100/original/file-20240212-28-tilkmf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575100/original/file-20240212-28-tilkmf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575100/original/file-20240212-28-tilkmf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575100/original/file-20240212-28-tilkmf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575100/original/file-20240212-28-tilkmf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575100/original/file-20240212-28-tilkmf.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">Educators need to understand how to support students coping with adversity.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Pexels/Norma Mortenson)</span></span>
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</figure>
<h2>Lack of attention to adversity, trauma</h2>
<p>Trauma is the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0044118X231226396">negative impact that can happen when exposed to adversity, while adversity is a potentially traumatizing event or the absence of healthy stimulus</a>. While trauma and adversity are related, adversity does not always lead to trauma. </p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/S0749-3797(98)00017-8">Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) have been associated</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2020.104641">with negative health outcomes, even early death</a>. There have been calls to expand our understanding of <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26296440">adversity</a> to include <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/trm0000425">school and community violence, racism and poverty</a>, noting the disproportionate impact of these. </p>
<p>Our research suggests that <a href="https://doi.org/10.3102/00346543231203674">disproportionate exposure to adversity may contribute to students experiencing school discipline</a>. However, how exactly this happens is not clear. </p>
<h2>Disproportion in school discipline</h2>
<p>Research shows that school discipline is disproportionately applied to students <a href="https://edu.yorku.ca/files/2017/04/Towards-Race-Equity-in-Education-April-2017.pdf">who are Black, Indigenous</a>, <a href="https://www.tdsb.on.ca/Portals/0/docs/Caring%20and%20Safe%20Schools%20Report%202017-18%2C%20TDSB%2C%20Final_April%202019.pdf">male</a>, have <a href="https://www.ontario.ca/page/school-suspensions-and-expulsions#section-10">identified special education needs</a> or live <a href="https://www.tcpress.com/closing-the-school-discipline-gap-9780807756133">in lower-resourced areas</a>. These students are more likely to be suspended, suspended for longer or expelled.</p>
<p>Considerable research about the <a href="https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/docs/crdc-exclusionary-school-discipline.pdf">disproportionate use of discipline</a> <a href="https://theconversation.com/black-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-188139">affecting Black</a> communities exists from the United States, with less attention to Indigenous communities.</p>
<p>There is very little Canadian research in this area, and yet existing research suggests the rate of disproportion to be on par with the U.S. </p>
<p>The 2017 report <em>Towards Race Equity In Education: The Schooling of Black Students in the Greater Toronto Area</em> documented <a href="https://edu.yorku.ca/files/2017/04/Towards-Race-Equity-in-Education-April-2017.pdf">discipline disparities affecting Black and Indigenous youth</a>. Researchers in other regions have documented <a href="https://theconversation.com/racism-contributes-to-poor-attendance-of-indigenous-students-in-alberta-schools-new-study-141922">how racism against Indigenous</a> <a href="https://theconversation.com/for-a-fairer-education-system-get-the-police-out-of-schools-141552">and Black students</a> affects students’ school engagement or attendance. </p>
<h2>Discipline affects opportunities</h2>
<p>This disproportion is <a href="https://doi.org/10.17105/spr-14-0008.1">one of the factors contributing to a</a> <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2016-49290-001">documented gap in educational achievement</a> and an over-representation of Black and Indigenous people within the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.avb.2018.04.002">criminal justice system</a>. </p>
<p>Time away <a href="https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED515443">from school</a> through out-of-school discipline is a barrier to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/socpro/spv026">academic success</a>. This <a href="https://www.gse.harvard.edu/ideas/usable-knowledge/19/09/school-discipline-linked-later-consequences">affects opportunities</a> for post-secondary education and ultimately <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/a0027184">who has access to power, money and resources</a>. Therefore, there are grave implications of disproportionate discipline.</p>
<h2>Research on adversity or trauma and discipline</h2>
<p>In our article “<a href="https://doi.org/10.3102/00346543231203674">Exposure to Adversity and Trauma Among Students Who Experience School Discipline: A Scoping Review</a>” we detail how we searched for and analyzed articles about school discipline and trauma or adversity. We found only 49 peer-reviewed articles that met our inclusion criteria. </p>
<p>Of these 49 articles, 14 detailed original research on the relationship between adversity and school discipline. This research showed experiences of adversity or trauma play a significant and potentially contributing role in school discipline, including suspension and expulsion. </p>
<p>However, 14 studies is insufficient. It is even more concerning <a href="https://doi.org/10.3102/00346543231203674">that there was only one article from Canada and few others from outside of the U.S.</a></p>
<h2>Canadian research matters</h2>
<p>Context matters when studying school discipline. In Ontario, <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/ontario-agrees-to-end-zero-tolerance-school-policy-1.671464">Zero-Tolerance legislation was</a> removed <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0895904812453994">in 2008</a>. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.ontario.ca/laws/statute/s06028">This followed the province’s 2006 legislation that students remain in school to age 18</a>. Related policies include “restorative practices” (emphasizing accountability for actions <a href="https://www.future-ed.org/restorative-practices-for-school-discipline-explained/">in a context of sustaining and repairing interpersonal and community relationships</a>) and <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14623730.2015.1088681">school-based mental health</a>.</p>
<p>In Ontario, <a href="https://www.ontario.ca/page/school-suspensions-and-expulsions">the rate of suspension decreased</a> from <a href="https://data.ontario.ca/dataset/suspension-rates-by-school-board">4.32 per cent of students in 2007/08 to 2.23 per cent in 2022. Expulsion decreased from 0.05 per cent, to 0.01 per cent</a>. The five-year graduation rate increased from 68 per cent to <a href="https://www.app.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/bpr/allBoards.asp?chosenIndicator=11">89.1 per cent in 2022</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="An adult seen behind children at computers." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/575409/original/file-20240213-22-j7ta76.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/575409/original/file-20240213-22-j7ta76.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575409/original/file-20240213-22-j7ta76.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575409/original/file-20240213-22-j7ta76.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575409/original/file-20240213-22-j7ta76.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575409/original/file-20240213-22-j7ta76.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575409/original/file-20240213-22-j7ta76.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">Sustaining interpersonal and community relationships matters for students.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
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</figure>
<h2>‘Safe and Caring Schools’</h2>
<p>In contrast, the suspension rate in the U.S. <a href="https://doi.org/10.54300/235.277">was five per cent in 2017-18</a>. Zero-Tolerance policies are still active across many U.S. school districts. </p>
<p>Ontario students on long-term suspension or expulsion are now offered <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s12310-021-09481-3">programs run through “Safe and Caring Schools” in every school board</a>. </p>
<p>While not explicitly trauma-informed, these programs provide significant support, including dedicated child and youth workers and social workers and a high staff-to-student ratio. These supports enable <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0044118X231226396">connection with students and a different approach with students who appear to be coping with trauma</a>. </p>
<h2>Expulsions still disproportionate</h2>
<p>Yet the 2017 report, <em>Towards Race Equity In Education</em>, found Black students were <a href="https://edu.yorku.ca/files/2017/04/Towards-Race-Equity-in-Education-April-2017.pdf">expelled at four times their representation and Indigenous students at over three times</a>. </p>
<p>To understand this disproportion and to develop effective policy and practice it is critical for educators in Canada to have more contextual knowledge. </p>
<p>People respond to situations <a href="https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/constructing-grounded-theory/book235960">based on how they understand them</a>. Educators who have not <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/08862605211056724">experienced or been educated about adversity may not account for or recognize students who are coping with adversity</a>. </p>
<p>When discipline is <a href="https://doi.org/10.3390/soc9010003">the response to trauma, it is likely to increase a student’s stress and anxiety and alienate them from necessary resources</a>.</p>
<p>This is particularly concerning in a social context of historical and ongoing systemic racism negatively impacting Black and Indigenous students <a href="https://theconversation.com/egerton-ryerson-racist-philosophy-of-residential-schools-also-shaped-public-education-143039">that was maintained through both anti-Black public schooling models and residential schools</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A student seen on a swing." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/575099/original/file-20240212-18-l41gm2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/575099/original/file-20240212-18-l41gm2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575099/original/file-20240212-18-l41gm2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575099/original/file-20240212-18-l41gm2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575099/original/file-20240212-18-l41gm2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575099/original/file-20240212-18-l41gm2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575099/original/file-20240212-18-l41gm2.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">When discipline responds to trauma, it is likely to alienate students from necessary resources.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
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</figure>
<h2>Acknowledging adversity</h2>
<p>Expanded adversities were less often included in papers that detailed <a href="https://doi.org/10.3102/00346543231203674">original research and only seven papers overall included indicators of racism, discrimination and structural inequity</a>. </p>
<p>This is noteworthy given research identifying the disproportionate application of school discipline <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/fcre.12384;%20https://doi.org/10.1177/0013124516644053">among non-white students, and the school-to-prison pipeline</a>.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/ontario-can-close-students-access-and-opportunity-gaps-with-community-led-projects-184301">Ontario can close students’ access and opportunity gaps with community-led projects</a>
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<p>When researchers don’t identify expanded forms of adversity <a href="https://brill.com/view/book/edcoll/9789463005852/BP000004.xml">like racism and poverty</a>, they are less likely to be recognized.</p>
<p>It is important that researchers <a href="https://theconversation.com/if-i-could-change-one-thing-in-education-community-school-partnerships-would-be-top-priority-188189">collaborating with educators and communities</a> generate Canadian-based knowledge to guide policy and practice.</p>
<p>We hope to foster acknowledgement of hidden and unaddressed trauma among students being disproportionally disciplined. We hope this can lead to a greater understanding of student lives — and evidence-based, trauma-informed and culturally attuned discipline.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/222318/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors 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>Additional research and attention is needed — particularly in Canada — to provide schools with evidence-based, trauma-informed and culturally attuned approaches to school discipline.Jane E. Sanders, Assistant Professor, School of Social Work, King's University College, Western UniversityAndrea Joseph-McCatty, Assistant Professor of Social Work, University of TennesseeMichael Massey, Assistant Professor, National Catholic School of Social Service, Catholic University of AmericaLicensed 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/2046662023-09-21T12:43:05Z2023-09-21T12:43:05ZEducators say student misconduct has increased − but progressive reforms or harsher punishments alone won’t fix the problem<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/547844/original/file-20230912-17-y3ixy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Only 13% of principals believe suspensions reduce misbehavior, according to a national survey.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/schoolboy-sitting-on-chair-in-corridor-side-view-royalty-free-image/200411974-001">Ableimages/DigitalVision Collection/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The 2022-23 school year was a <a href="https://ies.ed.gov/schoolsurvey/spp/">particularly violent year for educators</a>.</p>
<p>In Florida, a high school student <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2023/02/28/florida-high-school-nintendo-switch-attack/11363828002/">beat a paraprofessional unconscious</a>. A 15-year-old in Georgia <a href="https://www.fox5atlanta.com/news/teen-girl-sentenced-one-year-behind-bars-brutal-attack-teacher">left her teacher with difficulty walking</a>. And a group of students in Texas <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/us/high-schoolers-allegedly-gang-assistant-principal-pummel-her-hard-rushed-hospital">sent their assistant principal to the hospital</a> after an assault.</p>
<p>Recent <a href="https://www.wptv.com/news/state/broward/14-year-old-student-accused-of-cutting-teacher-with-scissors-in-violent-attack-at-bright-horizons-center">headlines</a> suggest the 2023-24 school year may not be much different.</p>
<p>Such violence at school <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/2332858416653921">disrupts teaching and learning</a> and has elicited <a href="https://www.chalkbeat.org/2023/3/28/23658974/school-discipline-violence-safety-state-law-suspensions-restorative-justice">calls to reform school discipline policies</a>. </p>
<p>As a <a href="https://education.ufl.edu/faculty/curran-f-chris/">policy researcher</a> who <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=MTcxlxMAAAAJ&hl=en">studies school safety and discipline</a>, I have seen two camps form <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/articles/the-biden-administrations-updated-school-discipline-guidelines-fail-to-meet-the-moment/">with polarized and politicized views on school discipline</a>. On the one side are those who seek more restorative responses to misconduct that emphasize building relationships with students and discipline policies that keep kids in school. On the other are calls for greater use of exclusionary and punitive practices like suspension. </p>
<p>In my view, making schools safe requires school leaders not to get caught up in this either/or debate. Instead, I believe it requires recognizing a shared goal of safe schools and the need for a comprehensive approach to achieving it.</p>
<h2>Behavior and the pandemic</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.chalkbeat.org/2022/7/6/23197094/student-fights-classroom-disruptions-suspensions-discipline-pandemic">Recent reports</a> suggest these high-profile incidents of violence in schools are part of a <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/whatsnew/press_releases/07_06_2022.asp">general increase in student misconduct</a> over the past couple of years. This contrasts with a decline over the prior decades. </p>
<p>For example, the National Center for Education Statistics found that <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/whatsnew/press_releases/07_06_2022.asp">84% of public school leaders felt</a> the pandemic negatively affected student behavior. Another survey found <a href="https://www.edweek.org/leadership/threats-of-student-violence-and-misbehavior-are-rising-many-school-leaders-report/2022/01">two out of three teachers and leaders perceived more student misbehavior</a> in 2021 than in 2019. </p>
<p>Studies have shown that <a href="https://fordhaminstitute.org/national/commentary/when-students-feel-unsafe-absenteeism-grows">students who feel unsafe going to school have worse attendance rates</a> than those attending schools with less violence and misbehavior. They also score <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0829573514540415">lower on standardized tests</a>, particularly when <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/2332858416653921">classroom instruction is disrupted</a>. </p>
<p>What’s more, teachers who experience threats or physical violence from students <a href="https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1197327">are more likely to leave their positions</a>, according to a study I co-authored in 2017. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/549382/original/file-20230920-17-9aqn77.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Young person at rally holds sign that says 'End the school to prison and deportatation pipeline'" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/549382/original/file-20230920-17-9aqn77.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/549382/original/file-20230920-17-9aqn77.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549382/original/file-20230920-17-9aqn77.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549382/original/file-20230920-17-9aqn77.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549382/original/file-20230920-17-9aqn77.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549382/original/file-20230920-17-9aqn77.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549382/original/file-20230920-17-9aqn77.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">Students in New York City attend a rally to end school discipline practices that they say disproportionately affect students of color.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/students-gather-for-a-rally-calling-on-the-passage-of-the-news-photo/1372383627">Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Restorative justice experiences backlash</h2>
<p>Over the past couple of decades, <a href="https://www.educationnext.org/what-do-we-know-about-school-discipline-reform-suspensions-expulsions/">states and school districts nationwide</a> have adopted school discipline reforms that prioritize relationships between peers and with teachers, positive incentives for good behavior and prevention of misconduct.</p>
<p>These policies, often implemented as part of <a href="https://www.edutopia.org/article/what-heck-restorative-justice-heather-wolpert-gawron/">restorative justice initiatives</a>, focus on building community and a positive school climate instead of removing kids from school.</p>
<p>But as school violence persists, these restorative justice reforms are being called into question.</p>
<p>In Nevada, teachers union representatives from the Clark County Education Association <a href="https://thenevadaindependent.com/article/finger-pointing-over-school-violence-targets-restorative-justice-law">sought to revise laws</a> to immediately remove students for violence against school staff. The state legislature there <a href="https://lasvegassun.com/news/2023/jun/25/legislative-changes-in-nevada-education-include-ne/">passed legislation</a> scaling back restorative justice and making it easier to suspend students. In San Diego, the <a href="https://www.cbs8.com/article/news/local/san-diego-unified-looking-into-districts-discipline-policy/509-ec0b95c6-1290-4c3b-937d-938d1a42d4eb">superintendent promised</a> to revisit restorative discipline policies after parent complaints about student safety. Policy advocates have claimed discipline reform has <a href="https://www.manhattan-institute.org/school-safety-commisson-report-discipline-policy">contributed to school shootings</a>.</p>
<p>While restorative practices and other positive interventions <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/1/96">can improve student outcomes</a>, prior research has found many of these less punitive disciplinary reforms to be <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/0161956X.2018.1435052">poorly implemented</a> or <a href="https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RR2840.html">less effective than hoped</a>. </p>
<p>In some cases, this has meant <a href="https://www.detroitnews.com/story/opinion/2019/09/12/opinion-your-schools-leaders-putting-your-children-greater-risk/2267284001/">students have been allowed to stay in school</a> despite posing a threat to the safety of others. </p>
