Corporal punishment (CP), or inflicting pain through spanking, hitting, and paddling, is still legally sanctioned and exercised in U.S. schools. We use critical discourse analysis and draw on state policy documents and data from the Office of Civil Rights to investigate which discourses pervade policy texts and how CP is practiced. These sources…

Detecting and punishing violations of research integrity requires first having to prove them. However, establishing proof of research misconduct presents a number of challenges. Firstly, it has to be conducted in a variety of contexts, including before research integrity officers, university disciplinary committees, civil courts, criminal courts,…

Restraint and seclusion are frequently misused in schools, leading to harmful outcomes for students. There is currently no federal law regulating these practices, which has led to inconsistencies in state and district policies. This policy paper aims to provide a brief background on current definitions, case law, and policies and provide teachers…

Wyoming is one of 19 states where the use of corporal punishment is legal in public schools. The purpose of this study was to determine the perceptions of Wyoming public school administrators regarding the legality and use of corporal punishment; uncover their views on the likely effectiveness of corporal punishment as a disciplinary option; and…

Adjudication of allegations of student misconduct in campus living facilities is one of many responsibilities often held by residence hall staff. After receiving an incident report, these administrators may address concerns like roommate conflicts, fire safety, vandalism, and alcohol consumption with their residents in formal or informal meetings…

A national survey of 350 student conduct administrators set out to determine the ways in which the changing nature of their profession affected their personal lives, professional work, and beliefs about the profession of college discipline. The Concerns About Litigation Survey for Student Conduct Professionals revealed significant differences in…

Since the incorporation of student chronic absenteeism rates into state school accountability systems after the passage of the "Every Student Succeeds Act," schools have adopted new practices to improve student attendance and decrease chronic absenteeism. Some of these practices borrow features from behavior management systems such as…

Using newly available data on all civil rights complaints submitted to the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights related to racial discrimination in discipline between 1999 and 2018, I provide the first systematic evidence on how modern federal civil rights enforcement is used to address racial discrimination in discipline. I find…

Education is usually considered a force for good, associated with hope and optimism about better individual and social futures. Yet a case can be made that education and education policy in recent decades, far from being a force for good, has had nefarious effects at multiple levels. This can be seen in the growing alienation of significant…

Disparate impact is the dubious approach to civil rights enforcement that claims that an entirely neutral policy that does not discriminate on its face, is not intended to discriminate, and does not actually treat individuals differently based on their race still constitutes illegal racial discrimination if it has a "disproportionate"…

In order for an educator to properly restrain or seclude a child, they should be made aware of the statutes, court cases, governmental policies, and terminologies that shape the legality of restraints and seclusions. This paper means to nurture that awareness. The paper is in an order that shows an evolution of the policies and laws about…

A qualitative study of twelve student conduct administrators sought to capture their lived experiences relative to the impacts of federal and state regulation, case law, the media, attorney encroachment, parental involvement, and the use of litigation to supersede traditional processes on their professional work and personal lives. The interviews…

Court-involved, female students often experience trauma and disproportionate school discipline, complicating their academic success. This mixed-method study examines students' use of and experiences with the Monarch Room (MR), a trauma-informed disciplinary alternative. The study examines service utilization, using a repeated measures analysis of…

Horrific events such as the fatal shooting of three high school students in Chardon, Ohio, in the winter of 2012 places tremendous pressure on state and local agencies to ensure that schools provide a safe and conducive learning environment for all students. To help curb school violence, schools have adopted zero-tolerance policies, which often…

Disciplining students with disabilities has been a controversial issue among school officials, parents, and other members of school communities for many years. Federal law guiding administrative practice is codified in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act of 2004 (IDEA), a lengthy, cumbersome, and sometimes difficult to understand…