Closing the School Discipline Gap: Equitable Remedies for Excessive Exclusion

by Daniel J. Losen, Alfredo J. Artiles, Elizabeth B. Kozleski

Overview

Educators remove over 3.45 million students from school annually for disciplinary reasons, despite strong evidence that school suspension policies are harmful to students. The research presented in this volume demonstrates that disciplinary policies and practices that schools control directly exacerbate today’s profound inequities in educational opportunity and outcomes. Part I explores how suspensions flow along the lines of race, gender, and disability status. Part II examines potential remedies that show great promise, including a district-wide approach in Cleveland, Ohio, aimed at social and emotional learning strategies.

Closing the School Discipline Gap is a call for action that focuses on an area in which public schools can and should make powerful improvements in a relatively short period of time.

Book Features:

• Shows the academic and social costs of excessive disciplinary exclusion.
• Examines school policies and practices that lead generations of African-American and Latino youth into the school-to-prison pipeline.
• Offers evidence-based interventions for reducing excessive and disparate out-of-school suspensions.
• Connects the research presented to real changes that can be made to federal, state, and district policies.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780807756133
Publisher:	Teachers College Press
Publication date:	01/01/2015
Series:	Disability, Culture, and Equity Series
Edition description:	0
Pages:	288
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 2.20(d)

About the Author

Daniel J. Losen is director of the Center for Civil Rights Remedies at the Civil Rights Project at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments ix

Introduction 1

Part I Directions for Broad Policy Change 15

1 Sent Home and Put Oft Track: The Antecedents, Disproportionalities, and Consequences of Being Suspended in the 9th Grade Robert Balfanz Vaughn Byrnes Joanna Fox 17

2 Racial Disparities in School Suspension and Subsequent Outcomes: Evidence From the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth Tracey L. Shollenberger 31

3 Security Measures and Discipline in American High Schools Jeremy D. Finn Timothy J. Servoss 44

4 The Economic Effects of Exclusionary Discipline on Grade Retention and High School Dropout Miner P. Marchbanks III Jamilia J. Blake Eric A. Booth Dottle Carmichael Allison L. Seibert Tony Fabelo 59

5 Challenging Middle-Class Notions of Femininity: Trip Cause of Black Females' Disproportionate Suspension Rates Jamilia J. Blake Bettie Ray Butler Danielle Smith 75

6 Disturbing Inequities: Exploring the Relationship Between Racial Disparities in Special Education Identification and Discipline Daniel J. Losen Jongyeon Ee Chen Hodson Tia E. Martinez 89

7 Reducing Suspensions by Improving Academic Engagement Among School-Age Black Males Ivory A. Toldson Tyne McGee Brianna P. Lemmons 107

8 What Conditions Support Safety in Urban Schools? The Influence of School Organizational Practices on Student and Teacher Reports of Safety in Chicago Matthew P. Steinberg Elaine Allensworth David W. Johnson 118

9 Where Should We Intervene? Contributions of Behavior, Student, and School Characteristics to Out-of-School Suspension Russell J. Skiba Choong-Geun Chung Megan Trachok Timberly Baker Adam Sheya Robin Hughes 132

Part II Specific Remedies for Closing the Discipline Gap 147

10 Socializing Schools: Addressing Racial Disparities in Discipline Through Restorative Justice Thalia González 151

11 The Promise of a Teacher Professional Development Program in Reducing Racial Disparity in Classroom Exclusionary Discipline Anne Gregory Joseph P. Allen Amori Yee Mikami Christopher A. Hafen Robert C. Piants 166

12 Student Threat Assessment as a Method of Reducing Student Suspensions Dewey Cornell Peter Lovegrove 180

13 Avoid Quick Fixes: Lessons Learned From a Comprehensive Districtwide Approach to Improve Conditions for Learning David M. Osher Jeffrey M. Poirier G. Roger Jarjoura Russell C. Brown 192

14 Effectiveness of Schoolwide Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports in Reducing Racially Inequitable Disciplinary Exclusion Claudia G. Vincent Jeffrey R. Sprague CHiXapkaid (Michael Pavel) Tary J. Tobin Jeff M. Gau 207

15 Reconsidering the Alternatives: The Relationship Among Suspension, Placement, Subsequent Juvenile Detention, and the Salience of Race Judi E. Vanderhaar Joseph M. Petrosko Marco A. Muhoz 222

16 Personal Perspective on School Discipline Issues and Remedies: Interview with Karen Webber-Ndour, Executive Director of Student Support and Safety for Baltimore City Schools Daniel J. Losen 237

Conclusion 241

About the Editor and Contributors 255

Index 259

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“This volume is a call to action for policymakers, educators, parents, and students.”
—Marian Wright Edelman, Children’s Defense Fund

“Offers a clear set of recommendations for anyone committed to pursuing equality in our schools.”
—James E. Ryan, Harvard Graduate School of Education

“Closing the School Discipline Gap can make an enormous difference in reducing disciplinary exclusions across the country. This book not only exposes unsound practices and their disparate impact on the historically disadvantaged, but provides educators, policymakers, and community advocates with an array of remedies that are proven effective or hold great promise. Educators, communities, and students alike can benefit from the promising interventions and well-grounded recommendations.”
—Linda Darling-Hammond, Charles E. Ducommun Professor of Education, Stanford University

Editorial Reviews

"Should be required reading for any school, district or state using suspensions. This book is a wake-up call for anyone concerned with justice and public education."

—Education Review

From the Publisher