<h2>Suspensions and expulsions aren’t the solution</h2>
<p>The limitations of restorative practices have resulted in calls for a return to greater use of suspensions and other punitive discipline. In one of the most high-profile displays, a Florida sheriff <a href="https://www.wfla.com/news/education/brevard-county-school-discipline-reportedly-out-of-control-officials-say-staff-under-attack/">announced in front of a jail</a> plans for a return to more punitive discipline, suggesting a need for more use of detentions and suspensions. He lamented that students were no longer afraid of suspensions or having “the cheeks of their a– torn off for not doing right in class.” </p>
<p>In some cases, removing students who are disruptive to the classroom has <a href="https://direct.mit.edu/edfp/article/16/3/443/97124/Peer-Disruption-and-Learning-Links-between">had positive effects on other students’ achievement</a>. But exclusionary school discipline like suspension and expulsion can have their own <a href="https://doi.org/10.3102/0034654318791582">unintended consequences</a> on students. For example, suspensions are <a href="https://edsource.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Noltemeyer_Ward_2015_Meta-Analysis.pdf">related to lower academic test scores for those suspended</a> as well as <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-021-01459-3">increased delinquency</a>, such as <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/07418825.2016.1168475">criminal activity and arrest</a>. </p>
<p>Additionally, schools suspend a disproportionately high number of kids <a href="https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-51257-4_2">who aren’t white – particularly Black students</a>. In addition, males and students with disabilities are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-51257-4_2">more likely to be suspended</a>.</p>
<p>Ultimately, there is little evidence that suspensions and expulsions improve behavior. In fact, a <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/blog/brown-center-chalkboard/2023/02/23/survey-what-purpose-do-suspensions-serve-principals-dont-seem-quite-sure/">recent national survey</a> found that only 13% of principals agreed that suspensions reduce future misbehavior.</p>
<h2>A path forward</h2>
<p>Proponents of progressive discipline reform and those advocating for “get-tough,” exclusionary policies share a desire for safe schools. The sheriff speaking in front of the jail as well as his critics both want to prevent kids from ending up incarcerated. </p>
<p>How do policymakers and educators see past these divides to achieve safer schools?</p>
<p>First, it may help to acknowledge that <a href="https://www.law.umaryland.edu/media/SOL/pdfs/Programs/ADR/Handout2-9-25-17.pdf">effective school discipline policies</a> can include both restorative and exclusionary practices. It is true that there is a need to reduce the disproportionate use of suspension for minor offenses. But it is also true that students who pose an immediate danger to others may need to be temporarily removed to settings where they can receive additional support.</p>
<p>Next, schools can focus on strengthening their school climate through excellent instruction and <a href="https://hechingerreport.org/preventing-suspensions-tackle-discipline-problems-with-empathy-first/">positive relationships between students and teachers</a>. Welcoming schools where students are engaged in learning <a href="https://doi.org/10.3102/0091732X17690499">may preempt many behavioral situations</a>.</p>
<p>Finally, policymakers can recognize that school safety is affected by the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0743558499143003">experiences of students outside of school</a>. Addressing the trauma, violence and social disruptions experienced in homes and neighborhoods through broader public policy holds potential to improve safety inside schools. </p>
<p>All of this takes resources and support for schools, educators and students. I believe these are resources well spent, though, to achieve the shared goal of school safety.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/204666/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 and Bureau of Justice Assistance to conduct research on school safety.</span></em></p>Debates about school discipline have become polarized between proponents of restorative justice and those who believe a get-tough approach is required.F. Chris Curran, Associate Professor of Educational Leadership and Policy, University of FloridaLicensed 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>
<p>[<em>More than 140,000 readers get one of The Conversation’s informative newsletters.</em> <a href="https://memberservices.theconversation.com/newsletters/?source=inline-140K">Join the list today</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/173660/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<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/1697952021-10-18T12:12:06Z2021-10-18T12:12:06ZTeachers must often face student attacks alone<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/426753/original/file-20211015-7324-1yontvc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=9%2C0%2C6329%2C4229&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Teachers report post-traumatic stress disorder after experiencing or witnessing attacks from students.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/sad-teacher-sits-in-a-school-classroom-copy-space-royalty-free-image/1279415692?adppopup=true">Andrey Zhuravlev/iStock via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>When “Ms. Kyles,” a social studies teacher in a suburban district, heard her colleague scream in a nearby classroom, she ran to her aid. It appeared that a female student had attacked a classmate.</p>
<p>“I grabbed the student to restrain her, and I said to the teacher, ‘You go back to your students, I’ll take care of her,’” Ms. Kyles said. </p>
<p>After locking herself in an empty classroom with the student, Ms. Kyles – that’s a pseudonym to protect her privacy – learned the student stabbed a female classmate four times in the chest and back, killing her. Then the student threatened Ms. Kyles.</p>
<p>“She trashed the room and screamed at me and said some pretty horrible things,” Ms. Kyles told me. “I was in fear that she would try to hurt me to get away.”</p>
<p>Ms. Kyles’ experience is one of dozens that I document in my forthcoming 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> about how <a href="https://theconversation.com/black-parents-say-their-children-are-being-suspended-for-petty-reasons-that-force-them-to-take-off-from-work-and-sometimes-lose-their-jobs-166610">Black families</a> and teachers view <a href="https://theconversation.com/school-suspensions-dont-just-unfairly-penalize-black-students-they-lead-to-lower-grades-and-black-flight-150240">school punishment</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/school-suspensions-dont-stop-violence-they-help-students-celebrate-it-110561">violence and safety in K-12 schools</a>. In addition to students and parents, I interviewed 50 teachers from urban and suburban high schools throughout Michigan who were threatened or attacked by a student. I used fake names to protect their confidentiality.</p>
<p>What I learned carries implications for the safety of America’s schools in general, and the mental health and well-being of the nation’s teacher workforce in particular.</p>
<h2>Dangerous conditions</h2>
<p>Some of the teachers told me that students experienced frustration with challenging assignments, which led students to lash out at teachers.</p>
<p>Several teachers also believed students threatened and attacked them to gain attention from their peers. Regardless of the underlying cause, these events left teachers in dire situations that made them question their commitment to the profession.</p>
<p>In the U.S., many K-12 schools feature a variety of safety measures, such as metal detectors, guards, security cameras and law enforcement officers. Yet, when I interviewed 50 teachers, I learned they did not feel safe regardless of whether one or several of these security measures were in place.</p>
<p>In one interview after another, teachers told me that being threatened or attacked by a student left them shaken and made them want to transfer to a new school. For example, Ms. Kyles told me the fatal stabbing of a student in her school triggered symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder.</p>
<p>“Anytime I hear a scream or a loud noise in school, I have a physical reaction. I jump.” Ms. Kyles explained. “And any time there are any kind of police in the school I cry. I’m not a crier, but I have cried more in the last year and a half than I’ve ever cried.”</p>
<p>This episode has also affected how Ms. Kyles copes and her willingness to intervene in conflicts at school.</p>
<p>“I drink more than I’ve ever drank,” Ms. Kyles told me. “I don’t sleep as well. In terms of teaching on a daily basis, I no longer will break up a fight. I can’t do it.”</p>
<h2>Carrying firearms</h2>
<p>In his classic work – “<a href="https://sociology.yale.edu/publications/code-street-decency-violence-and-moral-life-inner-city">Code of the Street</a>” – <a href="https://sociology.yale.edu/people/elijah-anderson">Elijah Anderson</a> found that some individuals use violence to protect themselves on the streets. Similarly, in my upcoming book, “<a href="https://jhupbooks.press.jhu.edu/title/suspended">Suspended</a>,” I describe how some educators felt obligated to use violence to protect themselves through what I have referred to as “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/0735648X.2019.1578251">the code of the school</a>.”</p>
<p>A teacher I will call Mr. Turner, who works in an urban district, described an incident where he defended himself when a student attacked him.</p>
<p>“I picked him up, and I said, ‘This is what’s going to happen if you want to come at me again.’” Mr. Turner said. “And he backed off and apologized. It was over that quick. This was during transition time in the building, and it happened so fast [other students] thought he had tripped, and I was helping him up.”</p>
<p>Mr. Turner also told me that several colleagues began to bring guns to school in their car or bag after another colleague became embroiled in a fight that resulted in a trip to the hospital.</p>
<p>“A lot of my female colleagues come to the building armed,” Mr. Turner said. “Legally we’re not supposed to have a gun on the property, and that includes in your car.”</p>
<p>He said the district’s leadership “kind of looks the other way because they know how it is.”</p>
<p>“By law, I can’t take a gun into the building because of the CPL (concealed pistol license) that I carry,” Mr. Turner said. “But, some of my peers in that building who have the same license I have, I know for a fact they have their gun in their purse or backpack.”</p>
<h2>Lack of support</h2>
<p>Most of the teachers I interviewed expressed feeling unsupported by school administrators.</p>
<p>A teacher I will refer to as Mr. Ford, who works at a suburban high school, told me a student threatened him, used the internet to find his home address and escalated the incident outside of his home. Despite the seriousness of this incident, the school administration allowed the student to return to school, where the student subsequently became more popular for attacking the teacher.</p>
<p>“I ended up moving high schools because they didn’t do anything,” Mr. Ford explained. “The administration was just so weak.” </p>
<p>A few teachers told me their principal often minimized incidents where students threatened or attacked them and shifted the focus to the teacher’s actions. For example, a teacher I’ll call Ms. Evans told me whenever a student attacked her, administrators would ask what she did or said to provoke it.</p>
<p>She said they also downplayed any injuries she may have suffered, saying: “‘You’re not hurt, are you? You’re OK. You can still make it, just ignore them or don’t talk to so and so.’ It was that kind of thing.”</p>
<h2>Rethinking school safety</h2>
<p>Although my research focused on teacher experiences in Michigan, I found evidence that similar altercations have occurred <a href="https://www.apa.org/education-career/k12/teacher-victimization.pdf">throughout the U.S.</a> and <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/germany-sees-increase-in-attacks-on-teachers/a-55363158">internationally</a>.</p>
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<p>In light of the constant threat of violence against schoolteachers, the adequacy of current security measures – or lack thereof – are ripe for review.</p>
<p>Prior to the pandemic, data shows <a href="https://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/research_reports/RRA1100/RRA1108-1/RAND_RRA1108-1.pdf">nearly 20% of new educators</a> left the profession within five years. The <a href="https://learningpolicyinstitute.org/sites/default/files/product-files/Teacher_Turnover_REPORT.pdf">most cited reasons</a> for leaving the profession were unhappiness with the school administration (21%) and dissatisfaction with the teaching career (21%).</p>
<p>Studies also confirm that replacing a teacher <a href="https://learningpolicyinstitute.org/sites/default/files/product-files/Teacher_Turnover_REPORT.pdf">can cost a district up to US$20,000</a>. Given the mass teacher exodus that is underway in the U.S. and <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/joe-biden/biden-wants-fix-nation-s-teacher-shortage-educators-say-problem-n1269340">exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic</a>, it’s vital for society in general – and policymakers and school administrators in particular – to find new ways to make sure America’s schoolteachers can do their jobs. They shouldn’t have to worry about protecting themselves from the very students they’ve been assigned to teach.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/169795/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>Teachers say school districts have left them in the lurch in the wake of attacks by students. Some admit they resort to violence themselves to send a message to students who might want to test them.Charles Bell, Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice Sciences, Illinois State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1686172021-09-30T12:28:46Z2021-09-30T12:28:46ZWhy charter schools are not as ‘public’ as they claim to be<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/423930/original/file-20210929-65683-10mjd81.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=35%2C0%2C5955%2C3997&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Charter school enrollment reportedly grew 7% during the pandemic.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/teacher-helping-student-at-classroom-using-face-royalty-free-image/1279381208?adppopup=true">FG Trade/E+ via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Proponents of charter schools insist that they are public schools “<a href="https://www.publiccharters.org/sites/default/files/migrated/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/What-is-a-Charter-School.pdf">open to all students</a>.” But the truth is more nuanced. As an <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=-74qCF0AAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">education policy researcher</a> – and as author of a <a href="https://www.tcpress.com/school%E2%80%99s-choice-9780807765814">new book about charter schools</a> I wrote with fellow researcher <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=hU0ZOrYAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">Wagma Mommandi</a> – I have discovered that charter schools are not as accessible to the public as they are often made out to be.</p>
<p>This finding is particularly relevant in light of the fact that charter school enrollment <a href="https://www.k12dive.com/news/report-charter-school-enrollment-grew-7-during-pandemic/606936/">reportedly grew at a rapid rate</a> during the pandemic. Specifically, according to the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, enrollment <a href="https://www.publiccharters.org/our-work/publications/voting-their-feet-state-level-analysis-public-charter-school-and-district">increased 7% from 2019-20 to 2020-21</a>. The organization says that is the biggest enrollment jump in a half-decade.</p>
<p>In our book, we identify and describe 13 different approaches that charters use to bring certain types of students in and push other kinds of students out.</p>
<p>Here are four examples from our book.</p>
<h2>1. Targeted marketing and advertising</h2>
<p>By using specific types of language in their promotional materials and by targeting those materials to specific audiences, charter schools often send a message that they are looking for a certain type of student. This is a way for charter schools to reach or appeal to a certain audience but not others, which in turn shapes who ends up applying to a given school.</p>
<p>For instance, Mueller Charter Leadership Academy in San Diego
<a href="https://www.aclusocal.org/sites/default/files/field_documents/report-unequal-access-080116.pdf">told prospective families that</a> “All eligible students are welcome to apply. However, it should be noted that because this is a highly advanced, demanding program, it may not be appropriate for everyone.”</p>
<p>Targeted advertising can also carry a message. LISA Academy in Little Rock, Arkansas, in 2016 sent out <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20160613191457/http://www.arkansasmatters.com/news/local-news/charter-school-apologizes-for-recruiting-mailer">targeted recruitment mailers</a> to area neighborhoods – skipping over the three zip codes for the heavily Black and Latino parts of town.</p>
<p>“They’re sending a message they don’t want the kids on the east side of town,” Max Brantley, editor of the Arkansas Times, <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20160613191457/http://www.arkansasmatters.com/news/local-news/charter-school-apologizes-for-recruiting-mailer">remarked</a> after his newspaper exposed the practice. The school later <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20160613191457/http://www.arkansasmatters.com/news/local-news/charter-school-apologizes-for-recruiting-mailer">apologized and explained</a> that its plan was to subsequently reach out to those populations through digital advertising.</p>
<h2>2. Conditional applications</h2>
<p>Charter schools sometimes <a href="https://www.acluaz.org/sites/default/files/field_documents/schools_choosing_students_web.pdf">require</a> multiple essays or a minimum GPA as a condition for initial or continuing enrollment.</p>
<p>Roseland Accelerated Middle School in Santa Rosa, California, for instance, required applicants to submit five short essays plus an autobiography using “<a href="https://www.latimes.com/opinion/editorials/la-ed-charter-application-20160808-snap-story.html">well constructed and varied structure</a>.”</p>
<p>Minimum GPA requirements can be imposed at the application stage or once admitted. At Lushor Charter School in New Orleans, parents and students are asked to sign a contract that requires <a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1bismGcZXJYukiGosdkiGa_mVu73jqCoh3_IA-qwYGRA/edit">students to maintain a 2.0 GPA</a> in core subject areas for continued enrollment. </p>
<h2>3. Parents required to ‘volunteer’</h2>
<p>Some charter schools require parents to volunteer a certain amount of time at the school, or pay money in lieu of volunteering. Pembroke Pines Charter High School in Florida, for example, required each family to complete 30 such “<a href="http://academicvillage.pinescharter.net/DocumentCenter/View/519/Orientation-Packet-17-18?bidId=">volunteer hours</a>” per year, but allowed 20 of those hours to be “purchased” – US$100 total to buy out the first 10 hours and $200 more for the next 10 hours. These requirements place an additional burden, in terms of time and money, on families that are already struggling economically.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/423933/original/file-20210929-66321-r8idci.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A white female teacher talks to a Black student in a hallway." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/423933/original/file-20210929-66321-r8idci.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/423933/original/file-20210929-66321-r8idci.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423933/original/file-20210929-66321-r8idci.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423933/original/file-20210929-66321-r8idci.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423933/original/file-20210929-66321-r8idci.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423933/original/file-20210929-66321-r8idci.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423933/original/file-20210929-66321-r8idci.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>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">‘No excuses’ charter schools are known for harsh discipline.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/female-teacher-reprimanding-a-male-student-royalty-free-image/84463668?adppopup=true">Monkey Business Images/Getty Images Plus</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>4. Aggressive use of discipline.</h2>
<p>At so-called “no excuses” charters that <a href="https://press.princeton.edu/ideas/i-spent-a-year-and-a-half-at-a-no-excuses-charter-school-this-is-what-i-saw">“sweat the small stuff”</a>, students have – at least historically – been subjected to <a href="https://in.chalkbeat.org/2018/6/14/21105158/known-for-no-excuses-discipline-tindley-charter-network-loosens-policies-to-reduce-suspensions">harsh discipline</a> for minor infractions, such as chewing gum or failing to constantly keep their eyes on the teacher during class.</p>
