School discipline is one of the most difficult problems facing public schools. Many private, parochial, and charter schools control enrollment, and choose not to work with students exhibiting disciplinary problems.
Public schools should be given credit for working with all students. However, public schools have not always done what’s right when it comes to discipline.
A new Government Accountability Office report shows that low-income students, minority students, and students with disabilities are still being disciplined disproportionately. These disparities were widespread and persisted regardless of the type of disciplinary action, level of school poverty, or type of public school attended.
Along with this report, fears surround what Education Secretary Betsy DeVos will do about school discipline. In her interview with CBS correspondent Lesley Stahl, she showed little understanding about discipline disparities involving students, which could lead to the school-to-prison pipeline.
Last November, she met with a panel of other controversial individuals to discuss this issue. They listened to teachers who had been attacked by students—always scary. But the panel discussion seemed one-sided.
At that time, they were also critical of President Obama’s 2014 discipline directive—a joint effort between the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Department of Education called the “Dear Colleague” letter to support preventive action dealing with behavior problems instead of suspension and expulsion.
Last Wednesday, DeVos met with civil rights leaders, parents, and teachers and she once again discussed rescinding Obama’s guidance which includes civil rights law violations. Many leaders are against this.
Republicans like Sen. Marco Rubio recently criticized the Obama guidance as problematic in the Parkland shooting.
Rubio said the 2014 guidance “discouraged schools from referring students to local law enforcement,” leading educators, rather than school resource officers or other law enforcement personnel, to take charge of discipline. Harsh federal penalties for high suspension rates, he said, have “arguably made it easier for schools to not report students to law enforcement.”
Of course, this should be examined, but it is important to read Rubio’s remarks understanding he is a proponent of the NRA. The idea of law enforcement taking over school discipline is hugely controversial.
The problem of suspensions and expulsions is central to discipline concerns. Teachers and school administrators don’t want students who act out to remain in class or school—especially when they disrupt the learning of other students, or worse, present a danger.
But when students are suspended they are not being helped either. Suspended students tend to drop out of school, wind up getting into serious trouble in the communities, and could end up incarcerated. Suspending students only pushes their problems into society.
So, the big question that DeVos should be working on is how schools can decrease school suspension without endangering students and teachers.
How can we end the disparity involving low-income students, students of color, and students with disabilities, effectively deal with any troubled students, while keeping children safe in their schools?
As officials debate this important issue, I gathered a few ideas. Feel free to suggest more. I will add them.
- Staff Preparation. Teachers and administrators should understand the district and school rules. They must also get instruction as to how to react in a fair and equitable manner when students break those rules. The disparity issue must be discussed openly. It might help to role play various scenarios of students acting out, before such events actually occur.
- Racially Diverse Teachers. We must increase the number of well-prepared minority teachers, both men and women.
- The Arts and Extracurricular Activities. Everyone wants to feel they do well at something. Schools devoid of the arts (with real art teachers) and a variety of extracurricular activities are dull and uninteresting. Students who struggle with academics have nothing else to look forward to.
- School Environment. Students thrive in a warm psychosocial environment. We can’t expect children to take pride in a rundown school. Broken recess equipment, old science lab materials, dirty bathrooms, et cetera, tell students that adults don’t think they’re worth the investment.
- Smaller Class Sizes. It is unrealistic to believe teachers can manage 30 students in a class with even one student who repeatedly acts out. Class sizes should be small enough for teachers to get to know their students and their families.
- Students with Disabilities. Teachers must be given information about students with behavioral disabilities who will be part of their class, or in contact with other students. Teachers should understand what might trigger a negative behavioral reaction. There are also situations, where a student may appear to be acting out, or unresponsive, when they are only responding due to their disability. Disciplinary problems that occur within inclusion settings must be addressed.
- Data. It is sometimes necessary to monitor how a student reacts in school, in order to determine how they might best be served. But care should be taken that this information is not misused, or given to third parties, without parental consent.
- Counselors. Schools must hire more counselors to address the emotional and behavioral issues facing students. Counselors should not have to split their time between test administration and providing college advisement.
- School District Staff. Schools should employ enough support staff like school psychologists, nurses, and be in close contact with good social workers. Teachers should not have to struggle for weeks, and other students should not have their learning impaired, due to students who act out in class.
- After school programs. Students who get help with their classes and support from trusted adults are more likely to feel better about themselves and school.
- Classroom Rules. Classroom rules should reflect the overall school rules, but be fewer and simpler to understand. Give students warnings for minor offenses. And include them in designing the rules if possible.
- Continuum of Services. After thorough documentation and assistance from support staff, like the school psychologist, students who act out should have alternative settings where they can be placed and get help. This includes residential placement. Some students and families need more support than the school can provide. Such placements should be fluid.
- Student/Adult Connection. Every student should have a teacher or administrator who they can visit to get help for problems. Homeroom teachers often serve this purpose. Class sizes must be reasonable for this to occur.
- Resource Officers. Resource officers must understand the behavioral development of the students in the schools where they are employed. They should also understand the development needs of students with disabilities, and work closely with counselors and special education teachers. They should like kids. Schools should not be run like prisons.
- Student Youth Courts. Youth-centered courts concerning minor infractions can be effective. Including students in the creation of rules and consequences can also help.
- Reassess Zero Tolerance. Thankfully, many schools have turned away from this punitive action that denies students any defense of a broken rule.
Eva Szillery says
First, I suggest PREVENTION. If communities establish good age 0-4 programs (Head Start and other programs with well prepared staff, children learn the soft skills, which are all skills the students need to build all other skills on to get along with others and fit in the community. There is plenty of research out there how much students learn through these years, when most of the children are not in any organized care. – Taking this measure would cut in half the discipline problems.
