Transforming School Discipline - Closing the School to Prison Pipeline
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Transcript of Transforming School Discipline - Closing the School to Prison Pipeline
TRANSFORMING SCHOOL DISCIPLINE – CLOSING THE SCHOOL TO PRISON PIPELINE
May 9th 2013
Working to improve public education in Washington State from cradle to career with ample, equitable, and stable funding
WHY WE KICK KIDS OUT
• nail file• chicken finger• candy cane• butter knife• blow-up doll• sexy teacher• pop-tart• “disruption”
WHY SCHOOL DISCIPLINE POLICIES?• The problem is pervasive
– In 2009-2010, across the nation 1 in 9 students were suspended from school at least once.
– In Washington, 1 in 4 students will not graduate high school within 4 years of starting.
• Suspension is detrimental to academic success– Just one suspension freshman year showed a rate of
drop out 2 times higher than those who were not.– Of all males in state and federal prison, 68% do not
have a high school diploma.
(Data from the Council of State Governments Justice Center and American Psychological Association)
WHY SCHOOL DISCIPLINE POLICIES?• Suspensions don’t work
– No evidence to suggest suspensions/expulsions prevent misbehavior.
– Studies show the opposite effect – schools with high discipline rates have higher drop-out rates.
• Its about equity– Washington is 1 of 9 states with a persistent
achievement/opportunity gap.– Exclusionary discipline policies
disproportionately impact students of color, low-income students, and students with disabilities.
• The data varies with geography—students with disabilities have the highest rates of disproportionality
Widespread cultural and political shift since the 1970’s
Mass incarceration, the “war on drugs”Federal Guns-Free Schools Act in 1994
By 1997: 87% of schools adopted zero-tolerance for alcohol and 79% had mandatory suspensions for use of tobacco
Under-resourced schools feel they don’t have the tools to address behavior problems (i.e. cyber bullying)
Goal is to create safe schools and objective discipline policies – but “safety” is not a universal feeling
HOW WE GOT HERE
written and unwritten practices that facilitate student drop-out
Explicit – Policies• Increase in police
presence on campus• Policies that mandate
schools engage with the criminal/juvenile justice system
• Inappropriate punishments for age-level of rule breaker
• Indefinite punishments• No clear path back to
reenrollment
Implicit – School culture• Increased “security:” video
cameras, metal detectors, police dogs, restraints
• Zero-tolerance mentality• Punishments are void of
resolution or meaning to offender and offended
• Core belief that some kids are and will always be a “problem”
• “I don’t care where you go but you can’t stay here…”
DEFINING THE SCHOOL TO PRISON PIPELINE
WORDS MATTER, PERSPECTIVE MATTERS
Subjective:
defiancedisrespectdisruptionharassmenttardinessdress code
Objective:
fightingweaponsdrug usedrug distributionstealingvandalism
Despite the aim of objectivity, we see inequities in who gets disciplined, especially in the examples on the left.
1bi·as noun \ˈbī-əs\ b : an inclination of temperament or outlook; especially : a personal and sometimes unreasoned judgment
In one school year, just 5 percent of suspensions were given due to safety-related rule offenses.
The other 95 percent of suspensions were for subjective infractions like disruption and tardiness.
SUSPENSION HAS BECOME COMMONPLACE
A QUIZ ON DISCIPLINE
• How many individual students were suspended last year in Washington state?
• What percentage of students expelled last year were Latino?
• How many total days did students spend outside of class due to suspensions/expulsions?
Reclaiming Students
The Educational And Economic Costs Of Exclusionary Discipline
A joint report by TeamChild and Washington Appleseed
FINDING ONE
• Exclusionary discipline negatively impacted academic success and a student’s relationship with the educational system– Higher discipline rates were associated
with higher drop out rates. – Significant loss of instructional time.
FINDING TWO
• The vast majority of disciplined students did not receive educational services for the duration of their exclusion. – Only 7% of students were reported to
have received educational services while excluded from school.
FINDING THREE
• Exclusionary discipline practices disproportionately impacted students of color and youth living in poverty. – More students of color and low income
students were excluded from school.– Students of color and low income
students were also less likely to receive educational services during periods of disciplinary exclusion.
FINDING FOUR
• Reliance on exclusionary discipline practices varied significantly from district to district, even among districts with similar demographic characteristics.
FINDING FIVE
• Discipline data yielded only a partial picture of the number of students impacted by exclusionary discipline practices each year in Washington public schools. – Only 185 of the 295 school districts
were able to submit data for this report, despite that fact that it is required by law to share this information with the public
WASHINGTON STATE POLICY• Definitions for minimum length of
punishment– short term suspension is 0-10 days– long term suspension is 10 or more days– expulsion lasts indefinitely
• 9 Behavior Codes: Bullying, Tobacco, Alcohol, Illicit Drug, Fighting without Major Injury, Violence without Major Injury, Violence with Major Injury, Possession of Weapon and Other
• Federal guidelines require expulsions for use of weapons and other safety-related rule infractions
LOCAL DISTRICTS• All 295 districts have:
– authority to establish additional rule infractions/behavior codes
– flexibility on minimum and maximum number of days students spend out of school
– Different mechanisms to record/report/analyze data– Ability to choose prevention/intervention programs
that work best for their student population
• Variation can be a double-edged sword– classrooms, school buildings, and districts all have
different perceptions
• Many local districts are ahead of the state in addressing discipline issues
students, teachers, principals, parents,
mentors(millions)
classrooms, school buildings, community
organizations(thousands)
school districts, state legislature,
funding(hundreds)
HOW WE MAKE CHANGE
INDIVIDUALS
COMMUNITIES
INSTITUTIONS
QUESTIONS?