<p>Some of these schools repeatedly suspend students and call parents to leave work to pick up a suspended child. The most high-profile example is Success Academy charter school in Fort Greene, in the Brooklyn borough of New York City, where school leaders created a “<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/30/nyregion/at-a-success-academy-charter-school-singling-out-pupils-who-have-got-to-go.html">Got to Go</a>” list of 16 students who were then subjected to harassing discipline. In one case, a school official threatened to call 911 on a 6-year-old because the child was having a “bad day.” Nine of the 16 students did in fact withdraw from the school. </p>
<h2>Functioning like private schools</h2>
<p>Cumulatively, these and the other approaches we detail in our book – titled <a href="https://www.tcpress.com/school%E2%80%99s-choice-9780807765814">“School’s Choice”</a> – make charter schools more like private schools than the public schools they claim to be.</p>
<p>These practices influence which students are admitted to charter schools and then stay in those schools. Charter school choice therefore affects schools’ <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/pam.20226">demographics</a>, including the degree to which they are segregated. </p>
<p>They affect funding equity as well, since state school-finance formulas often don’t adequately account for the actual costs of educating different students. In Pennsylvania, for example, charter schools are funded through a <a href="https://www.education.pa.gov/Documents/K-12/Charter%20Schools/Charter%20School%20Funding/CSFunding%2024PS17-1725-A.pdf">system that creates problematic incentives</a> related to access for students with special needs. As explained in a <a href="https://www.delcotimes.com/2015/08/24/guest-column-the-case-for-the-wolf-recovery-plan/">report by the state’s bipartisan legislative Special Education Funding Commission</a>, the current funding system provides charter schools “the same funding for each student with a disability, regardless of the severity of that student’s disability.”</p>
<p>“This creates a strong incentive to overidentify students with less costly disabilities and to under-identify (or under-enroll) students with more severe (or more costly) disabilities,” the report states. A speech impediment, for example, is an example of a <a href="https://jan.ucc.nau.edu/%7Eldg/ese424/class/understanding/types/chart.html#ld">mild disability</a>, versus a student with, say, a traumatic brain injury, which is a more severe disability. As the report explains, “A student with a mild disability can be a financial boon to a charter school, given that the funding the charter receives will exceed the charter’s cost to educate a child.”</p>
<p>Notably, Pennsylvania’s funding system does not create these incentives for district-run public schools.</p>
<p>These practices also can play a decisive role for comparisons of academic outcomes between charters and traditional public schools run by a school district. Overall, research <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2013/09/24/the-bottom-line-on-charter-school-studies/">consistently shows</a> little if any difference in the average test-score outcomes for the two types of schools. But the comparisons may not be fair and accurate. If charter schools can improve their test scores by screening out students they don’t think will do well, it can give them an unfair advantage in comparisons with public schools that accept all students.</p>
<h2>Policy incentives revisited</h2>
<p>So what can be done to make charter schools more accessible? One way is to change policy incentives such as the Pennsylvania funding system mentioned earlier. States can also change the way they reward schools for how well their students do on tests. Arizona, for instance, has policies that give extra <a href="https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/politics/arizona-education/2017/11/05/arizona-doug-ducey-performance-based-funding-boosts-higher-income-schools/782439001/">funding</a> to charters and other schools with higher achieving students.</p>
<p>In the final two chapters of our book, <a href="https://www.tcpress.com/school%E2%80%99s-choice-9780807765814">“School’s Choice,”</a> Mommandi and I point to a future with charter schools that don’t screen or push out students who are lower achieving or more expensive to educate. First, we hold up examples of charter schools that have resisted the incentives to limit access by, for example, working to support their communities’ most marginalized students. We then offer a design for a healthier charter school system that doesn’t put these exemplary schools at a disadvantage when it comes to accountability and funding systems.</p>
<p>Even in a post-pandemic world, charter school enrollment may continue to grow. But until the public has more access, charters will not be truly public.</p>
<p>[<em>Over 110,000 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><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/168617/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kevin Welner received funding from the Atlantic Philanthropies to support this research. </span></em></p>Charter school enrollment grew during the pandemic. But behind these schools’ rising popularity is a history of harsh discipline, inaccessibility and targeted marketing.Kevin Welner, Professor, Education Policy & Law; Director, National Education Policy Center, University of Colorado BoulderLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1655192021-09-22T18:57:35Z2021-09-22T18:57:35ZRich kids and poor kids face different rules when it comes to bringing personal items to school<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/421143/original/file-20210914-15-15d4dse.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=37%2C24%2C8058%2C5462&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Some preschoolers are encouraged to bring in their favorite toy or stuffed animal, while others risk having it confiscated.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/teddy-bear-hugs-with-happy-3-years-girl-royalty-free-image/1178841461">Layland Masuda/Moment Collection 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 about interesting academic work.</em></p>
<h2>The big idea</h2>
<p>Poor preschoolers get fewer chances than wealthier children to bring their prized personal possessions to school. That’s what I found in my <a href="https://academic.oup.com/socpro/advance-article-abstract/doi/10.1093/socpro/spab019/6324468">two-year comparative ethnographic study</a> of two preschools in Madison, Wisconsin. One of the preschools primarily serves middle-class white children and the other primarily serves poor children of color.</p>
<p>In the preschool that served mostly poor kids, the teachers made a rule that kids could not bring toys, games, stuffed animals or other personal items to school. The stakes felt too high to these teachers. Some students’ families were recently evicted and had few toys. Other students’ families did buy them toys but at great financial cost, and families didn’t want these items broken. Teachers also worried about toys being stolen. The items that I observed children try to bring in ranged from expensive action figures to random board game pieces to sparkly ponytail holders. </p>
<p>I then observed an affluent school and found that teachers actually encouraged children to bring their personal items to school. The teachers hosted a weekly show and tell. Kids could bring toys, objects from nature or anything else to show and tell. Teachers also encouraged kids to bring books to read with their peers and stuffed animals to cuddle at nap time any day of the week. Because these teachers knew their students’ families were financially well-off, they made classroom rules that allowed children to celebrate their personal property.</p>
<h2>Why it matters</h2>
<p>This gulf in how kids experience classroom rules about property matters for three reasons. </p>
<p>First, I observed that when children brought personal stuff to school, they used the items to connect with friends or just to hold and enjoy by themselves throughout the day. This was true whether they were encouraged to bring the items in or they successfully sneaked them in.</p>
<p>Bringing special personal objects to school provided the kids with a form of what sociologists call <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/2378023116633712">substantive dignity</a> – the sense that one belongs in a wider community but is still respected as a unique individual. My research suggests that <a href="https://www.urban.org/features/segregated-start">preschool segregation</a> creates pressures for teachers of poor children to forbid personal property at school, closing off a pathway to substantive dignity for these children.</p>
<p>Second, the disparity in children’s degree of control over property connects to other researchers’ findings that affluent children have more control over their experience within schools. From <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=50">school uniform rules</a> to how much of their <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0003122411427177">teacher’s help</a> they get when working on assignments, affluent children grow up expecting more special attention from authority figures. They are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0003122411427177">more comfortable asking for accommodations</a>, and this matters in college and as they <a href="https://www.doi.org/10.1177/0038040715614913">transition to adulthood</a>. In contrast, poor and working-class children experience more encouragement to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0003122414546931">defer to the rules of an institution</a>. My research suggests that affluent children’s comfortable access to personal property in preschool is an additional mechanism by which they come to feel entitled to individualized attention in workplaces and other institutions.</p>
<p>Third, one consequence of the no-personal-items rule at the poor preschool was that a handful of students – all boys of color – sneaked toys in anyway. Sometimes these children were caught and were disciplined by having their items taken and being sent to the quiet area. As a result, property rules contributed to differences in discipline on race and gender lines. This aligns with other scholars’ findings that boys of color <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/socpro/spaa011">experience more punishment</a> as early as preschool, and this pattern continues through <a href="https://safesupportivelearning.ed.gov/sites/default/files/Discipline_Disparities_Overview.pdf">K-12 schooling</a>. </p>
<h2>What still isn’t known</h2>
<p>My research observed broad, social experiences that children had over time. However, social scientists will need to do more research to determine how teachers’ rules about controlling children’s personal property use differ across a wider range of preschools. Another question is how teachers manage kids’ access to personal items in mixed-income preschools.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/165519/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Casey Stockstill 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>When students are allowed to bring personal items for show and tell, it can build their senses of self-worth, belonging and control. But poor kids often don’t get that opportunity.Casey Stockstill, Assistant Professor of Sociology, University of DenverLicensed 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>
<p>[<em>Over 110,000 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>
<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/1633472021-06-24T13:22:56Z2021-06-24T13:22:56ZSchools must act carefully on students’ off-campus speech, Supreme Court rules<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/408032/original/file-20210623-19-1g37fzx.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=8%2C26%2C5982%2C3961&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The Supreme Court ruled that a school could not punish a student for a profane Snapchat post made off campus.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/smart-phone-in-chain-with-lock-on-orange-background-royalty-free-image/1299325496?adppopup=true">Eshma/iStock / Getty Images Plus</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>For decades, U.S. courts have ruled that public school students “<a href="https://www.oyez.org/cases/1968/21?sort=ideology#!">do not shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech and expression at the schoolhouse gate</a>,” as the Supreme Court said in 1968. </p>
<p>In that case, Tinker v. Des Moines Independent School District, the justices held that high school students who were suspended for protesting the Vietnam War by wearing black armbands to school were protected by the First Amendment’s guarantee of free speech. </p>
<p>The standard the court set then, which has been narrowed and focused over the years, was that schools could only punish students for speech that “materially and substantially” disrupted the educational mission of the school. In several subsequent cases, about a <a href="https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/478/675/">student campaign speech full of sexual innuendo</a>, a <a href="https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/484/260/">school newspaper article on teen pregnancy</a> and a student-created sign saying “<a href="https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/551/393/">Bong Hits for Jesus</a>”, the Supreme Court evaluated speech or expression that took place on campus or at a school-sponsored event. And in every case, the justices deferred to school authorities on their judgment of what disrupted their educational mission.</p>
<p>A case the court took up this year provided an opportunity for a wider view, specifically about what protections students might have for <a href="https://www.oyez.org/cases/2020/20-255">speech they engage in off-campus and away from school events</a>, including online. </p>
<p>School districts and officials were <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/20/20-255/156538/20201001154014503_20-255%20Amici%20Brief%20Pennsylvania%20School%20Boards%20Assoc%20Final.pdf">anxious for guidance</a> about the <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/20/20-255/156535/20201001153720293_2020.10.01%20Amicus%20Brief%20for%20efiling.pdf">extent to which they can police social media speech</a> by their students, especially with heightened concern about cyberbullying and threats of school shootings.</p>
<p>Free speech advocates were worried about the extent to which <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/20/20-255/173545/20210331150644127_20-255%20Brief%20for%20Amici%20Curiae.pdf">schools can extend their reach and control over students</a> outside of school grounds and hours, especially given the amount of time teens spend on social media.</p>
<p>The June 23, 2021, decision in that case, <a href="https://www.oyez.org/cases/2020/20-255">Mahanoy v. B.L.</a>, is both a win and a loss for both sides. The 8-1 ruling, with Justice Clarence Thomas dissenting, did not give either side <a href="https://slate.com/technology/2021/04/supreme-court-free-speech-brandi-levy.html">the clear rules they may have wanted</a>. </p>
<p>It says schools are not forbidden from disciplining students in cases of severe harassment and cyberbullying that happen outside school. But it does warn schools that their attempts to regulate off-campus speech will be treated with less deference than they would get when addressing events on campus.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/408033/original/file-20210623-21-2n8okv.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="An elderly man with wire-rimmed glasses in a Supreme Court black robe." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/408033/original/file-20210623-21-2n8okv.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/408033/original/file-20210623-21-2n8okv.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/408033/original/file-20210623-21-2n8okv.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/408033/original/file-20210623-21-2n8okv.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/408033/original/file-20210623-21-2n8okv.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/408033/original/file-20210623-21-2n8okv.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/408033/original/file-20210623-21-2n8okv.jpeg?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>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Associate Justice of the Supreme Court Stephen Breyer wrote the majority opinion in the case, saying a ‘school will have a heavy burden to justify intervention’ in student speech made off campus or outside school programs.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/SupremeCourt/cd23bb861a204cdfb135c05478300022/photo?Query=Justice%20AND%20Breyer&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=419&currentItemNo=5">Pool/Associated Press</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A quick synopsis</h2>
<p>The case centered on Brandi Levy, who was a high school sophomore in 2017 when she failed to make the varsity cheerleading team at Mahanoy Area High School. She did make the junior varsity team, but expressed her disappointment at not making the top squad through a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/courts_law/supreme-court-cheerleader-first-amendment/2021/04/25/9d2ac1e2-9eb7-11eb-b7a8-014b14aeb9e4_story.html">crude Snapchat post</a> involving raised middle fingers and multiple uses of the F-word.</p>
<p>She made the post over the weekend, from a location outside the school campus. Several members of the cheerleading squad saw the post and reported it to officials, who suspended her from cheerleading for violating team-conduct rules. Levy’s parents sued on her behalf, arguing under the First Amendment that the team rules were <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/28/us/supreme-court-free-speech.html">overbroad and unconstitutionally vague</a>, and that the school had no authority over her off campus speech.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=15693695857098220398&q=Mahanoy+Area+Sch.+Dist.&hl=en&as_sdt=40000003&as_vis=1">federal district court that first heard the case</a> concluded that Levy’s post did not create the sort of substantial disruption to education that the Tinker ruling’s standard demanded. The <a href="https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/ca3/19-1842/19-1842-2020-06-30.html">Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit</a> held that Levy’s speech happened off campus and outside a school-sponsored event, so Tinker’s standard didn’t apply.</p>
<p>The school district appealed to the Supreme Court, noting that the appeals court ruling conflicted with other rulings around the country that had applied the Tinker precedent to off-campus speech.</p>
<h2>The justices’ review</h2>
<p>The Supreme Court agreed with both lower courts that the school had violated Levy’s First Amendment rights. But it disagreed with the appeals court’s reasoning that the Tinker case would not apply to off-campus speech.</p>
<p>In the majority opinion, Justice Stephen Breyer wrote that the court “<a href="https://www.oyez.org/cases/2020/20-255">did not believe the special characteristics</a> that give schools additional license to regulate student speech always disappear when a school regulates speech that takes place off campus.” At minimum, the ruling explains, schools must have the authority to regulate bullying, harassment, threats directed at staff or students, online learning and assignments and cybersecurity for school systems.</p>
<p>But the court also expressed reluctance to let schools very broadly regulate students’ off-campus speech, fearing the effect could be severe limits on student speech any time of day or night, in any location. </p>
<p>Instead, the justices said courts should be “<a href="https://www.oyez.org/cases/2020/20-255">more skeptical</a>” of schools’ attempts to regulate off-campus speech than when handling on-campus expression. </p>
<p>The ruling also reminded schools of their obligation to protect the expression of unpopular opinion. Schools are “<a href="https://www.oyez.org/cases/2020/20-255">the nurseries of democracy</a>,” Breyer wrote, and have an obligation to teach their students about the importance of free speech.</p>
<p>As a result of this reasoning, the court found that Levy’s Snapchat post was protected under the First Amendment. It was not substantially disruptive to the school environment, wasn’t targeted at anyone in particular, was not obscene, and did not constitute “fighting words” or incitement to violence.</p>
<p>Breyer did observe that Levy’s word choice was vulgar and perhaps juvenile in tone, but said “<a href="https://www.oyez.org/cases/2020/20-255">sometimes it is necessary to protect the superfluous in order to preserve the necessary</a>.”</p>
<p>As a result of the ruling, students don’t lose their rights when they enter through the schoolhouse gate – but neither do school officials lose all of their disciplinary power once students leave.</p>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Katy Harriger 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 Mahanoy v. B.L. ruling did not give schools or free-speech advocates the clear lines they may have wanted, but it did attempt to address some of the complexity of modern-day speech.Katy Harriger, Professor of Politics and International Affairs, Wake Forest UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1605922021-05-21T12:24:16Z2021-05-21T12:24:16ZVideo shows students still get paddled in US schools<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/401913/original/file-20210520-21-1f32zy1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=12%2C0%2C8210%2C5485&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">At least 92,000 K-12 students in the U.S. were paddled or spanked at school in the 2015-2016 school year.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/punishment-book-wooden-paddle-for-spanking-on-royalty-free-image/1250709739?adppopup=true">dannikonov/iStock via Getty Images Plus</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The image of a teacher paddling or spanking a student at school may seem to belong in a history book – as archaic a practice as the dunce cap. However, for thousands of students across America each year, the use of corporal punishment for violating school rules is still <a href="https://www.edweek.org/leadership/corporal-punishment-use-found-in-schools-in-21-states/2016/08">a routine part of their education</a>. </p>