Should you ask any Pre-K teacher, the teacher could tell you, what difference is visible between students, who were taught by their parents or in other program how to play, have read, follow schedules of sleep, meal time, listened to music and taught to play in group.
Second, I suggest a COHERENT ELA and COHERENT MATHEMATICS CURRICULUM. If the students are taught by a well educated teacher for a coherent curriculum, most students enjoy attending school and being challenged.
Nancy Bailey says
Eva, this is great! Thank you for mentioning ELA and math. This is very much appreciated!
ciedie aech says
While teachers and administrators SHOULD understand district rules, it may not be clear in modern days what the district will actually support. I worked for many years in “traditional” large inner-city schools before the advent of NCLB. Discipline issues were hardly perfect, but they were consistent, and the personnel expected to work with children were generally respected and long-term employed. With the advent of testing-is-all thinking, however, so many schools with unstable and low scores were unpredictably and repeatedly invaded. Discipline goals soon became less and less clear, personnel found themselves under pressure for unheard-of reasons, and little by little the entire “traditional” system bent to offering predictable, child-centered interventions and protecting honored, long-term personnel fell by the wayside. And this is where many schools find themselves now.
Nancy Bailey says
Ciedie, This is also well-expressed! Boy do I remember those days when there was much more consistency. I don’t know how teachers do it today. The high-stakes testing era really changed things and not for the better. Thank you for taking the time to comment!
Jo says
Teachers and administrators must look at students as complex humans, not as data points that hurt or help their own school and teacher evaluations. The system right now is set up to eliminate, not help, the bottom 10 %. Until we destroy the status quo, the injustice and inhumanity will remain. Each child is precious and valuable. Each and every one.
Nancy Bailey says
It is interesting how you use the word “status quo,” Jo, since teachers have been accused of this for years, as you know. It’s refreshing to see it turned around. The “data points” are the big concern today, aren’t they? I hope parents and teachers wake up to that fact, if they haven’t already. Thank you, Jo!
Laura Jones says
Rubio tries to prove a negative with his statement. Where is the data showing that police referrals improve outcomes or safety? I think its missing, mostly because the data shows exactly the opposite (school to prison pipeline).
Michigan, however, leaves a great deal to be desired. We have local control. In my business, I see that translate into is ‘everybody can do what they think is best, regardless of the law or evidence”. There is no leadership on this front from the MDE or MDE-OSE. Training is optional, enforcement is non existent. Schools and school boards are all over the place, with late institution of PBIS, if at all, and at times, without training.
I have seen a State BOE member recently opine the right answer is stronger families, stronger communities and more community based organizations. As an advocate, my reaction is disgust. The MDE and schools cannot make stronger families (or even define that), our communities already are strong – and local education policy that sounds good but is not based in evidenced based practices is useless, and community based organizations are options, however goodl. They can come in, they can go out. I cannot hold anyone accountable for any of these measures. A child in need cannot count on them, nor can their families. Real public policy in education meets the test of accountability and evidence.
DeVos characterizes the Dear Colleague letter as prohibiting referrals to police. It does not. It grew out of the data which shows minority students, in every grade, are more likely to be suspended, expelled and referred to police. So unless you are a bold faced racist who failed stats, you recognize that minority children at every age do not have more severe behavior outbursts than white children. How we react to their outbursts, however, is problematic. It’s different. The same is true with kids with disabilities. That bias was well addressed by the letter and provided an effective way for schools to rethink their implicit biases in the matter. Challenging implicit bias matters. Ask any Title IX pioneer.
For me, the answers lie in cold science and research; behavioral intervention supports. If the goal is to help a child be stable and able to learn in school, then this is an answer that data says work. So much so, that the mayor of Boston just diverted 2.4 million in his budget to schools to support them in this respect. Mind blowing, evidenced based policy. Following federal guidelines and law.
The other answer, which is a longer term issue, is to reform how education policy in Michigan is set. Right now, the least qualified (legislators) make policy. They use it to war with the SBE and teachers. The SBE hires a politician who has aspirations, not a dedication to all children succeeding. (I am ready to say the State Super should be drafted from among the unwilling who are effective) Schools seem to be all over the place. Some excellent in this respect, others ignoring it completely, leaving kids and teachers in the abyss. No consequences for schools either way due to broken accountability systems at the state level and the Michigan bar.
Some attorneys for districts flout policy and law, with taxpayer funds, knowing parents cannot withstand the financial demands to push back effectively. Some districts push their attorneys to do the same, aware that parents cannot win at the State level, with justice only being found at the federal appeals bench. By then, kids are well into the cycle of being arrested and unsupported and arrested. If parents have a spare 150,000, they can make a run at it – if they can find an attorney who has not been scared out of the business by the suits filed against parents, attorneys and their advocates by schools.
Nancy Bailey says
Laura, Thank you! Each one of these paragraphs is rich and I am so pleased you included all of this here in the comment section.
Michigan also has a huge problem brewing in Flint, where so many children have been exposed to lead in their water. It will be interesting to see what happens there in the way of special programs and support.
Roy Turrentine says
While I agree with all your points, I am reminded of the fact that thirty years ago, we often prompted students to drop out so they would not soil the laundry. My principal would work with a kid until he demonstrated that he was unwilling, then he would tell the kid to go away. Large urban districts near me got the reputation for doing the same thing.
My wife’s grandmother told a story of her school, which sat in a rough lower class part of the country. The students had driven out principal after teacher until a new guy arrived. He called an assembly, invited several of the alleged perpetrators of disorder to the stage, and, in full view of the rest of the student body, produced a whip and drove them from the building like cattle.
I do not condone this sort of relationship between the community and the school, but, until we are properly funded, separation from recalcitrant students may be our only way of saving the good kids.