Out-Of-School Suspension

(a) This study examines out-of-school suspensions in the 9th grade and their effect on high school and post-secondary outcomes. This analyses also examines demographic disparities in school suspensions, their relationship to poverty and their contribution to high school graduation and post-secondary attainment gaps.

Racial disparities in school discipline have garnered recent attention in national reports issued by the U.S. Department of Education and Justice (U.S. Department of Education, 2014; Gregory, Hafen, Ruzek, Mikami, Allen, & Pianta, 2016). Suspension rates Black students are two to three times higher than those from other racial and ethnic groups. Various research has documented that Black students remain overrepresented in school discipline sanctions after accounting for their achievement, socioeconomic status, and teacher- and self-reported behavior (Gregory et al, 2016). There is a difference as to the reasons why White students are sent to the office versus Black students. Black students are sent to the office for subjective reasons such as “disrespect” and “perceived threat”, while White students are more than likely to be referred for more objective reasons including, smoking, vandalism, and leaving school without permission. (Gregory, et al, 2016). African Americans and especially African American boys, are more likely to be disciplined and often receive more out-of-school suspensions and expulsions than white students (Todd Rudd, 2014). Suspending students is taking away time from them being in the classroom. Students who receive suspensions, lose instructional time, fall behind on course work, become discouraged, and ultimately drop out…recent research has shown each suspension a student receives can decrease their odds for high graduation by any

Consequences have to be set for those students that get involved in bad behaviors. As leaders this take a lot of creative thinking to where students can really learn from their mistakes, this helps the students make the decision that they don’t want to do them anymore. Constant OSS days doesn’t affect students nowadays, so coming up with a program for the constant offenders to help them get back focused on what is important.

Out of school suspensions (OSS) are often enforced with the assumption that students receiving the suspension are less likely to repeat the problem behavior in the future. However, this has been proven to be false. Suspending a student for engaging in a certain behavior does not in fact serve as a deterrent from the behavior but as a deterrent from attending school instead. In actuality, receiving just a single suspension can increase the probability of a student experiencing academic failure, school dropout, and involvement in the juvenile justice system. Knowing this, some educators still believe that for many students, suspension can serve as an effective lesson. One of the greatest concerns that educators and administrators face is the matter of classroom management. It is part of their job to ensure a safe, productive and supportive classroom allowing students to learn and grow to their greatest potential. Though there are several strategies gauged towards managing a classroom, the most severe offences often lead to either in or out of school suspension. Some of the largest concerns faced with out of school suspensions is that they are often ineptly applied, used unfairly against students of color and seemingly ineffective at producing better behavior. Also known as exclusionary discipline, the majority of offenses that led to OSS have not been centered around violence but instead emphasised issues of classroom insubordination and defiance. In some rather extreme cases

Often times it’s the student’s needs and the school being unable to meet the student’s needs that lead to the student being disciplined. Kids who are behind academically, and unable to perform at the same level as their peers often act out in frustration or humiliation (Noguera, 2003). Once these students are labelled as difficult, incorrigible, and unteachable they tend to believe these things about themselves and act out more in class which leads to a cycle of discipline that can ultimately lead to permanent expulsion. For some of these students, these continued rule violations lead to run-ins with the police and the criminal justice system. School administrators who are at times frustrated themselves from failed attempts to steer children from a “bad path” don’t realize that in throwing their hands up and giving up on these students, are in a way helping shuttle students from school to the penitentiary (Noguera, 2003).

Schools that are low performing have the highest rates of suspension and expulsion and the lowest graduation rates. According to Mississippi Today, “the dropout rate for students fell slightly to 11.8 percent in 2016, the lowest in five years.” If I were to eliminate funding as a barrier, zero tolerance policies would still exist- especially in public school systems in the South, amidst people of color. Zero tolerance policies are obstacles put in place for small infractions performed by students, which can lead to disciplinary actions such as: corporal punishment, detention, and suspension. These small infractions may be in the form of getting up without permission, excessive talking, etc. Schools should offer more alternative measures, which counsel students on their misbehavior and give the student an opportunity to amend his or her actions. These methods fall under a restorative justice model. Community organizations, like Nollie Jenkins Family Center, have proposed alternatives such as peer mediation and conflict resolution to help keep youth in a learning environment, off the streets, and away from a life of crime. A case study performed by Philadelphia Police School Diversion Program, discovered that after counseling students for infraction their number of juvenile arrests and suspension “dropped by 54%.” This could potentially be a catalyst in bending the moral arc in the direction of justice,

Originally created as a discipline action of last resort for students who cause unsafe or threatening environment or substantive clear and present danger with threats of violence and are possession of weapons in the school, out of school suspension are now being used to address minor offenses such as disobedience, disrespect, attendance issues, or other general disruptions (Stinchcomb, Bazemore & Riestenberg, 2006). Suspension were used judiciously and cautiously as the impact on the student and the perceptions of that suspension by the community was understood to be socially debilitating and cast the student and the family in a bad light (Advancement Project, 2015). It was not until the move towards school reforms in the