<p>Surprising to many, corporal punishment in schools remains <a href="http://ecs.force.com/mbdata/MBQuest2RTanw?rep=SD1808">legal in 19 states nationwide</a>. In the 2015-2016 school year, <a href="https://ocrdata.ed.gov/estimations/2015-2016">more than 92,000</a> public school students were paddled or spanked at the hands of school personnel, with most of these incidents <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-56986827">concentrated in fewer than 10 states, mostly in the South</a>.</p>
<p>Corporal punishment has again captured national attention following the release of a video in May 2021 of a <a href="https://nbc-2.com/news/local/2021/05/03/clewiston-principal-caught-paddling-first-grader-over-damaged-computer/">Florida principal paddling a young girl</a>. The video, secretly captured by the student’s mother, shows the principal striking the student with a wooden paddle in response to her damaging a computer. While a violation of district policy, the principal’s actions were deemed legal by both the <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/us/florida-school-principal-sheriff-no-crime-principal">local sheriff’s office</a> and <a href="https://cbs12.com/news/local/state-attorney-declines-to-prosecute-florida-principal-for-paddling-6-year-old-student">the state attorney’s office</a>.</p>
<p>Many who have viewed the video have questioned how this practice remains legal and in use in the United States. As an <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=MTcxlxMAAAAJ&hl=en">educational researcher who studies school discipline</a> – and as a former teacher who has seen other teachers use this practice – I have found that the answer to this question is complex. </p>
<h2>Deference to local decision-making</h2>
<p>In 1977, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in <a href="https://www.lexisnexis.com/community/casebrief/p/casebrief-ingraham-v-wright">Ingraham v. Wright</a> that corporal punishment in schools is constitutional, establishing a federal standard for its continued legal use. </p>
<p>While corporal punishment <a href="http://ecs.force.com/mbdata/MBQuest2RTanw?rep=SD1808">remains legal in 19 states</a>, there <a href="https://www.denverpost.com/2017/01/23/ban-corporal-punishment-colorado-public-schools/">have been efforts</a> in <a href="https://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/politics/ky-general-assembly/2021/01/05/kentucky-lawmaker-tries-again-ban-paddling-corporal-punishment-schools/4140075001/">some of those states</a> to ban the practice. In May of 2021, <a href="https://www.katc.com/news/covering-louisiana/louisiana-house-rejects-bill-banning-corporal-punishment-in-public-schools">Louisiana considered such a bill</a>.</p>
<p>However, these efforts have not been able to get much traction. Louisiana’s bill <a href="https://www.katc.com/news/covering-louisiana/louisiana-house-rejects-bill-banning-corporal-punishment-in-public-schools">failed to pass in the House</a>, with critics pointing to a preference for local school districts to make the decision. In fact, the last state ban <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/0161956X.2018.1435036">occurred in 2011</a>, when <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-spanking-newmexico/new-mexico-bans-spanking-of-children-in-schools-idUSTRE73648X20110407">New Mexico outlawed the practice</a>.</p>
<p>Research that I have conducted with others shows this <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/0161956X.2018.1435036">deference to local school districts is common</a>. In <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/0161956X.2018.1435036">our 2018 study</a> on corporal punishment, we found that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/0161956X.2018.1435036">state bans generally come after local school district bans</a> or reductions in use. </p>
<p>For example, Rhode Island <a href="https://safesupportivelearning.ed.gov/discipline-compendium/choose-state/results?field_sub_category_value=Use+of+corporal+punishment&title_selective%5B%5D=Rhode%2BIsland">enacted a state ban on corporal punishment in 2002</a>, even though the practice had not been used in the state <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/0161956X.2018.1435036">since 1977 because of local decisions</a>. In North Carolina, the practice has been <a href="https://www.fayobserver.com/news/20190308/nc-public-schools-have-stopped-using-corporal-punishment-that-could-now-become-state-law">eliminated by all districts in the state</a> since 2019, but a subsequent bill to formalize this ban at the state level <a href="http://pulse.ncpolicywatch.org/2020/06/23/corporal-punishment-a-structural-racism-success-story-thats-not-yet-complete/#sthash.cTopXe3B.dpbs">failed to advance to law</a>.</p>
<p>For many local leaders and educators, the continued use of corporal punishment <a href="https://www.splcenter.org/20120831/corporal-punishment-florida-schools">reflects shared community norms</a> and a belief that the practice is beneficial to maintaining order in schools. For many state policymakers, there is a <a href="https://www.katc.com/news/covering-louisiana/louisiana-house-rejects-bill-banning-corporal-punishment-in-public-schools">general belief</a> that such decisions should be made at the local level. Unfortunately, research suggests that this deference to local decisions to use corporal punishment is harmful for students.</p>
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<h2>The harm of corporal punishment</h2>
<p>Though studies of the impact of corporal punishment in schools are limited, <a href="https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED502020.pdf">those that exist</a> suggest the practice <a href="https://www.unicef-irc.org/publications/pdf/CORPORAL%20PUNISHMENT%20IDP2finalrev.pdf">harms students’ academic performance</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/in-19-states-its-okay-to-hit-kids-with-a-wooden-board-47744">future behavior</a>. Such negative outcomes have also been <a href="https://theconversation.com/hard-evidence-spanking-could-lead-to-health-problems-antisocial-behavior-58566">linked with corporal punishment use in the home by parents</a>.</p>
<p>The burden of these negative impacts is disproportionately experienced by students of color and boys. Black students are <a href="https://www2.ed.gov/policy/gen/guid/school-discipline/files/corporal-punishment-dcl-11-22-2016.pdf">two to three times as likely</a> as their white peers to experience corporal punishment, and boys make up <a href="https://www2.ed.gov/policy/gen/guid/school-discipline/files/corporal-punishment-dcl-11-22-2016.pdf">about 80%</a> of those subjected to the practice.</p>
<p>Based on such evidence, many <a href="https://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/106/2/343">national</a> and <a href="https://endcorporalpunishment.org/">international organizations</a> recommend against the use of corporal punishment in schools. Former acting Secretary of Education John B. King called explicitly for U.S. schools to <a href="https://www2.ed.gov/policy/gen/guid/school-discipline/files/corporal-punishment-dcl-11-22-2016.pdf">cease the practice</a>. Despite this, <a href="https://theconversation.com/school-spankings-are-banned-just-about-everywhere-around-the-world-except-in-us-118236">the U.S. has not joined</a> the over <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/13548506.2016.1271955">100 countries worldwide that ban corporal punishment</a> in schools. </p>
<h2>Seeking alternatives</h2>
<p>For many educators, the appeal of corporal punishment may be its efficiency. It can be quickly administered by a teacher or principal with limited commitment of time or institutional resources. Though unproductive in the long term, it may result in compliance in the short term.</p>
<p>It is important, then, for discussions about bans on corporal punishment to include alternatives. In fact, not doing so may result in schools trading corporal punishment for other <a href="https://doi.org/10.17105/spr-14-0008.1">negative disciplinary practices like suspension</a>.</p>
<p>In my <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/0161956X.2018.1435036">own research</a>, my colleague and I found that when school districts serving large proportions of Black or Hispanic students decrease or stop using corporal punishment, suspension rates tend to increase. In contrast, suspension rates decreased in districts with more white students.</p>
<p>Given the negative effects of corporal punishment and the risk that bans alone could lead to increased suspensions in schools with more minority students, how should educators and policymakers approach the issue?</p>
<p>There are alternative approaches to corporal punishment and suspension that offer promise for eliminating the practice of paddling students while also ensuring that students remain in school to learn. <a href="https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED595733.pdf">Restorative practices</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1300/J019v24n01_03">positive behavior interventions</a> are such examples. These approaches focus on addressing student trauma, building relationships and rewarding positive behavior.</p>
<p>For example, rather than being paddled, students who damage school property might <a href="https://www.edutopia.org/blog/restorative-justice-resources-matt-davis">discuss their behavior with adults and other students involved</a> and then <a href="https://cdpsdocs.state.co.us/safeschools/CSSRC%20Documents/CSSRC%20Examples%20of%20Restorative%20Justice.pdf">contribute to repairing the property</a>. </p>
<p>A focus on building a <a href="https://www.schoolclimate.org/about/our-approach">strong school climate</a> – characterized by supportive relationships between teachers and students as well as engaging instructional practice – also holds promise for improved student behavior without corporal punishment.</p>
<p>Ultimately, gaining local support for corporal punishment bans may be easier if schools know more effective alternatives are available.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/160592/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>F. Chris Curran has received funding from the National Institute of Justice, the American Civil Liberties Union, and the American Educational Research Association for work on school discipline.</span></em></p>Decisions on whether to allow corporal punishment in school have been largely local.F. Chris Curran, Associate Professor of Educational Leadership and Policy, University of FloridaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1602252021-05-11T18:37:18Z2021-05-11T18:37:18ZI spent a year and a half at a ‘no-excuses’ charter school – this is what I saw<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/398705/original/file-20210504-24-1abyuyz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=42%2C0%2C5648%2C3797&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The strict discipline of 'no-excuses' charter schools can often make students feel stressed out. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/schoolgirl-in-class-royalty-free-image/88434344?adppopup=true">Image Source/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Charter schools have been on the scene for <a href="https://www.publiccharters.org/what-you-can-do/celebrate-national-charter-schools-week">more than 30 years old</a>, and the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/22/opinion/charter-schools-democrats.html">contentious debate</a> about their merits and place in American society continues. </p>
<p>To better understand what happens at charter schools – and as a <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=sERh9FQAAAAJ&hl=en">sociologist who focuses on education</a> – I spent a <a href="https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691168876/scripting-the-moves">year and a half</a> at a particular type of urban charter school that takes a “<a href="https://fordhaminstitute.org/national/commentary/no-apologies-no-excuses-charter-schools">no-excuses</a>” approach toward education. My research was conducted from 2012 through 2013, but these practices are <a href="https://fordhaminstitute.org/national/commentary/no-apologies-no-excuses-charter-schools">still</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0891241619871091">prevalent</a> in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0895904820917362">charter schools today</a>.</p>
<p>The no-excuses model is one of the <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/dporterfield/2014/07/30/20-years-of-kipp-lessons-for-success-in-public-education/">most celebrated</a> and <a href="https://hechingerreport.org/painful-backlash-excuses-school-discipline/">most controversial</a> education reform models for raising student achievement among Black and Latino students. Charters, which are public schools of choice that are independently managed, show <a href="https://futureofchildren.princeton.edu/sites/futureofchildren/files/resource-links/charter_schools_compiled.pdf">comparable achievement</a> to traditional public schools, but no-excuses charters produce much <a href="https://www.tc.columbia.edu/articles/2018/february/sarah-cohodes-study-urban-charters-may-hold-clues-for-closing-achievement-gap/">stronger test-score gains</a>. No-excuses schools have been <a href="https://broadfoundation.org/the-broad-prize-for-public-charter-schools/">heralded as examples</a> of charter success and have <a href="https://www.kipp.org/events-press/kipp-receives-15-million-grant-boost-number-educationally-underserved-students-succeeding-high-school-college-career/">received millions of dollars</a> in foundation support. At the same time, no-excuses schools themselves have started to rethink their harsh disciplinary practices. Large charter networks like KIPP and Noble in recent years have <a href="https://www.kipp.org/news/a-letter-from-dave-levin-to-kipp-alumni/">acknowledged the wrongfulness of their disciplinary approaches</a> and <a href="https://www.wbez.org/stories/top-chicago-charter-school-admits-a-racist-past/ebd3c82c-af3b-4320-befc-d7f565acc453">repudiated the no-excuses approach</a>. </p>
<p>Here are 10 of the most striking things that I observed at the no-excuses charter school where I spent 18 months.</p>
<h2>1. Teachers let nothing slide</h2>
<p>Teachers at no-excuses schools “<a href="https://fordhaminstitute.org/national/research/sweating-small-stuff-inner-city-schools-and-new-paternalism">sweat the small stuff</a>.” The long list of infractions at the school that I observed included: not following directions, making unnecessary noise, putting one’s head down on a desk, being off-task, rolling one’s eyes and not tracking the speaker.</p>
<p>Students on average received one infraction every three days. One fifth grader managed to accumulate 295 infractions over the school year. Infractions resulted in detention, loss of privileges like field trips and school socials, and “bench” – a punishment in which students had to wear a special yellow shirt and could not talk to their classmates or participate in gym class.</p>
<h2>2. Teachers constantly explained the ‘why’</h2>
<p>Teachers were encouraged to explain the “why” of infractions so students would understand the rationale behind the school’s unbending rules. Why did students receive detention for arriving one minute late to school? Because supposedly it helped them develop time-management skills. College applications would not be accepted if they were one minute late, they claimed. Why were there silent hallways? Because, the school argued, self-control would get kids to and through college.</p>
<h2>3. Students developed distorted ideas about college</h2>
<p>Students formed an impression of college as very strict. Upon visiting a college, one student noticed couches in the dorm hallways. This made her think that colleges must allow students to talk “a little bit” because students weren’t just going to sit on couches and read a book. She questioned whether some of the rules at her own school might be “a little extra.” An alumna of the school also was surprised at the freedom afforded to her in college. Accustomed to a system of rewards and consequences, she struggled with turning in her essays for class because the teacher did not grade them. When the term ended and she had to turn in a portfolio of all her work, she found herself playing catch-up. She received a C in the class.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/399257/original/file-20210506-17-p3nvpi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A teacher wearing a mask walks up to a student in class working on an assignment." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/399257/original/file-20210506-17-p3nvpi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/399257/original/file-20210506-17-p3nvpi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399257/original/file-20210506-17-p3nvpi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399257/original/file-20210506-17-p3nvpi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399257/original/file-20210506-17-p3nvpi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399257/original/file-20210506-17-p3nvpi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/399257/original/file-20210506-17-p3nvpi.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">Teachers are quick to criticize even the smallest behavioral issues among students at no-excuses charter schools.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/teacher-wearing-face-mask-helping-student-royalty-free-image/1279872911?adppopup=true">FG Trade/iStock via Getty Images Plus</a></span>
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<h2>4. School was stressful</h2>
<p>Because teachers constantly narrated expectations for behavior and scanned classrooms for compliance, students felt as if they were always under surveillance. Even the best-behaved students felt pressure. One mother told me that she kept her daughter home for two weeks because her daughter could not handle the pressure of being set up as a positive example for her classmates.</p>
<h2>5. The school intentionally recruited novice teachers</h2>
<p>No-excuses schools hire <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2015.11.006">young, energetic, mission-aligned teachers</a>. According to the human resources team, the school had two key criteria for recruiting teachers: coachability and mission fit. The school was less interested in hiring professionals with specialized skills and knowledge. Instead, the school sought teachers who they thought would be more open and responsive to the school’s direction and <a href="https://www.mathematica.org/our-publications-and-findings/publications/learning-from-charter-school-management-organizations-strategies-for-student-behavior-and-teacher-coaching">intensive coaching</a>. This meant that a teacher with 10 years of experience was not favored over one with almost no experience. </p>
<h2>6. Teacher turnover was high</h2>
<p>The rallying cry at the school I observed was “Making the School a Better Place to Work.” Half the teachers had left the school the previous year. Teacher turnover in no-excuses charter schools can range from <a href="http://doi.org/10.1177/0042085914549367">20% to 35% nationally</a>, about <a href="https://doi.org/10.3102/0013189X17735812">twice the annual turnover rates</a> in traditional urban schools. </p>
<h2>7. Maximizing instructional time had its drawbacks</h2>
<p>Procedures as simple as <a href="https://blog.kipp.org/teachingstrategies/how-112ths-maximize-learning-joy/">handing back papers</a> or entering the classroom were streamlined to save minutes and seconds for instruction. This left little informal time for teachers to slow down and get to know the students. As one teacher put it, “It’s like you have to move quickly, quickly, quickly, quickly. There’s no time to waste and it’s like, you know, sometimes I feel like, oh wait a second, I need a breather, like we’re moving too fast. Like, slow down. Or [students] even need to feel like they’re being heard; they’re not being ignored.”</p>
<h2>8. School order was fragile</h2>
<p>School staff members were reluctant to ease up on school discipline because they observed how a small change in procedure altered the school culture. The principal saw visible declines in student behavior when the school implemented special events like “crazy sock day.” </p>
<p>When the school invited an adventure-based learning group to lead a few activities, students were found to have difficulty adjusting back after being in a less structured environment.</p>
<h2>9. One size does not fit all</h2>
<p>No-excuses schools target a <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-secret-of-a-charter-schools-success-parents-11567777805">select group of students and families</a> willing and able to comply with the school’s demanding expectations. In the initial summer visit made to the homes of all newly admitted students, school staff reviewed a five-page contract between families and the school detailing the school’s stringent expectations. They explicitly told families that the school “is not for everyone.” </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/398725/original/file-20210504-16-rxhfhz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A young girl balances a pencil on her upper lip in class." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/398725/original/file-20210504-16-rxhfhz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/398725/original/file-20210504-16-rxhfhz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=316&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/398725/original/file-20210504-16-rxhfhz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=316&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/398725/original/file-20210504-16-rxhfhz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=316&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/398725/original/file-20210504-16-rxhfhz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/398725/original/file-20210504-16-rxhfhz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/398725/original/file-20210504-16-rxhfhz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=398&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">Little acts of defiance were ways students rebelled against the strict authority of no-excuses charter schools.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/is-it-recess-yet-royalty-free-image/1205729130?adppopup=true">Marco VDM/E+ via Getty Images</a></span>
