In the three years since high school student Jawaan Daniels was fatally shot at a bus stop after being suspended from school for wandering the halls, advocates and organizers in Buffalo, NY, have built a movement to reform the district's discipline policies. Their hard work paid off in April when the school board approved a new student code of conduct that limits the use of out-of-school suspensions.
A new report from UCLA's Civil Right Project is a one stop shop for all the school discipline data advocates or organizers needto fight the overuse of out-of-school suspensions. Out of School & Off Track uses data from over 26,000 U.S. middle and high schools for the 2009-2010 academic year and breaks it down by district, race, gender, elementary/secondary school level, English language learners, and disability status.
On Monday, March 4th, youth of color from across the country held a rally on the grounds of the U.S. Capitol followed by a march to the White House to call on Congress and the Obama administration to reject school safety policies that criminalize students of color, immigrant youth, LGBTQ students and students with disabilities, and push them out of school.
Colorado has long been at the center of the debate over school safety. There, and in many other states across the country, zero-tolerance policies were enacted that, while well-intentioned, ended up criminalizing students over the slightest infractions and establishing a school-to-prison pipeline. Thanks to the tireless efforts of the grassroots group Padres y Jóvenes Unidos, Denver Public Schools are a big step closer to the end of excessive policing of their students.
A report from the Annie E. Casey Foundation finds that "a sea change is underway in our nation's approach to dealing with young people who get in trouble with the law." Though the US still leads the industrialized world in youth incarceration rates, that rate has dropped more than 40 percent over a 15-year period. However, five states – Arkansas, Idaho, Nebraska, South Dakota and West Virginia – bucked the norm and saw an increase in youth confinement.
Black students in Arkansas schools are more likely to be suspended and receive corporal punishment than their white counterparts, according to this comprehensive state-level analysis from Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families (AACF). School disciplinary policies that disproportionately keep students of color out of school reduce their opportunities to learn and increase gaps in educational achievement.
A new voice is chiming in to the school discipline debate: the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recently released a policy statement condemning the overuse of out-of-school suspensions and expulsions, and advocating instead for positive discipline polices and wraparound health and social services for all students.
Need some help developing or advocating for policies in your state to tackle school pushout and end the school-to-prison pipeline? Then look no further than our newly released state policy guide! The guide provides advocates and policymakers with recommendations for ending the ineffective and discriminatory practice of out-of-school suspensions, which contribute to our national pushout crisis. The guide also provides a summary of the significant action and legislative proposals that are already underway in states to address this crisis.Take Action
Solutions Not Suspensions is a call for a moratorium on out-of-school suspensions and for schools to adopt more constructive disciplinary policies that benefit students, classrooms and communities.
Solutions Not Suspensions is a call for a moratorium on out-of-school suspensions and for schools to adopt more constructive disciplinary policies that benefit students, classrooms and communities.