In all grades of education, from kindergarten to college, there is a form of discipline known as a zero tolerance policy. While the exact wording is different from school to school, basically a zero tolerance policy means that a student is immediately suspended, asked to attend an alternative school, or expelled if they are suspected or caught doing certain things. These policies are in place to hopefully deter students from doing drugs or being violent, but the ethics behind them are questionable. Some research has shown that these policies may not even work, and other forms of discipline would be better suited to help students. The three main activities that result in the zero tolerance policy are being caught with drugs or alcohol,

The Ontario school system’s obsession with punishing what it considers to be deviance has resulted in punishments that are often too severe and ultimately ineffective. During the 2014-2015 school year, 85,557 suspensions were issued in Ontario schools. The 2015-2016 school year saw 85,931 suspensions, and increase of nearly 400 suspensions. These statistics make it clear that the punishments administered by the Ontario school system are ineffective. Punishment in Ontario schools mirrors that of fascist regimes through its often inappropriate severity in the name of maintaining

Many schools implement the concept of restorative justice, in particular; Good Shepherd Catholic College Mount Isa. The college implements restorative justice in their disciplinary system, they’ve created a new process in dealing with misbehavior through the Responsible Thinking Process (RTP). This process allows the the students to identify what's wrong in their behavior and gives them a chance to reflect upon this. The student is first warned when they misbehave then the teacher proceeds to give them a second chance to correct said behavior after a warning. If the student continues to misbehave, the teacher will go through the responsible thinking process in which they ask “What are you doing? What should you be doing? Where will you go if this continues to happens again?” This allows the students to take responsibility for their actions and think about their wrongdoings which allows them to correct themselves. This is more effective than sending a student away and punishing them, because without verbally addressing the issue, they don’t understand the repercussions of their actions and will often re-offend. If the student then chooses to misbehave again they will be sent to The Responsible Thinking Classroom (RTC), in which they will have to further reflect on their actions. Once this process has occurred, they then have to negotiate with their teachers about returning to the class and what they have to do, in order to be allowed in. (Good Shepherd Catholic College, 2017)

With the use of technology comes great responsibility which leads to another key in effective schools which is a whole school behavior policy. Students need to know that if they misbehave there will be consequences. In the article, “Reforming School Discipline” Derek W. Black speaks of the importance of creating a fair behavior policy where suspension is not a key element. In my school there will be a set of universal rules that will be used throughout the whole school. Teachers will not be able to create

The purpose of this paper is to describe how restorative justice can benefit school districts by helping them change the behavior of students who fail to comply with school rules and policies. Educational institutions that rely less on suspension or expulsion and more on methods that teach children how to understand their actions and how they impact others can have a positive difference in their lives as well as the people close to them. I believe that restorative justice can be used in a similarly to the way probation is offered to adults that are guilty of perpetrating a crime and are less likely to offend again.

The following discussion of practice and policy related issues found within the article puritan to a “qualitative” study “conducted in the Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota metropolitan area from September 2009 to May 2012” (Gibson & Haight, 2013, p.264). The main objective of the study was to evaluate the “culturally nuanced” definitions and perceptions on out-of-school suspensions; In hopes of discovering new ways in which “schools and families can work together to decrease racial disparities in out-of-school suspensions” (Gibson & Haight, 2013, p. 263). Thirty participants were interviewed within their own homes through “in-depth, individual, and audiotaped interviews.” (Gibson & Haight, 2013, p. 263). In reviewing the study interviews, a few practice-related issues were discussed, concerning educators lack of understanding of cultural diversity among their students, as well as school personnel 's failure to fully listen to each individual 's concerns when addressing discipline issues.

The data is definitive that black students are more likely than white students to experience school discipline and are even more likely to be subjected to arrest by school resource officers during their school careers. The data shows that 20% of all black male students receive an out-of-school suspension, while only 6% of white male students receive out-of-school suspensions (11). Faced with a disproportionately high number of suspensions and expulsions, when compared to white students, many more black students are falling behind in classes and missing valuable learning time. If it is unclear how important it is for students to develop adequate reading skills early on and how excluding students from school through suspensions and expulsions

Student behavior and discipline in the classroom have been impacted by legislation and litigation as was discussed in an article written by Mitchell Yell and Michael Rozalski, The Impact of Legislation and Litigation on Disciple and Student Behavior in the Classroom. The authors believe that all students should receive their education in safe, orderly, and well-disciplined schools but maintaining these environments has become a major challenge for educators (Yell, M & Rozalski, M, 2008). Most states have laws that govern discipline in schools which also protect the rights of students in public education (Yell, et.al, 2008). These state laws control the actions of school officials when they carry out certain discipline-related functions, such as gathering evidence (e.g., searching students, their lockers, or their personal property), seizing contraband from students’ backpacks, or conducting any administrative actions that restrict a student’s property interest to attend school (e.g., suspension, expulsion) (Yell, et.al, 2008). A student’s entitlement under state law to a public education is