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<h2>10. Teachers and students creatively adapted</h2>
<p>The strict procedures and rigid routines did not stop teachers and students from finding ways to bend rules. Teachers found ways to adjust school practices to better fit their own styles. They used humor and took time to build relationships with students outside of school. Students also engaged in minor acts of resistance. They erased names off the infraction board. They wore multicolored socks when the school required solid-colored socks. If a teacher put forth the expectation of no talking, students tapped on their desks or hummed to show defiance. </p>
<h2>Looking ahead</h2>
<p>One of the original visions for charter schools was to create spaces for <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/31/opinion/sunday/albert-shanker-the-original-charter-school-visionary.html">teachers to experiment with innovative practices</a> and for communities to create schools that <a href="https://www.sunypress.edu/p-4011-the-emancipatory-promise-of-cha.aspx">reflected local cultures and needs</a>. Instead, no-excuses charters employ a carefully maintained structure that limits the autonomy of both teachers and students. The costs of these structures are becoming apparent to the schools themselves. Change in these schools is happening but may not be <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2019/08/29/some-no-excuses-charter-schools-say-they-are-changing-are-they-can-they/?arc404=true">quick or easy</a>. As no-excuses schools seek to modify their practices, they might do well to reflect on and revisit these founding charter principles.</p>
<p>[<em>3 media outlets, 1 newsletter covering the impact of faith on life and politics.</em> <a href="https://memberservices.theconversation.com/newsletters/?nl=religion&source=inline">Get stories from The Conversation, AP and RNS.</a>]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/160225/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Joanne W. Golann has received funding from the Spencer Foundation, the National Academy of Education, and the American Sociological Association. </span></em></p>A select group of charter schools have adopted a “no-excuses” philosophy. A forthcoming book shines the light on the drawbacks of that approach.Joanne W. Golann, Assistant Professor of Public Policy and Education, Vanderbilt UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1572982021-04-08T12:03:39Z2021-04-08T12:03:39ZBringing ‘behavioral vaccines’ to school: 5 ways educators can support student well-being<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/393851/original/file-20210407-21-11u68aq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=72%2C0%2C7956%2C4922&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Research shows small acts of kindness can make a big difference in classrooms. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/preschool-teacher-students-in-class-wearing-masks-royalty-free-image/1294218659?adppopup=true">kali9/E+ via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>As many schools in the U.S. figure out <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-can-all-schools-safely-reopen-157475">how to safely and fully resume in-person instruction</a>, much of the focus is on <a href="https://www.edweek.org/leadership/why-teacher-vaccinations-are-so-hard-to-track/2021/03">vaccinations</a>.</p>
<p>But there’s another type of “vaccine” that may be beneficial for some returning K-12 students that could be overlooked. Those are known as “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10567-008-0036-x">behavioral vaccines</a>.”</p>
<p>Behavioral vaccines are not some sort of serum to help control how children behave. There are no needles, shots or drugs involved. Behavioral vaccines are simple steps that educators and parents can take to help support child well-being throughout the day. </p>
<p>Those actions can be as easy as offering students a warm welcome when they enter the classroom. Studies have shown positive greetings can <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1098300717753831">reduce disruptive behavior and increase academically engaged behavior</a>. Written notes of praise from teachers or other students – such as a thank-you note for helping someone with a math problem – are another example of a behavioral vaccine. These sorts of notes have been found to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1098300716675733">reduce problem behavior during recess</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10567-008-0036-x">Behavioral vaccines</a> can also entail activities like breathing exercises to help students feel calm or aerobic play to reduce stress. Each simple action can be used alone or in combination to deliver supports that promote well-being. </p>
<h2>Challenging times</h2>
<p>As a concept, “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1020977107086">behavioral vaccines</a>” have been around for centuries. Intended to prevent disease and promote public health, a behavioral vaccine is a simple action that can lead to big results. Think about hand-washing or seat belt-wearing – behaviors to promote physical well-being and prevent larger problems for individuals and within communities.</p>
<p>As a <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=C9YZiOsAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">school psychologist who focuses on matters of student mental health</a>, I believe behavioral vaccines can help improve the social, emotional and behavioral well-being of students. I also think these vaccines are especially important as schools seek to fully resume in-person instruction.</p>
<p>Over the course of the pandemic, there have been reports of increased <a href="https://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/stress/2020/sia-mental-health-crisis.pdf">teen stress</a>, <a href="https://www.edweek.org/research-center/student-mental-health-during-the-pandemic-educator-and-teen-perspectives">negative states of mind</a> and even more <a href="https://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/147/3/e2020029280">suicide attempts</a> as students struggle with <a href="https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2020-029280">isolation</a>, <a href="https://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/stress/2020/sia-mental-health-crisis.pdf">disruption</a> of their routines and <a href="https://www.edweek.org/research-center/student-mental-health-during-the-pandemic-educator-and-teen-perspectives">remote-learning fatigue</a>. </p>
<p>Since schools can play a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/10888691.2018.1515296">critical role</a> in child development, they represent an <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0020731415585986">ideal venue</a> for public health interventions. With those things in mind, here are five ways that schools can offer behavioral vaccines to returning students:</p>
<h2>1. Build strong connections with every child</h2>
<p>Positive relationships are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/10888691.2017.1398650">key drivers</a> of healthy development. Strong social connection <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2017.08.011">buffers against other risks</a> present in young people’s lives, such as belonging to a group that is seen as a minority, living in poverty or having family members who fall ill. When school provides supportive social connection, it can help reduce vulnerabilities.</p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/02796015.2009.12087850">Teacher support and connection</a> has been shown to help students feel better about being in school. Behavioral vaccines focused on supportive connection can involve offering an enthusiastic hello when meeting, building confidence about assignments by giving <a href="https://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/releases/xge-a0033906.pdf">wise feedback</a> and encouraging students to ask questions. It can also involve taking interest in life outside of the classroom, and adding a daily routine of sharing appreciation for others. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/393884/original/file-20210407-19-ekrij3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Two school girls wearing masks play together in a classroom." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/393884/original/file-20210407-19-ekrij3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/393884/original/file-20210407-19-ekrij3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/393884/original/file-20210407-19-ekrij3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/393884/original/file-20210407-19-ekrij3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/393884/original/file-20210407-19-ekrij3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/393884/original/file-20210407-19-ekrij3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/393884/original/file-20210407-19-ekrij3.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">Promoting a positive attitude in the classroom can help students learn.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/joyful-school-girls-playing-clapping-game-while-royalty-free-image/1269827900?adppopup=true">FluxFactory/E+ via Getty Images</a></span>
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<h2>2. Foster positive emotions</h2>
<p>Positive emotions such as joy, pride and interest <a href="https://www.doi.org/10.1111/j.1750-8606.2011.00192.x">affect learning</a>. Experiencing positive emotions helps children be more aware, focused and ready to solve problems. </p>
<p>A fancy curriculum or a lot of time is not needed – adults can embed simple, easy-to-do strategies throughout the school day. These strategies can include helping students <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/17439760500510676">visualize their best possible selves</a> or practice calming breaths.</p>
<p>Figure out which techniques help children be their best. Some students may need to be physically active to boost positive emotions, whereas others may benefit from just being quiet and sitting still.</p>
<h2>3. Include adults</h2>
<p>Behavioral vaccines can apply across the entire school system – including for every teacher and adult in the setting. Just as with students, teachers can benefit from opportunities to choose and incorporate <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/pits.22279">strategies for reducing stress</a> and bolstering well-being. Peer-to-peer written praise notes, for example, have been found to work for <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/43694168">teachers</a> as well as students to increase positive feelings and connection.</p>
<p>Student well-being is connected to teacher well-being. Since the classroom is the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/10888691.2017.1398650">primary place</a> for nurturing child well-being in school, prioritizing each teacher’s well-being is critical.</p>
<h2>4. Be mindful of disciplinary practices</h2>
<p>As students return to fully in-person classes, they may bring social, emotional and behavior challenges. Recent estimates suggest over 37,000 students have already <a href="https://doi.org/10.1001/jamapediatrics.2021.0161">lost at least one parent</a> to COVID-19. Students also have missed time to learn and practice classroom skills, such as how to take turns, understand others’ perspectives or even work quietly. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1523698113">Being empathetic</a> toward student experiences will be critical to reducing reliance on suspensions and expulsions.</p>
<p>School teams must carefully monitor their use of exclusionary discipline to make sure it does not <a href="https://doi.org/10.3102/0034654318791582">disproportionately</a> affect certain subgroups, such as <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1808307116">Black students</a>, <a href="https://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2016-06-22/boys-bear-the-brunt-of-school-discipline">boys</a> or <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsp.2018.11.001">students with disabilities</a>.</p>
<h2>5. Recognize different student needs</h2>
<p>In typical circumstances, children <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/10888691.2018.1515296">develop at different rates, times and ways</a>. Every student will enter school with a different set of risks, some that were previously present and some magnified.</p>
<p>As British writer <a href="https://www.damianbarr.com/latest/damian-barr-george-takei-we-are-not-all-in-the-same-boat">Damian Barr</a> stated: “We are not all in the same boat. We are all in the same storm. Some are on super-yachts. Some have just the one oar.” Each child’s boat is different. Some will need more than others to keep moving in the right direction and stay afloat. </p>
<p>Schools need to be prepared to deliver different types and “doses” of behavioral vaccines. Having a variety of behavioral vaccines at the ready can help schools more quickly bring about well-being for all students.</p>
<p>[<em>Deep knowledge, daily.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=deepknowledge">Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/157298/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sandra M. Chafouleas receives funding from the Institute for Education Sciences, National Institutes for Health, and the Neag Foundation.</span></em></p>‘Behavior vaccines’ – practices meant to improve safety and well-being – have been around for years. An educational psychologist says they are particularly important for schools to adopt now.Sandra M. Chafouleas, Professor of Educational Psychology, University of ConnecticutLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1527012021-01-22T13:30:46Z2021-01-22T13:30:46Z‘Early warning’ systems in schools can be dangerous in the hands of law enforcement<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/379821/original/file-20210120-21-1vrjs7m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=8%2C0%2C5742%2C3837&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">School police officers walk in a hallway at a middle school.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/los-angeles-school-police-officer-henry-anderson-second-news-photo/496418630?adppopup=true">Irfan Khan/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>During the COVID-19 pandemic, many students are getting <a href="https://www.edweek.org/leadership/should-schools-be-giving-so-many-failing-grades-this-year/2020/12">lower grades and inconsistently attending classes</a>. For students in one Florida county, low grades and absenteeism may put them at risk of being labeled by law enforcement as potential criminals.</p>
<p>The Tampa Bay Times <a href="https://projects.tampabay.com/projects/2020/investigations/police-pasco-sheriff-targeted/school-data/">reported in late 2020</a> that the Pasco Sheriff’s Office uses student data to identify young people who, in its words, are “<a href="https://beta.documentcloud.org/documents/20412738-ilp_manual012918">destined to a life of crime</a>.” Pasco is a county of around 500,000 people just north of Tampa on Florida’s Gulf Coast.</p>
<p>The Pasco Sheriff’s Office uses grades, disciplinary histories, progress toward graduation and attendance records alongside justice system data to <a href="https://projects.tampabay.com/projects/2020/investigations/police-pasco-sheriff-targeted/school-data/">flag students as being at risk of committing crimes</a>. All it takes to be labeled as “<a href="https://projects.tampabay.com/projects/2020/investigations/police-pasco-sheriff-targeted/school-data/">at risk</a>” is getting a single D on a report card or a disciplinary referral. In the fall of 2020, over <a href="https://projects.tampabay.com/projects/2020/investigations/police-pasco-sheriff-targeted/school-data/">400 high schoolers were on the list</a>.</p>
<p>The case raises a number of questions about how student data is used and the role of law enforcement in schools.</p>
<h2>Program was secret</h2>
<p>Through the program, Pasco school resource officers are encouraged to work with high schools to provide services to these students to help them get “<a href="https://beta.documentcloud.org/documents/20412738-ilp_manual012918">back on track</a>.” However, <a href="https://www.tampabay.com/investigations/2020/12/11/what-pascos-elected-school-leaders-say-about-the-sheriffs-use-of-student-data/">Superintendent Kurt Browning</a>, <a href="https://projects.tampabay.com/projects/2020/investigations/police-pasco-sheriff-targeted/school-data/">several principals</a> and <a href="https://www.tampabay.com/investigations/2020/12/11/what-pascos-elected-school-leaders-say-about-the-sheriffs-use-of-student-data/">a member of the school board</a> have said they were unaware of the program’s use of data before the newspaper’s investigation.</p>
<p>According to the reporting, students and their parents are <a href="https://www.tampabay.com/investigations/2020/12/11/pasco-pta-use-of-school-data-to-flag-potential-criminals-unacceptable/">not notified</a> when students are identified as potential future criminals. </p>
<p>Student privacy experts have <a href="https://www.tampabay.com/investigations/2020/12/19/privacy-nonprofit-pasco-sheriffs-use-of-student-data-breaks-federal-law-school-district-contracts/">raised concerns</a> about the legality of such use of federally protected student data. On Jan. 19, U.S. Rep. Bobby Scott, the Virginia Democrat who chairs the House Committee on Education and Labor, <a href="https://edlabor.house.gov/imo/media/doc/21.01.19%20RCS%20to%20ED%20Re%20School%20District%20FERPA%20Violations.pdf">called</a> for a federal investigation into Pasco’s use of student data. <a href="https://edlabor.house.gov/imo/media/doc/21.01.19%20RCS%20to%20ED%20Re%20School%20District%20FERPA%20Violations.pdf">His letter states</a> that “pre-criminal categorization merely makes more concrete the schools-to-prison pipeline that is a result of institutional bias.”</p>
<p>This use of school records is part of a <a href="https://projects.tampabay.com/projects/2020/investigations/police-pasco-sheriff-targeted/intelligence-led-policing/">broader effort</a> in Pasco County to use data to reduce crime that it calls “<a href="https://pascosheriff.com/future-operations-division.html">intelligence-led policing</a>.” The sheriff’s office has been using <a href="https://projects.tampabay.com/projects/2020/investigations/police-pasco-sheriff-targeted/intelligence-led-policing/">similar approaches</a> to identify potential criminals outside of schools <a href="https://projects.tampabay.com/projects/2020/investigations/police-pasco-sheriff-targeted/intelligence-led-policing/">since 2011</a>.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.tampabay.com/investigations/2020/12/11/pasco-pta-use-of-school-data-to-flag-potential-criminals-unacceptable/">Pasco County parent teacher association and a number of teachers</a> have spoken out against the labeling of students as potential future criminals. Former sheriff’s office employees, journalists and criminal justice experts <a href="https://projects.tampabay.com/projects/2020/investigations/police-pasco-sheriff-targeted/intelligence-led-policing/">have criticized</a> the broader effort for being overly aggressive and not being based on research.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/379823/original/file-20210120-17-rotah2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A police officer interacts with students on a schoolyard." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/379823/original/file-20210120-17-rotah2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/379823/original/file-20210120-17-rotah2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/379823/original/file-20210120-17-rotah2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/379823/original/file-20210120-17-rotah2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/379823/original/file-20210120-17-rotah2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/379823/original/file-20210120-17-rotah2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/379823/original/file-20210120-17-rotah2.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>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A school police officer keeps an eye on students at a middle school during a lunch recess.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/los-angeles-school-police-officer-henry-anderson-during-a-news-photo/496418634?adppopup=true">Irfan Khan/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="https://projects.tampabay.com/projects/2020/investigations/police-pasco-sheriff-targeted/intelligence-led-policing/">News reports</a> indicate that officers have <a href="https://projects.tampabay.com/projects/2020/investigations/police-pasco-sheriff-targeted/body-cam-footage/">repeatedly visited homes and questioned individuals</a> without cause and gone after people for minor offenses. <a href="https://projects.tampabay.com/projects/2020/investigations/police-pasco-sheriff-targeted/intelligence-led-policing/">One former deputy described</a> a directive to “make their lives miserable until they move or sue.”</p>
<p>The Pasco Sheriff’s Office outlines how school resource officers seek to mentor identified students, but there are also accounts of <a href="https://projects.tampabay.com/projects/2020/investigations/police-pasco-sheriff-targeted/school-data/">interactions with these students resulting in arrests</a>.</p>
