Federal discipline rules could hurt blacks
Sen. Dick Durbin’s hearing on the “school to prison pipeline” may lead to federal mandates to curtail the use of out-of-school suspensions, make suspension policies uniform across schools, or both,...
View ArticleDiscipline: Playing the numbers game
If black students are suspended at a higher rate than white students, is that discrimination? The Obama administration’s Office of Civil Rights is investigating a Florida school district on charges its...
View ArticleIn D.C., expulsion is rare — except at charters
Washington D.C.charter schools expel students at far higher rates than district-run schools, reports the Washington Post. During the 2011-12 school year, when charters enrolled 41 percent of the city’s...
View ArticleExpulsion, transfer or … ?
D.C. Charter Schools Expel Students at Far Higher Rates than Traditional Public Schools, reported the Washington Post‘s Emma Brown. District-run schools rarely expel disruptive or dangerous students,...
View ArticleSafety first: Schools where kids can learn
Student learning requires a positive school climate and effective discipline policies, concludes Ed Week‘s Quality Counts 2013. National initiatives to improve schools tend to focus heavily on...
View ArticleMediating peace
When fights broke out between girls at a Maryland alternative school, Howard Community College’s conflict resolution counselors mediated the dispute and trained school staff in “restorative” strategies...
View ArticleBaltimore: Cut suspensions, get a bonus
The “Baltimore school system is paying bonuses to teachers and administrators at struggling schools that reduce suspensions for non-violent offenses, drawing criticism from union leaders who say the...
View ArticleCharter discipline: Too strict?
Charter schools in some cities are being pushed to relax strict discipline policies, reports Ed Week. Charters expel students at the same rate as traditional public schools and have lower suspension...
View ArticleStudy: KIPP produces big gains
KIPP middle schoolers learn significantly more than comparison students, concludes a report by Mathematica Policy Research on 43 schools in 13 states plus the District of Columbia. Three years after...
View ArticleLearning irresponsibility
Managing classroom misbehavior takes up way too much time, writes Ilana Garon, who teaches English in a Bronx high school. Students know they can get away with talking in class, hitting each other,...
View ArticleMaryland eyes ‘Pastry Gun Freedom Act’
To prevent the criminalization of boyhood, a Maryland legislator has proposed the “Toaster Pastry Gun Freedom Act” banning schools from punishing children for having something that might look like a...
View Article‘Restorative justice’ vs. suspension
Instead of suspending misbehaving students, schools are trying “restorative justice” programs, reports the New York Times. At Oakland’s Ralph Bunche High School, an alternative school for students...
View ArticleMore cops in schools, more kids in court
When police patrol school campuses, misbehavior is criminalized,reports the New York Times. Students who might have been sent to the principal’s office for “scuffles, truancy and cursing at teachers”...
View ArticleTeaching the ABCs of self-control
Schools are teaching the ABCs of self-control to help disadvantaged students succeed, reports the Washington Post. The story starts at D.C. Prep Public Charter School, a “no excuses” school for...
View ArticlePicking (and avoiding) your fights
Education Realist, a high school math teacher, took off a student’s hat as a joke. Before she could return it, he stood and shouted at her, “Give me my damn HAT back.” In Picking Your Fights—Or Not,...
View ArticleLos Angeles won’t suspend for ‘willful defiance’
Los Angeles Unified will not suspend students for “willful defiance,” reports the Los Angeles Times. The proposal would ban suspensions of students for “willful defiance,” an offense criticized as a...
View ArticleWhy so few French kids have ADHD
At least 9 percent of U.S. children are medicated for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, compared to less than .5 percent of French children, writes Marilyn Wedge in Why French Kids Don’t Have...
View ArticleTeachers: Suspensions are down, but so is safety
Denver schools have cut suspensions and expulsions dramatically, but some teachers say their schools aren’t safe, reports Jenny Brundin on Colorado Public Radio. “Students have threatened to follow...
View ArticleSchool discipline 101
Suspension helps create safe, orderly, schools — and tells parents they share responsibility for their child’s behavior, writes Eva Moskowitz, founder of Success Academies in the New York Post. Success...
View ArticleIn Asian schools, boys behave
School boys in China, South Korea and Taiwan aren’t more disruptive than girls, while there’s a large gender gap in behavior in the U.S., according to a University of Pittsburgh study. Yet U.S.,...
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