Events, News & Updates

Rethinking School Discipline

On November 6, 2012, Education Week featured an article entitled, “Suspended in School: Punished But Still Learning” to highlight schools in Baltimore, Los Angeles, and the state of Minnesota that have taken a different approach to school discipline. This issue of harsh school discipline disproportionately affects students of color, with African-American males being the most severely impacted. To stem this problem, many schools nationwide are using creative school-based discipline options to continue to provide instruction while addressing behavior issues. This allows students to learn instead of being forced out of school. The types of interventions vary widely – some districts have entire schools devoted to school-based discipline, while others have just individual classrooms. Some districts opt for Saturday classes or evening programs. Whatever models are implemented, the end goal must be to ensure students continue to receive sound classroom instruction while successfully addressing the behavioral issues that students display. Read the article.