<p>While the sheriff’s office <a href="https://projects.tampabay.com/projects/2020/investigations/police-pasco-sheriff-targeted/sheriffs-response/">defends the program</a>, <a href="https://www.wcl.american.edu/community/faculty/profile/aferguson/bio">Andrew Guthrie Ferguson</a>, a legal scholar at American University, described the program manual as “<a href="https://projects.tampabay.com/projects/2020/investigations/police-pasco-sheriff-targeted/intelligence-led-policing/">everything that’s wrong about policing in one document</a>.” </p>
<h2>Dangers in labels</h2>
<p>As an <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=MTcxlxMAAAAJ&hl=en">education policy researcher</a> who studies school safety and discipline, I worry that labeling students as potential future criminals and relying on law enforcement to intervene may actually increase students’ future involvement with the justice system. That said, I recognize the potential of using data to inform interventions. In fact, there are <a href="http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/oct07/vol65/num02/An-Early-Warning-System.aspx">examples from educational research</a> of using data to <a href="https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED499009.pdf">identify students who need extra help and providing that help</a>.</p>
<p>About <a href="https://www2.ed.gov/rschstat/eval/high-school/early-warning-systems-brief.pdf">half of public high schools</a> nationally, including those in Pasco County, already use academic “<a href="https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED552306.pdf">early warning systems</a>.” Such systems enable educators to identify students who are at risk academically, such as being likely to drop out.</p>
<p>These systems often use measures similar to those used by the sheriff’s office – including discipline, attendance and class grades. While no early warning system perfectly identifies future outcomes, these factors are <a href="https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED498350.pdf">predictive</a> of <a href="https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED526421.pdf">dropout</a> as well as <a href="https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/449243">future delinquency</a>. In other words, these systems can help <a href="https://consortium.uchicago.edu/publications/track-indicator-predictor-high-school-graduation">identify students who need more support</a>.</p>
<p>The key, however, is not just identifying students who need help but actually intervening to support them. <a href="https://www.aclu.org/report/cops-and-no-counselors">Research</a> suggests <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1023/A:1011050217296">approaches</a> other than law enforcement may be most effective at doing so.</p>
<h2>What works</h2>
<p>Effective interventions <a href="https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED552306.pdf">often involve</a> teachers, principals, counselors, parents, students and community organizations. Nationally, more than 80% of schools with <a href="https://www2.ed.gov/rschstat/eval/high-school/early-warning-systems-brief.pdf">early warning systems collaborate</a> with administrators, teachers and parents to intervene. This can lead to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/10824669.2013.745181">productive partnerships</a> with families and students. When academic early warning systems are <a href="http://new.every1graduates.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/early-warning-article.pdf">combined with effective intervention</a>, they can produce some positive effects, such as <a href="https://ies.ed.gov/ncee/edlabs/projects/project.asp?projectID=388">reducing chronic absenteeism and failed classes</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED552306.pdf">Federal guidance</a> suggests schools intervene using a mix of classroomwide strategies, small-group interventions and <a href="http://www.rtinetwork.org/learn/what/whatisrti">interventions specifically tailored to identified students</a>. Such interventions focus on factors under school control, such as quality of instruction and relationships between students and teachers, rather than labeling students as deficient.</p>
<p>[<em>Deep knowledge, daily.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=deepknowledge">Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter</a>.]</p>
<h2>Increasing risks</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.worldcat.org/title/criminal-justice-theory-explanations-and-effects/oclc/1124778066">Labeling students</a> as “destined to a life of crime” may change how adults interact with them, increase the <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt5hj93f">surveillance of students</a> and actually make students more likely to engage in <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1745-9125.2003.tb01020.x">future criminal activity</a>. School police, that is, may interpret students’ developmentally normal behavior as criminal.</p>
<p>Indeed, while <a href="https://www.edweek.org/research-center/school-policing-results-of-a-national-survey-of-school-resource-officers">many school police officers mentor students</a>, their primary training is in law enforcement. Their presence tends to increase students’ likelihood of <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40894-015-0006-8">suspension</a> and <a href="https://education.ufl.edu/eprc/2020/09/02/research-report-the-expanding-presence-of-law-enforcement-in-florida-schools/">arrest</a>. Both suspensions and arrests are <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0022427816643135">predictors of later involvement with the justice system</a>.</p>
<p>What’s more, early warning systems are <a href="https://heinonline.org/HOL/Page?handle=hein.journals/geolr52&div=8&g_sent=1&casa_token=&collection=journals">not necessarily objective</a>. For example, <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/2332858419875440">Black students are disciplined at higher rates than white students, even for the same behaviors</a>. As a result, some students, including racial minorities, may be affected more by efforts to identify future criminals. A lack of transparency and lack of partnerships with other stakeholders increases this risk.</p>
<p>In the end, data and early warning systems can help identify students in need of support and positive intervention. The key is to intervene in ways that don’t themselves put students on a track to involvement in the justice system.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/152701/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>F. Chris Curran has previously received funding from the National Institute of Justice and the American Civil Liberties Union for research on school safety and policing.</span></em></p>A Florida sheriff has been using student records to flag students ‘destined’ for crime. Now a congressman is calling for a federal inquiry.F. Chris Curran, Associate Professor of Educational Leadership and Policy, University of FloridaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1512482020-12-14T13:21:54Z2020-12-14T13:21:54ZWhy getting back to ‘normal’ doesn’t have to involve police in schools<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/372607/original/file-20201202-24-w02ua4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C5463%2C3645&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Roughly half of public schools have a police presence.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/los-angeles-school-police-officer-henry-anderson-center-on-news-photo/496418636?adppopup=true">Irfan Khan/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Since COVID-19 forced many of America’s schools to teach kids remotely, parents and elected officials have been rightly concerned about when things will get back to normal.</p>
<p>But there are certain aspects of education where a return to a prepandemic “normal” may not be in the best interests of America’s students.</p>
<p>I believe that stationing large numbers of police officers inside public schools is one reality ripe for reform. I say this not only as a <a href="https://www.stanlitow.com/about">scholar of the politics of education</a>, but as former deputy chancellor of New York City’s public schools. I served right before New York City’s mayor at the time – Rudolph Giuliani – moved to have the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1998/09/16/nyregion/new-era-as-police-prepare-to-run-school-security.html">police department take over school security</a> for the city’s school system.</p>
<p>A look back at that decision – and its consequences – can help inform the ongoing discussion about whether or how police belong in America’s schools.</p>
<h2>Police takeover</h2>
<p>Upon becoming mayor in 1994, Giuliani moved forward with the extraordinary step of shifting the responsibility for school discipline <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1998/09/16/nyregion/new-era-as-police-prepare-to-run-school-security.html">to the New York City Police Department</a>, which he ultimately got the <a href="https://www.edweek.org/leadership/n-y-c-mayor-gains-control-over-schools/2002/06">then-independent</a> Board of Education to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1998/09/16/nyregion/new-era-as-police-prepare-to-run-school-security.html">approve in 1998</a>.</p>
<p>Giuliani wanted schools to have a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1993/11/09/nyregion/giuliani-sees-role-for-police-in-the-schools.html">more visible police presence</a>, even though there was evidence that <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1990/02/13/nyregion/violence-is-scarce-in-schools-police-find.html?searchResultPosition=8">violence in the city’s schools was rare</a>.</p>
<p>As the city’s deputy schools chancellor in the early 1990s, I opposed this move, as did <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1998/09/16/nyregion/new-era-as-police-prepare-to-run-school-security.html">then-Chancellor of Schools Ramón Cortines</a>, and his successor, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1998/09/16/nyregion/new-era-as-police-prepare-to-run-school-security.html">Rudy Crew</a>. We all expressed concerns that it would not make schools safer, but would negatively affect the entire school climate and impede educational progress. </p>
<p>At the time, when the Division of School Safety reported to me, it had roughly <a href="https://www.cdfny.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2019/10/CDF-NY-Report-History-of-Policing-in-NYC-Public-Schools.pdf">2,900 school safety officers</a> – none of whom were police officers – and a budget of about <a href="https://www.cdfny.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2019/10/CDF-NY-Report-History-of-Policing-in-NYC-Public-Schools.pdf">US$72 million</a>. By 2020 under New York City’s police force, staffing for school safety officers roughly doubled in size, growing to <a href="https://www.politico.com/states/new-york/albany/story/2020/07/02/school-safety-agents-will-stay-under-nypd-this-year-despite-citys-claims-of-1b-cut-1296868">5,511</a>.</p>
<p>And some budget reports now document spending growing to over <a href="https://www.cdfny.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2019/09/NYPD-School-Safety-Budget-Explainer.pdf">$400 million</a>. But the massive spike in staffing and spending is part of a larger social justice problem known as the “<a href="http://www.justicepolicy.org/news/8775">school-to-prison pipeline</a>,” in which exposure to the justice system takes place as a result of even minor infractions at school.</p>
<h2>Disparities in discipline</h2>
<p>Nationally, Black boys get suspended once or more during the school year at more than <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/2332858419844613">three times the rate</a> that white boys do. In one state, Indiana, Black students’ probability of being suspended or expelled in a school year is <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/2332858419844613">roughly 16% higher</a> than it is for white students.</p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1808307116">Research</a> has shown that Black students are “more likely to be seen as problematic and more likely to be punished than white students are for the same offense.”</p>
<p>In the 2018 school year, <a href="https://www.aclu.org/sites/default/files/field_document/030419-acluschooldisciplinereport.pdf">roughly half of U.S. schools</a> had some law enforcement officials stationed in them. This is evidence that many U.S. school systems have been following a more visible form of school discipline with closer and deeper connections to policing and law enforcement than in the past.</p>
<h2>Alternatives to police</h2>
<p>I believe there is a different way.</p>
<p>School districts such as <a href="https://edsource.org/2020/oakland-school-board-unanimously-agrees-to-eliminate-its-police-force/634544">Oakland</a>, California, and <a href="https://coloradosun.com/2020/06/11/denver-public-schools-police/">Denver</a>, Colorado, have moved to eliminate or phase out police presence in schools.</p>
<p>There are plans to use the savings, at least in the case of Oakland, toward more counselors, social workers and workers who focus on <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0044118X12473125">restorative justice</a>, which involves practices such as peer mediation, restitution and community service instead of punitive measures, such as suspension or expulsion.</p>
<p>The results of pilot studies in both Oakland and Denver were quite positive. In Oakland, <a href="https://www.ousd.org/cms/lib07/CA01001176/Centricity/Domain/134/OUSD-RJ%20Report%20revised%20Final.pdf">graduation rates increased 60%</a> in schools that implemented restorative justice practices, and <a href="https://www.ousd.org/cms/lib07/CA01001176/Centricity/Domain/134/OUSD-RJ%20Report%20revised%20Final.pdf">suspensions fell by 56%</a>.</p>
<p>The incoming administration – through the U.S. Department of Education – has an opportunity to focus attention and resources away from having more police in schools. Instead, the administration of President-elect Joe Biden can provide funding incentives that would encourage school districts to increase school safety and school success, by investing more heavily in counselors and other forms of student support.</p>
<p>As I see it, by doing so, America’s schools will be safe, but also <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">more students will graduate</a> and fewer young people will be fed into the school-to-prison pipeline.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/151248/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stanley S. Litow 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>A former deputy chancellor of New York City schools explains why the police don’t need to patrol the nation’s public schools.Stanley S. Litow, Visting Professor of the Pratice, Public Policy, Duke UniversityLicensed 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/1422372020-07-21T12:07:17Z2020-07-21T12:07:17ZNew teachers mistakenly assume Black students are angry<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/347461/original/file-20200714-38-1dpfixv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=235%2C121%2C4013%2C2382&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">African American students are disproportionately punished, starting in preschool.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/12from-left-to-right-musa-zaid-mekhi-love-simone-dillard-9-news-photo/148455435">Marvin Joseph/The Washington Post 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 about interesting academic work.</em></p>
<h2>The big idea</h2>
<p>College students who are training to become teachers are 36% more likely to mistakenly believe that a <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1037/emo0000756">Black child is angry</a> when that child isn’t making an angry face than if a white child makes the same facial expression, according to our new study.</p>
<p>We determined this by having a group of 72 Black and white child actors trained by experts to <a href="https://www.paulekman.com/facial-action-coding-system/">make specific facial muscle movements</a>. For example, to come across as surprised, the children raised their eyebrows and widened their eyes. To convey anger, the children furrowed their eyebrows and tightened their lips.</p>
<p>We designed our study this way to make sure that no one could say maybe the Black children were making angry faces more often than the white children. They absolutely were not.</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>
<p>Then we had teachers-in-training watch videos of the children making facial expressions and we asked them to identify each emotion they saw. </p>
<h2>Why it matters</h2>
<p>Black children are three times <a href="https://www.vox.com/identities/2018/4/5/17199810/school-discipline-race-racism-gao">more likely to be suspended or expelled</a> from school <a href="https://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-18-258">than their white classmates</a>.</p>
<p>This problem begins early on, <a href="https://news.yale.edu/2005/05/17/pre-k-students-expelled-more-three-times-rate-k-12-students">before kids even make it to kindergarten</a>. Black children also tend to <a href="https://www.nyu.edu/about/news-publications/news/2017/may/teacher-racial-bias-matters-more-for-students-of-color-.html">feel less understood</a> by their teachers than white children.</p>
<p>The potential consequences of poor <a href="https://www.apa.org/education/k12/relationships">relationships between students and their teachers</a> and <a href="https://www.vox.com/identities/2018/4/5/17199810/school-discipline-race-racism-gao">school discipline</a> can be long-term and last well into adulthood.</p>
<h2>What other research is being done</h2>
<p>Previously, researchers had determined that college students who aspire to become teachers are more likely to misread <a href="https://newsone.com/3818905/racial-angry-bias-educators-study/">Black adults’ emotions</a>, as compared to sensing what white adults are feeling, and that they mistakenly believe that Black adults are angry when they are not feeling angry.</p>
<p>This is the first time that a study has shown that teachers are prone to mistakenly seeing anger where none exists in Black children as well.</p>
<h2>What still isn’t known</h2>
<p>There are signs teachers are not the only adults who mistakenly see Black children as angry and overreact and sometimes the consequences are tragic.</p>
<p>In 2019, for example, a police officer in Orlando, Florida, <a href="https://theconversation.com/video-of-6-year-old-girls-arrest-shows-the-perils-of-putting-police-in-primary-schools-132637">arrested two Black 6-year-olds</a> while they were at school, traumatizing them. And a police officer in Cleveland, Ohio, killed <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/in-depth/news/2020/06/22/tamir-rices-mother-fights-racism-america-and-police-brutality/3116710001/">Tamir Rice</a> in 2014, when the 12-year-old boy was playing with a toy gun in a public park.</p>
<p>There are probably many other professions for which there are consequences if people mistakenly perceive that a Black person is angry. We believe it’s <a href="https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/four_ways_teachers_can_reduce_implicit_bias">worth it for everyone to make an effort</a> to try to break this pattern.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/142237/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alison Cooke received funding from William T. Grant Foundation and the Carolina Consortium on Human Development.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Amy Halberstadt received funding for this research from the William T. Grant Foundation. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Pamela Watkins Garner received funding from the William T. Grant Foundation and the Center for the Advancement of Well Being at George Mason University. She is a also a board member at iSchool for the Future in Fairfax, Virginia.</span></em></p>These new findings could help explain why Black students are more likely to be suspended, expelled or otherwise disciplined than other children.Alison Cooke, Ph.D. Candidate of Psychology, North Carolina State UniversityAmy Halberstadt, Professor of Psychology, North Carolina State UniversityPamela Watkins Garner, Professor of Childhood Studies, George Mason UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1304452020-02-06T13:45:31Z2020-02-06T13:45:31ZViolence and other forms of abuse against teachers: 5 questions answered<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/313407/original/file-20200203-41527-yi5yad.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Teachers can suffer abuse on the job.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/teacher-man-using-glasses-sleepy-expression-1080089846">Krakenimages.com/Shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>Concerns about <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/youthviolence/schoolviolence/fastfact.html">violence and other forms of abuse in schools</a> typically emphasize the safety of students. But teachers and other school staff also suffer acts of violence and abuse. A group of scholars on a <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1037/a0031307">task force</a> organized by the American Psychological Association <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=Awl0ddQAAAAJ">studying</a> <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=9prRmY0AAAAJ">violence</a> <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=p1Gew10AAAAJ">against teachers</a> shine light on the <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=BKR3GeEAAAAJ">extent</a> and nature of <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=a2br4Y0AAAAJ">this problem</a>.</em></p>
<h2>1. How common are violence and other forms of abuse against teachers?</h2>
<p>In 2010, soon after we began to look at this issue, we administered a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/pits.21777">nationwide survey</a> to assess the extent of violence perpetrated against the <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=28">3.6 million teachers</a> in U.S. public schools. The roughly 3,000 teachers from 48 states who participated were comparable to the population of teachers in the United States. About 80% said they had personally experienced some form of violence or abuse within the current or past year.</p>
