New Report On School Suspensions

Each time a student is removed from the classroom in the name of discipline, it can do more harm than good. Students barred from attending class due to punitive measures are more likely to get into more trouble, and they are at risk of getting behind with schoolwork because of lost instructional time. What's more, study after study shows racial disparities with both suspensions and expulsions. 

Last month, the San Diego Unified School Board unanimously approved a new discipline policy, one that is a step away from punitive discipline for students. The new policy emphasizes alternative-to-suspension programs for students who get in trouble, the San Diego Union-Tribune reports. Schools will be required to utilize "restorative" interventions before opting to suspend a student. 

The new policy also addresses grading practices throughout the district. Teachers will separate non-academic factors from academic grades and give students the opportunity to re-do assignments. 

While California already bans suspensions for "willful defiance" for elementary and middle grades, the San Diego Unified School Board plans to negotiate with teachers to do away with such suspensions across all grades. Those in favor of the move point out that banning willful defiance suspensions will help address racial disparities, particularly in the disciplining of Black and Latino students. 

Discriminatory discipline is a severe problem in the United States, according to a national analysis of school suspension data by the UCLA Civil Rights Project.

 

Lost Opportunities

The Center for Civil Rights Remedies and Learning Policy Institute found "disturbing disparities" among racial groups regarding school suspensions, Patch reports. Their study titled "Lost Opportunities: How Disparate School Discipline Continues to Drive Differences in the Opportunity to Learn" looked at the impact of out-of-school suspensions on instructional time. 

There were 11,392,474 days of instruction lost in America due to out-of-school suspension during the 2015-16 school year. The researchers say that is the equivalent of 62,596 years of instruction lost. What's more, the difference in suspension rates between Black and white students was stark. The report shows:

• Black students lost 103 days per 100 students enrolled, 82 more days than the 21 days their white peers lost due to out-of-school suspensions.
• Black boys lost 132 days per 100 students enrolled.
• Black girls had the second-highest rate, at 77 days per 100 students enrolled, which was seven times the rate of lost instruction experienced by white girls at the secondary level.

"These stark disparities in lost instruction explain why we cannot close the achievement gap if we do not close the discipline gap," said Dan Losen, director of the Center for Civil Rights Remedies and the lead researcher on the report. "With all the instructional loss students have had due to COVID-19, educators should have to provide very sound justification for each additional day they prohibit access to instruction."

 

Orange County Juvenile Defense Attorney

Please contact the Law Offices of Katie Walsh if your son or daughter faces school expulsion or another legal matter. Call now for a free, confidential consultation, (714) 351-0178. Attorney Walsh will work with your family to help you achieve the best possible outcome.