Printer-friendly versionToday, the Dignity in Schools Campaign (DSC), together with the Opportunity to Learn Campaign, launches Solutions Not Suspensions, a national campaign calling for a moratorium on out-of-school suspensions. Teaching Tolerance supports this initiative.
The dangers are well documented. More than 3 million students are suspended each year, according to the DSC. These students are more likely to drop out of school and to eventually be incarcerated. That’s a high price for both our students and society to pay when there are disciplinary methods proven to be better for students and more effective in changing behavior.
DSC’s 50 member organizations recognize the need to abandon zero-tolerance policies that disproportionately push students of color and students with disabilities out of school. To meet this need, in addition to Solutions Not Suspensions, the DSC will also release a set of discipline policies—the Model Code on Education and Dignity—as a starting point for schools looking to make a change.
This Model Code “articulates a positive vision for ensuring a fundamental right to education based on the best practices, research and experiences of communities around the country, and on a human rights framework for schools grounded in principles of equity, dignity and community participation.”
Consisting of five parts, the Model Code focuses primarily on alternatives to zero-tolerance policies. It provides “detailed policies, practices and implementation guidelines for transforming school climate and discipline models and de-criminalizing our schools.” In particular, the Model Code offers practical guidelines for implementing either School-wide Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports or restorative practices.
Teaching Tolerance also has resources to highlight the importance of making the switch from detrimental zero-tolerance suspension policies to a climate rooted in prevention and intervention.
“Suspending Hope,” from the most recent issue of Teaching Tolerance magazine, explores how promoting positive behavior can lead to higher graduation rates, especially among students of color. “What Discipline Is for: Connecting Students to the Benefits of Learning” examines why it is important that students “come to see the benefits of the knowledge and skills that education offers.”
Today when students, parents and educators gather in Los Angeles for the official launch of Solutions Not Suspensions, they will make a statement of solidarity with their physical presence. We can’t all be in California this morning, but you can make a stand wherever you are.
Talk to your school leaders about their discipline policies. Give them the information they need to understand the damage criminalized schools cause. Remind them that the benefits of positive discipline models—such as smaller achievement gaps and lower dropout rates—are essential to the success of both our schools and our society.
The voices of parents, students and educators calling for equitable school discipline can be a powerful motivator for change.
Pettway is associate editor for Teaching Tolerance.
Comments
A serious question to which I
A serious question to which I would appreciate a response:
I believe the job of a teacher is to teach every student in their classroom equally and to push each student to achieve based on each student's individual potential. Since time is limited, I would see it important to not spend an inordinate time on any one student.
For example, if their are 25 students in a class, then each student deserves 4% of the teacher's time. Exact balancing of such time is not possible, of course. But, if a teacher spends 10% of their time with one child, then that means that child has received the time allotted to 2 1/2 students. Thus, effectively, 1 1/2 students have received none of the teacher's time.
My question is this: How does this theory fit into your 'no suspension' theory. Do you believe that any amount of time spent on a child with disciplinary problems in 'worth it?' Please explain for me.
I look forward to your response.
All children are worth it;
All children are worth it; our job is to figure out the best way to reach each child. Different children have different needs, every teacher knows that some children need more time and effort than others. We know of no school of education or actual teacher that follows your theory. We'd love to hear what actual teachers think.
If you don't like my theory,
If you don't like my theory, then tell me how you allocate you time? When do you decide that too much time is spent on one child? Or do you believe that it is okay to spend time on one child who is causing disruptions even at the expense of the other students in the class.
I've been an "actual
I've been an "actual teacher," and have worked at schools that are quick to suspend and expel, and another that uses out-of-school suspension and expulsion only as a last resort, when safety is an issue (weapons, multiple fights in a short period of time).
This proposal does not suggest eliminating in-school suspension, which therefore means that a student may not be in the classroom taking up an unfair amount of the teacher's time, but is neither at home watching television or walking around his/her neighborhood.
Also, research supports the effectiveness of early interventions: PBIS and other classroom systems can prevent most offenses from escalating to the type of behavior (for example, pushing over a desk), that might lead to out-of-school suspension.
A moratorium on out-of-school suspensions is NOT the same thing as a moratorium on consequences. Rather, it is a more respectful strategy in trying to build strong children. There IS a documented correlation between suspension and expulsion rates and the likelihood of a child becoming incarcerated. Also, it's more likely that Black students and students with disabilities will be suspended than their peers. If we agree that all children are created equal, and deserve an equal chance at success, and education, our policies must reflect that. We must not exclude them from places of education.
"It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men." -Frederick Douglass
I appreciate your thoughts
I appreciate your thoughts and am not trying to be obtuse. But, I am still trying to see how a teacher manages their time so that the time spent to build one strong child does not result in not building 20 other children in the same classroom.
Surely, there must come a time when a teacher realizes that they are spending too much time on child A and they need to get child A out of class so that they can educate child B, child C, etc.
That is not a question of whether in school or out of school suspensions are appropriate, but a general question.
If child A is jeopardizing the education of the 20 other kids, then I would think it is best to get child A out of the classroom, whether he is white, black, disabled, or not.
Feel free to tell me where I am wrong.