<p>But, according to the <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/pdf/School_Violence_Fact_Sheet-a.pdf">Centers for Disease Control and Prevention</a>, in 2014, only 9% of U.S. teachers recounted being threatened with injury, and 5% said they were physically attacked in the current or prior year. We believe that the actual numbers could be much higher, as our research indicates, because teachers may fear that reporting these incidents could jeopardize their jobs. </p>
<p>The forms of violence and abuse teachers described varied greatly in our survey. For example, nearly 75% said they had been <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/pits.21777">harassed at least once</a> during the previous year, more than half experienced damage to their cars or other property and almost half experienced some type of physical attack. One teacher told us that “my keys have been stolen, my tires slashed, and my car was keyed,” while another described having “been hit, spit at, bitten, kicked, pushed, had things thrown at me, had someone try to stab me in my eye with a pencil.” Another said “I was threatened by a student at a school after I reported to the security officer that he was beating up another student. The officer did nothing and when the student saw me again he called me a rat and threatened me.” </p>
<h2>2. Who attacks teachers?</h2>
<p>Although students committed most of these violent acts, parents and even other school employees were responsible for some of these incidents. Among the teachers in our sample who had been victimized at least once, 37% said the parents of students were responsible and 21% relayed incidents by their own colleagues. Most of those incidents involved some type of harassment rather than physical attacks.</p>
<h2>3. Where does this happen?</h2>
<p>We asked the teachers who told us about being victimized to think about all of the times they experienced either violence or abuse at school and to describe the most upsetting incident. We found that <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1037/vio0000256">high school teachers</a> were more likely to say they were threatened than elementary school teachers. Indeed, <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23398708">threats expressed verbally</a> are more frequent for teachers of older students compared with younger students. However, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/pits.21777">elementary school teachers</a> were more likely to be subjected to physical abuse or even be assaulted than teachers who work at middle and high schools.</p>
<h2>4. How do teachers respond?</h2>
<p>Although you might expect that teachers would tell school administrators about all these incidents, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s11218-018-9438-x">1 out of 5</a> of the teachers who told us about an incident said they never did that. What’s more, while the vast majority of teachers (87%) discussed the incident with another teacher, only 12% of the teachers spoke to a counselor or a mental health professional about the incident.</p>
<p>There are many reasons why teachers might not want to talk about these incidents. Some may feel embarrassed or worry about losing their jobs. Others may fear that they won’t be taken seriously. In one case, a teacher told us about seeing a student walking around in an unauthorized area. The school expelled the student, who had already been suspended several times for other serious infractions. At the end of the day, the student tracked down the teacher outside of a classroom and threatened the teacher, saying “I know where you live and I know your people. You better watch out.” The teacher then reported this incident to school administrators, but she was simply “laughed off by the administration.”</p>
<p>The administrators told the teacher that they felt the problem had been appropriately addressed, since they had expelled the student, and she would no longer be attending the school.</p>
<h2>5. What’s next for your research?</h2>
<p>Our task force is now studying how the way schools are managed and their <a href="https://theconversation.com/culture-of-trust-is-key-for-school-safety-92731">overall cultures</a> might actually be creating the conditions that lead to teacher assaults. We are also examining the relationship between safety issues in general and violence against educators. For example, we are looking into the cumulative effects of <a href="https://theconversation.com/school-shootings-prompted-protests-debates-about-best-ways-to-keep-students-safe-5-essential-reads-108976">school shootings</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/do-lockdown-drills-do-any-good-126913">lockdown drills</a> and the impact of <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-trumps-idea-to-arm-teachers-may-miss-the-mark-92335">arming teachers</a>. Although many teachers never personally experience violence, these incidents can be life-changing for those who do.</p>
<p><em><a href="https://www.researchgate.net/scientific-contributions/2003123516_Rena_F_Subotnik">Rena Subotnik</a>, director of the American Psychological Association’s Center for Psychology in the Schools and Education, contributed to this article.</em></p>
<p>[ <em>Like what you’ve read? Want more?</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=likethis">Sign up for The Conversation’s daily newsletter</a>. ]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/130445/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Eric M. Anderman receives funding from the U.S. Department of Education, the National Institutes of Health, and the American Psychological Association.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dorothy Espelage, Linda A. Reddy, Ron Avi Astor, and Susan McMahon 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>From being subjected to harassment and threats to getting assaulted or having their cars keyed, many American teachers are being victimized.Eric M. Anderman, Professor of Educational Psychology and Quantitative Research, Evaluation, and Measurement, The Ohio State UniversityDorothy Espelage, Professor of Psychology, University of North Carolina at Chapel HillLinda A. Reddy, Professor of Psychology & Assistant to the Dean for Research and Innovations, Rutgers UniversityRon Avi Astor, Crump Endowed Chair, Professor of Social Welfare and Education, University of California, Los AngelesSusan McMahon, Professor of Clinical and Community Psychology; Associate Dean for Research, DePaul UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1243382019-10-17T11:40:18Z2019-10-17T11:40:18ZA UN treaty guarantees youth rights everywhere on Earth – except the United States<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/297352/original/file-20191016-98636-gyk83a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C5246%2C1770&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Greta Thunberg speaks out alongside other youth plaintiffs at the UN.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/South-Sudan-Hunger-in-School/dbb9bdb9eb7944c0b4829440501f3924/19/0">AP Photo/Sam Mednick</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Fifteen kids from a dozen countries, including Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, recently brought a <a href="https://childrenvsclimatecrisis.org/">formal complaint</a> to the United Nations. They’re arguing that climate change violates children’s rights as guaranteed by the <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/en/professionalinterest/pages/crc.aspx">Convention on the Rights of the Child</a>, a global agreement.</p>
<p>By petitioning the U.N. on behalf of the world’s children, their action <a href="http://opic.childrightsconnect.org/crc-pending-cases/">made history</a>. But it’s not the first time that kids have turned to this international accord in pursuit of social change.</p>
<p>As I explain in my book, “<a href="https://nyupress.org/9781479854509/the-kids-are-in-charge/">The Kids Are in Charge</a>,” the Convention on the Rights of the Child isn’t just a legal document. It also sends kids an important message: that they matter, that their voices are important and that they deserve to be heard. When countries join this agreement, which <a href="https://treaties.un.org/Pages/ViewDetails.aspx?src=IND&mtdsg_no=IV-11&chapter=4&lang=en">took effect in 1990</a>, they pledge to work toward aligning <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/13642987.2018.1558974">their own laws</a> with its principles.</p>
<h2>Banning corporal punishment</h2>
<p>The convention formally recognizes children as people with universal human rights and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-4560.2008.00585.x">specific rights because of their age</a>. It reflects <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139033312">a shift</a> away from seeing children entirely as the possessions of their parents to treating them as individuals with equal rights and their own interests.</p>
<p>Many countries have taken action to promote children’s rights and well-being based in part on its mandate. For example, <a href="http://www.capetalk.co.za/articles/277432/children-s-institute-gives-ban-on-corporal-punishment-the-thumbs-up">South Africa</a> recently became the 57th country to <a href="https://endcorporalpunishment.org/countdown/">prohibit corporal punishment</a> – any act intended to cause pain or discomfort, such as paddling and spanking – in all settings, including schools and homes.</p>
<p>Corporal punishment remains <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5766273/">legal in public schools</a> in <a href="https://theconversation.com/in-19-states-its-okay-to-hit-kids-with-a-wooden-board-47744">19 American states</a> and <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/nfl-controversy/corporal-punishment-legal-common-n2044160">no state</a> has <a href="https://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/142/6/e20183112">outlawed the practice for parents</a>.</p>
<p>In Ireland, a 2012 constitutional amendment gave kids <a href="https://doi.org/10.2838/45596">the right to be heard in custody hearings and other court proceedings</a>. And in Nigeria, the federal government <a href="https://www.unicef.org/children_1938.html">created a children’s parliament</a> and incorporated the perspectives of minors when drafting that country’s <a href="https://www.refworld.org/docid/5568201f4.html">Children’s Rights Act</a>.</p>
<p>President <a href="https://www.salon.com/2018/09/16/donald-trump-vs-international-law-overturning-the-legacy-of-eleanor-roosevelt/">Bill Clinton signed this convention in 1995</a>. But the U.S. Congress has never ratified this accord.</p>
<p>In fact, the U.S. is the <a href="https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/15/TreatyBodyExternal/Treaty.aspx?Treaty=CRC&Lang=en">only country</a> that has refused to embrace the world’s most-ratified human rights agreement. It has 196 signatories including all of the U.N. member states <a href="https://www.kidsrightsindex.org/Methodology/FAQs">except the U.S.</a> plus some U.N. observers and non-members, such as Palestine, the Holy See and the South Pacific territories of Cook Islands and Niue. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/297358/original/file-20191016-98661-aghma.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/297358/original/file-20191016-98661-aghma.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/297358/original/file-20191016-98661-aghma.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/297358/original/file-20191016-98661-aghma.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/297358/original/file-20191016-98661-aghma.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/297358/original/file-20191016-98661-aghma.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/297358/original/file-20191016-98661-aghma.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/297358/original/file-20191016-98661-aghma.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>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Indian children protested the 2017 chemical attacks in Syria that killed dozens of people, including children.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/India-Syria-Children/53f238e83d0b4b8b9796740168e46a6f/14/0">AP Photo /Tsering Topgyal</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Empowering kids to advocate for kids</h2>
<p>Kids and their communities don’t necessarily have to know about the legal details of the treaty to embrace the idea of children’s rights and <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/reconceptualizing-childrens-rights-in-international-development/49090BE2C3C3889979761548B0D7984A">make it their own</a>. </p>
<p>Researchers working in different contexts around the world have found that learning about the convention and their rights increases children’s <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/13676261.2010.506528">feelings of self-esteem and self-worth</a>, promotes <a href="https://utorontopress.com/us/empowering-children-4">social responsibility</a> and improves their <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/00131881.2011.572367">relationships with their schools, teachers and each other</a>.</p>
<p>According to a report from the Centre for Children’s Rights at Queen’s University Belfast and Save the Children International, a humanitarian nonprofit, it can also <a href="https://resourcecentre.savethechildren.net/library/enabling-exercise-civil-and-political-rights-views-children">motivate kids to stand up for themselves</a> and to defend their peers in the face of discrimination, violence or other rights violations. </p>
<p>In my own <a href="https://nyupress.org/9781479854509/the-kids-are-in-charge/">research on working children’s activism in Peru</a>, kids shared how learning about their rights empowered them to speak out about injustices they encountered in their families, schools and communities.</p>
<p>A boy I’ll call Diego, for example, told me that knowing about the convention gave him the confidence to go to his school principal and complain about a teacher who was being verbally abusive toward students. Because of his involvement in an organization that talks about children’s rights, he told me he “knew about my right to a quality education, and I knew that we, the students, could defend that right.”</p>
<p>Meanwhile, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/may/06/nearly-1000-stateless-children-forced-to-pay-uk-citizenship-fees">British kids</a> are drawing on the convention in their campaign to lower the fees for citizenship applications. At more than 1,000 British pounds – roughly equal to US$1,300 – fees are so high that some British-born children who are eligible for citizenship, and would otherwise become citizens, don’t apply.</p>
<p>Children in India have used the convention to persuade their local governments to create <a href="http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7721/chilyoutenvi.18.2.0197">children’s councils</a>, where kids could be heard by adult political leaders. In the council in the small village of <a href="http://www.onefivenine.com/india/villages/Udupi/Kundapura/Keradi">Keradi</a>, children were concerned about alcoholism in their community because they saw it contributing to violence. They raised awareness of the problem and successfully pushed the local government to shut down unlicensed alcohol vendors.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/297356/original/file-20191016-98653-1lvem3l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/297356/original/file-20191016-98653-1lvem3l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/297356/original/file-20191016-98653-1lvem3l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/297356/original/file-20191016-98653-1lvem3l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/297356/original/file-20191016-98653-1lvem3l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/297356/original/file-20191016-98653-1lvem3l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/297356/original/file-20191016-98653-1lvem3l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/297356/original/file-20191016-98653-1lvem3l.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>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A 2018 protest against the separation of immigrant families on Capitol Hill in Washington.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Immigration-Separating-Families/01237ac5a9dd4efebbba28168ac74cad/191/0">AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Trying children and teens as adults</h2>
<p>If the U.S. were to finally ratify this convention, it could lead to changes in some national, state and local laws.</p>
<p>One notable children’s rights violation in the United States today is the <a href="https://news.un.org/en/story/2018/10/1023712">separation of migrant children</a> from <a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2019/07/12/migrant-children-are-still-being-separated-parents-data-show/">their parents</a>. Others include the <a href="https://lbj.utexas.edu/news/2015/why-are-we-trying-kids-adults">practice of trying children</a> as <a href="https://www.ojjdp.gov/ojstatBB/structure_process/qa04113.asp?qaDate=2016&text=yes&maplink=link1">young as 10 years old as adults</a> in criminal courts and locking up minors convicted of crimes in <a href="http://www.oas.org/en/iachr/reports/pdfs/Children-USA.pdf">adult prisons</a> – <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/us/youth-solitary-confinement-continues-despite-health-and-civil-demands">at times</a> in <a href="http://www.ncsl.org/research/civil-and-criminal-justice/states-that-limit-or-prohibit-juvenile-shackling-and-solitary-confinement635572628.aspx">solitary confinement</a>.</p>
<p>To be sure, the U.S. has made some strides toward strengthening childrens’ rights.</p>
<p>In 2005, for example, the Supreme Court removed one of the most significant differences between U.S. law and the convention when it <a href="https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4518051">abolished the death penalty for minors</a>. And in 2012 the court ruled that the practice of handing children <a href="https://cas.uab.edu/humanrights/2018/11/19/childrens-rights-in-the-united-states/">mandatory life-without-parole sentences</a> is <a href="https://www.ap.org/explore/locked-up-for-life/Miller-v-Alabama-and-Jackson-v-Hobbs">unconstitutional</a>. </p>
<p>Because the international agreement encourages governments to include children’s voices in decisions that affect them, I believe that ratification would support efforts by U.S. kids to address the social, environmental and legal problems they care about most. Young activists fighting to advance climate justice, end gun violence and increase racial equity would all have the convention behind them when they speak out.</p>
<p>[ <em>Like what you’ve read? Want more?</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=likethis">Sign up for The Conversation’s daily newsletter</a>. ]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/124338/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jessica Taft has received funding from the American Sociological Association's Fund for the Advancement of the Discipline, the National Science Foundation, and the Kellogg Institute for International Studies at the University of Notre Dame. </span></em></p>The Convention on the Rights of the Child is empowering children around the world by encouraging them to see themselves as important and valuable members of society.Jessica Taft, Associate Professor of Latin American & Latino Studies, University of California, Santa CruzLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1242292019-09-27T11:18:40Z2019-09-27T11:18:40ZArrests of 6-year-olds shows the perils of putting police in primary schools<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/294445/original/file-20190926-51457-1exg1go.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The portion of primary schools that have police officers on site has risen dramatically in recent years.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/school-safety-concept-armed-police-officer-1187360677?src=ocghqa7RmxzsyoPWe0SN1Q-1-0">Simone Hogan/Shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>When states like Florida <a href="https://www.campussafetymagazine.com/safety/explaining-floridas-new-school-safety-law/">pass laws</a> to put more police officers in schools, the idea is to keep kids safe.</p>
<p>But as the arrest of two six-year-olds in a Florida school in October has shown, sometimes one threat to the students is the officers themselves. </p>
<p>Instead of being protected, these very young students were <a href="https://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/crime/os-ne-child-arrests-prompt-response-outrage-20190923-q7jghgig3ngtblxcl4aeou5evy-story.html">placed in handcuffs and arrested</a>. Each one faced <a href="https://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/crime/os-ne-child-arrests-prompt-response-outrage-20190923-q7jghgig3ngtblxcl4aeou5evy-story.html">misdemeanor battery charges</a> as a result of behavioral outbursts at school, including one instance in which one of the children <a href="https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/florida-police-officer-arrested-handcuffed-150825644.html">kicked a school staffer</a>.</p>
<p>While the arrests of the two elementary students in Orlando are not everyday occurrences, they do reflect a <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40894-015-0006-8">body of research</a> that suggests cops in schools – they are formally known as school resource officers, or SROs – can take what would otherwise be a routine school disciplinary situation and escalate it to a whole different level.</p>
<p>I base that assertion on my work as a <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=MTcxlxMAAAAJ&hl=en">researcher</a> who has studied school discipline, school safety and the role of school resource officers in elementary schools.</p>
<p>My work sheds light on the potential unintended consequences of school resource officers – as well as ways that school leaders can prevent situations like the arrests that unfolded in Orlando.</p>
<h2>A growing presence</h2>
<p>School resource officers, who are sworn officers with full arrest powers, are increasingly common in primary schools. Between 2005 and 2015, the percentage of primary schools with school resource officers <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/pubs2018/2018036.pdf">increased 64%</a>. Now, nearly one in three elementary schools has one of these officers at least part-time.</p>
<p>This trend is set to continue as states like <a href="http://www.leg.state.fl.us/Statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&URL=1000-1099/1006/Sections/1006.12.html">Florida</a> and <a href="http://www.ciclt.net/sn/leg/l_detail2.aspx?ClientCode=mdcounties&L_ID=1655419&L_State=md&L_Session=2018&L_Prior=2017">Maryland</a> passed legislation in 2018 to increase the presence of police to all schools.</p>
<h2>Response to student behavior</h2>
<p>Certainly, elementary schools must occasionally deal with violent behavior. In fact, my colleagues and I have found that as many as 12% of teachers <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15388220.2017.1368394">experience threats of or actual physical attacks from students</a> each year. Indeed, in the case in Orlando, one of the six-year-olds was arrested in part for <a href="https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/florida-police-officer-arrested-handcuffed-150825644.html">kicking a staff member during an outburst</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/294405/original/file-20190926-51410-wi46ww.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/294405/original/file-20190926-51410-wi46ww.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/294405/original/file-20190926-51410-wi46ww.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/294405/original/file-20190926-51410-wi46ww.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/294405/original/file-20190926-51410-wi46ww.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/294405/original/file-20190926-51410-wi46ww.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/294405/original/file-20190926-51410-wi46ww.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">In 2012, kindergartner Salecia Johnson, then 6, was handcuffed by police after she threw a tantrum at her school. A police report stated the girl knocked over a shelf that injured the principal.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/APTOPIX-Kindergartner-Handcuffed/cab3c899dd674379880bdfa273f04453/1/0">AP Photo/WMAZ-13 TV</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>What’s increasingly changing, however, is how schools respond to these violent incidents. The presence of police in schools has been shown to <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/pam.21954">increase the likelihood that students are arrested</a> for school misconduct. For example, prior research has found that police agencies that get funding for school police <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/pam.21954">increase arrests</a> of youth under age 15 by as much as 21%. This may be because the presence of police can <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/Homeroom_Security.html?id=BzacO6Vl1tQC">shift the mindset of schools</a> to one that is more about punishment than it is about teaching students why their behavior is wrong and what they can do to make amends.</p>
<p>In our work, we have found that even when school district policy specifies that school resource officers should not be involved in discipline, many of the officers interpret this policy differently. For example, school resource officers may use their proximity to deter misbehavior, may pull misbehaving students aside to talk or may be present while school personnel interrogate or search students.</p>
<p>School officials have a <a href="http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/dec01/vol59/num04/The-Right-to-Search-Students.aspx">lower standard to justify a search</a> than law enforcement. Similarly, school officials can interrogate students without providing a <a href="https://caselaw.findlaw.com/ky-supreme-court/1629318.html">Miranda warning</a> – the legally required notice of the right to remain silent or have legal counsel that police must give when they have someone in custody. So, if officers are present during interrogations or searches in schools, it could enable them to bypass legal protections that exist outside of schools.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/294238/original/file-20190925-51438-1pyb1t3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/294238/original/file-20190925-51438-1pyb1t3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/294238/original/file-20190925-51438-1pyb1t3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/294238/original/file-20190925-51438-1pyb1t3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/294238/original/file-20190925-51438-1pyb1t3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/294238/original/file-20190925-51438-1pyb1t3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/294238/original/file-20190925-51438-1pyb1t3.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">A school police officer stands watch as students eat lunch at a school in Ohio.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/sidney-oh-october-6-2014-security-1231697209?src=6oqAK3MgGXFwyuOzrFxlUw-1-1">Kate Way/Shuttterstock.com</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>School resource officers are trained primarily as law enforcement agents. It should, therefore, be little surprise that they sometimes <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/2CR8E5daVIVbzqwAYgh2/full?target=10.1080/15388220.2019.1604377">default to responses like arrest</a>.</p>
<h2>Keeping school police in check</h2>
<p>Florida State Attorney Aramis Ayala <a href="https://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/crime/os-ne-child-arrests-prompt-response-outrage-20190923-q7jghgig3ngtblxcl4aeou5evy-story.html">declined to prosecute</a> the students arrested in Orlando. She said she refuses to “knowingly play any role in the school-to-prison pipeline.”</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/294439/original/file-20190926-51438-hbbnnq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/294439/original/file-20190926-51438-hbbnnq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/294439/original/file-20190926-51438-hbbnnq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/294439/original/file-20190926-51438-hbbnnq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/294439/original/file-20190926-51438-hbbnnq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/294439/original/file-20190926-51438-hbbnnq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/294439/original/file-20190926-51438-hbbnnq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/294439/original/file-20190926-51438-hbbnnq.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>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Florida State Attorney Aramis Ayala speaks at a news conference Monday, Sept. 23, 2019, in Orlando, Florida. She confirmed that her office would not prosecute two 6-year-old students that were arrested by an Orlando police officer .</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Tantrum-Arrest/8dd5891b42a84a16a9f9f99084a78ba8/2/0">AP Photo/John Raoux</a></span>
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<p>The local police agency has <a href="https://www.mynews13.com/fl/orlando/news/2019/09/23/outrage-sparked-over-sro-arrests-of-6-and-8-year-old">fired the officer</a> involved, citing violation of their policy requiring supervisor approval of arrests of children below 12 years of age.</p>
<p>While these actions demonstrate a commitment by state and local leaders to avoid repeats of this incident, there are other ways that schools can prevent student misconduct from ever reaching the point of an arrest.</p>
<p>Our work suggests that schools and law enforcement agencies should have clear, mutually agreed upon guidelines for when school resource officers become involved in student misbehavior. </p>
<p>In interviews with school resource officers, we find that many are responsive to district policy that prohibits involvement in discipline. Yet, nationally, around <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/pubs2018/2018107.pdf">half of schools</a> with school resource officers do not include language around school discipline or arrests in formal agreements with law enforcement. Based on our research, we conclude that school resource officers should only get involved in cases of very serious legal violations such as a weapon or acts or threats of violence and should take into consideration the age of students involved and circumstances of the situation.</p>
<h2>Educators need training</h2>
<p>We have found that many times, a school resource officer’s involvement in student discipline comes as a result of pressure from teachers and administrators to be involved. For example, in our ongoing interviews with school resource officers and school personnel, we encounter a number of principals and teachers who specifically ask the school resource officer to lecture students on misconduct, be present for disciplinary hearings, and, in some cases, go to a classroom to handle a defiant student instead of leaving that work to the principal.</p>
<p>Instead of asking school resource officers to help out with matters of discipline, in my view, teachers and school administrators should be given training and resources that equip them to respond to student misconduct without relying on school police. In a <a href="https://fordhaminstitute.org/national/research/discipline-reform-through-the-eyes-of-teachers">recent national report</a>, almost 50% of teachers reported having to put up with misbehavior due to a lack of administrative support. Only 6% of teachers thought schools should hire additional police to help with student behavior. Instead, they preferred that resources be put to additional mental health professionals, teaching assistants and social workers.</p>
<p>Similarly, school resource officers should be given training that emphasizes the developmental stages of students and how to respond to student misconduct. As others have noted, training for school resource officers is <a href="https://theconversation.com/school-resource-officers-can-prevent-tragedies-but-training-is-key-93778">often limited and varies in length and quality across districts</a>. Nationally, 93% of school resource officers <a href="https://www.edweek.org/media/school-resource-officer-survey-copyright-education-week.pdf">report</a> training for active shooters. However, only about one third report training in child trauma or the teenage brain.</p>
<p>It is critical to keep students safe in school. That said, districts should carefully consider whether police should be in schools and, if present, what role they should play in student misconduct.</p>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>F. Chris Curran receives funding from the National Institute of Justice for ongoing research on school resource officers.</span></em></p>About one-third of America’s primary schools have a school police officer on hand. Do these officers make schools safer, or are they turning primary schools into mini police precincts?F. Chris Curran, Associate Professor of Educational Leadership and Policy, University of FloridaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1182362019-07-31T11:42:02Z2019-07-31T11:42:02ZSchool spankings are banned just about everywhere around the world except in US<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/286064/original/file-20190729-43153-1z0v46t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Corporal punishment in schools around the world is disappearing, but a handful of countries have held on to the practice.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/blurred-background-teacher-punishes-students-role-1278774922?src=7N1DGgZKbuNknChJuA8yvA-1-54&studio=1">Cat Act Art/Shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In 1970, only three countries – <a href="https://endcorporalpunishment.org/reports-on-every-state-and-territory/italy/">Italy</a>, <a href="https://endcorporalpunishment.org/reports-on-every-state-and-territory/japan/">Japan</a> and <a href="https://endcorporalpunishment.org/reports-on-every-state-and-territory/mauritius/">Mauritius</a> – banned corporal punishment in schools. By 2016, <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13548506.2016.1271955#_i4">more than 100 countries</a> banned the practice, which allows teachers to legally hit, paddle or spank students for misbehavior.</p>
<p>The dramatic increase in bans on corporal punishment in schools is documented in an analysis that we conducted recently to learn more about the forces behind the trend. The analysis is available as a <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3429160">working paper</a>.</p>
<p>In order to figure out what circumstances led to bans, we looked at a variety of political, legal, demographic, religious and economic factors. Two factors stood out from the rest.</p>
<p>First, countries with English legal origin – that is, the United Kingdom as well as its former colonies that implemented <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/common-law">British common law</a> – were less likely to ban corporal punishment in schools across this time period. </p>
<p>Second, countries with higher levels of female political empowerment, as <a href="https://www.v-dem.net/">measured</a> by things such as women’s <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0305750X17300323">political participation or property rights</a> – that is, women having the right to sell, buy and own property – were more likely to ban corporal punishment. </p>
<p>Other factors, such as form of government, level of economic development, religious adherence and population size, appear to play a much less significant role, if at all.</p>
<p>We are experts in <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=3C0O5tMAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">education policy</a>, <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=eAs9N5YAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">international policy</a> and <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/cf_dev/AbsByAuth.cfm?per_id=386095">law</a>. In order to conduct our analysis, we constructed a dataset of 192 countries over 47 years using country reports from the <a href="https://endcorporalpunishment.org/">Global Initiative to End All Corporal Punishment of Children</a> and the <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/en/hrbodies/crc/pages/crcindex.aspx">U.N. Committee on the Rights of the Child</a>. Then we matched it to <a href="https://qog.pol.gu.se/data/datadownloads/qogstandarddata">data</a> from the Quality of Government Institute.</p>
<p>It is true that the trend of banning corporal punishment in schools aligns with the passage of the 1990 <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/en/professionalinterest/pages/crc.aspx">U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child</a> – a treaty now ratified by all countries <a href="https://www.aclu.org/blog/human-rights/treaty-ratification/theres-only-one-country-hasnt-ratified-convention-childrens">except the United States</a>. The treaty requires nations to “take all appropriate measures to ensure that school discipline is administered in a manner consistent with the child’s human dignity.” However, as our analysis reveals, it wasn’t the treaty alone that spurred the bans.</p>
<h2>Global shifts in corporal punishment norms</h2>
<p>Worldwide, <a href="https://blogs.unicef.org/evidence-for-action/many-children-around-world-violence-familiar-face/">732 million children</a> attend schools where corporal punishment is allowed.</p>
<p>Social norms surrounding this issue have shifted over time from viewing corporal punishment as an appropriate disciplinary method to viewing corporal punishment as less acceptable. In the last several decades, for instance, experts have found that corporal punishment is <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3447048/">harmful</a> to children <a href="https://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/142/6/e20183112">socially, cognitively and emotionally</a>. </p>
<p>Consequently, many countries have adopted new laws banning corporal punishment in schools. South America and Europe have made the most progress toward outlawing corporal punishment in schools. Africa and Asia have had more mixed results. There are no bans against corporal punishment in schools in the United States, India and Australia. In the United States, corporal punishment in public schools is legal in <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/13/us/corporal-punishment-school-tennessee.html">19 states</a>. It is also legal at <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/13/us/corporal-punishment-school-tennessee.html">private schools</a> in 48 states.</p>
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<p>While we found that countries with English common law systems were less likely to ban corporal punishment in schools, the reason why requires a closer look.</p>
<p>Common law countries abide by the principle of <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/stare_decisis">stare decisis</a> – that is, the idea that similar cases should be decided upon similarly and should rely upon precedent. This means in practice that policies on a given issue are slower to change and become somewhat “<a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=384595">locked in</a>” because court cases and appeals take significant time.</p>
<p>Conversely, countries that are based primarily in civil code are often able to change the laws mostly through legislation, which often can be nimbler and swifter. Of course, some nations, like the United States, change laws through both methods.</p>
<p>Our analysis found that the proportion of countries with bans increased steadily after the passage of the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1990. We also found that not a single country with English legal origin banned corporal punishment in schools prior to the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Even among countries that ratified the convention, those with English legal origin were 38% less likely to adopt a ban. </p>
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<h2>Female political empowerment and corporal punishment bans</h2>
<p>The degree of female political empowerment in a country is also strongly associated with how likely the country is to ban corporal punishment in schools. Why is this the case?</p>
<p>One possible explanation is that women in general show <a href="https://www.childtrends.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/indicator_1457124349.4.html">lower support</a> for the use of corporal punishment. Women also more generally <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/106591299805100104?casa_token=1J0ka73bkM8AAAAA:FszVL_PK3HLt8xPlHORCpPJsZLG4hwnTwUtxZOQJa3GeUtQKSRcq5d7ZY7_wIUsAcJzfTmjhQWgT">prefer compassionate policies</a> over violence. And finally, female political empowerment can reflect the progressiveness of society itself, given the <a href="https://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?handle=hein.journals/fora83&div=48&id=&page=&t=1561388156">clear links</a> between women’s rights and human development. Societies in which women have greater rights tend to have more progressive policies in other domains as well, such as <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/sd.1926">environmental protection</a>. </p>
<h2>The future of corporal punishment in schools</h2>
<p>In sum, it appears that international agreements such as the Convention on the Rights of the Child might nudge some countries to make progress on specific human rights issues – in this case, the right for children not to be physically punished in schools. Yet, the ratification of an international treaty has limited influence, it seems, in comparison to a country’s legal structure and the level of its female political participation.</p>
<p>The U.S. Supreme Court has never ruled the practice of corporal punishment in schools unconstitutional. In fact, it issued a <a href="https://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-supreme-court/430/651.html">decision in 1977</a> that noted both the <a href="https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ787076">historical tradition</a> of corporal punishment in U.S. schools, and the <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/15374417309532537?journalCode=hcap19">common-law principle</a> that corporal punishment is permissible as long as it’s “reasonable but not excessive.”</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/118236/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Charmaine Willis receives funding from the University at Albany which is internal but also Albany Law which is an external organization.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Victor Asal receives funding from the University at Albany which is internal but also Albany Law which is an external organization </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lucy Sorensen and Melissa L Breger 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>While more and more countries have moved to ban corporal punishment in schools, certain types of nations have been slower than others to outlaw the practice. A recent analysis seeks to explain why.Lucy Sorensen, Assistant Professor in Public Administration and Policy, University at Albany, State University of New YorkCharmaine N. Willis, PhD Candidate, University at Albany, State University of New YorkMelissa L Breger, Professor of Law, Albany Law SchoolVictor Asal, Professor of Political Science, University at Albany, State University of New YorkLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.