One of the persistent challenges in United States elementary schools is the ongoing use of exclusionary discipline practices. In Oregon, despite the application of a number of legal and policy shifts intended to reduce the use of suspension and expulsion in K-5 and K-8 schools, particularly for students of color, there continues to be an increase…

Richard O. Welsh takes on the school discipline crisis in "Suspended Futures," delineating the persistent racial disparities in how educators perceive and respond to the behavior of students. Welsh offers a framework for disrupting and dismantling a disciplinary system that disproportionately disadvantages students of Black, Latinx, and…

The school to prison pipeline is a phenomenon fed by exclusionary discipline practices that increase the likelihood that a student will have an interaction with the juvenile or criminal justice system at some time in their life; this phenomenon disproportionately affects Black students. Understanding the problem is key to slowing down the school…

Zero tolerance policies were designed to create safety by implementing automatic exclusion (e.g., suspensions, expulsions) for misbehavior in response to rising school violence in the United States. However, evidence over the past four decades shows that these policies fail to increase objective and subjective safety, and instead foster poor…

Ample scientific research has documented that exclusionary discipline practices are both ineffective for reducing unwanted behaviors and harmful to the long-term social and academic outcomes of students. Further, exclusionary discipline practices are especially harmful given their disproportionate use with students of color, students with…

As awareness has grown about the harmful effects of exclusionary discipline, especially on the Black and Brown students who are disproportionately suspended and expelled, so, too, has interest in alternative approaches to discipline. Restorative practices focus on building or repairing relationships to address or preempt conflict. They are based…

Ample scientific research has documented that exclusionary discipline practices are both ineffective for reducing unwanted behaviors and harmful to the long-term social and academic outcomes of students. Further, exclusionary discipline practices are especially harmful given their disproportionate use with students of color, students with…

Across public and private settings, about 250 preschoolers are suspended or expelled each day, according to a Center for American Progress analysis of the 2016 National Survey of Children's Health (Malik, 2017). The U.S. Department of Education's Civil Rights Data Collection has exposed serious inequities in exclusionary discipline practices.…

This report provides a brief overview of Culturally Responsive Restorative Practices, an innovative framework intended to address discipline disparities and improve school climate and culture at ten Austin Independent School District (AISD) schools. This work is part of a 5-year, $3.5 million Education Innovation and Research (EIR) grant from the…

The "IDRA Newsletter" serves as a vehicle for communication with educators, school board members, decision-makers, parents, and the general public concerning the educational needs of all children across the United States. The focus of this issue is "Redefining Discipline." Contents include: (1) Stop the Bad; Do the Good --…

In December 2018, the Trump administration rescinded the Department of Education's 2014 "Dear Colleague Letter" (DCL), thus returning to local school districts and boards their traditional authority to set discipline policy. Although it was frequently described as "nonbinding guidance," the DCL was anything but. Instead, the…

Zero tolerance policies have contributed to suspension and expulsion becoming common methods of addressing problem behaviors in schools. If suspension and expulsion are being used as forms of punishment, they should theoretically result in a reduction of problem behavior after their administration. In reality, exclusionary disciplinary practices…

As advocates for children and youth with exceptionalities, the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) recognizes the influence a safe and positive school and community climate has on meeting the promises made in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). The CEC is committed to upholding the dignity and worth of all individuals with…

This policy brief is part of a larger research report, "Making ESSA's Equity Promise Real: State Strategies to Close the Opportunity Gap," that describes how states are using opportunities in ESSA [Every Student Succeeds Act] to better support historically underserved students through the thoughtful selection of specific equity measures…

Minority students and students with disabilities are disciplined disproportionately from their peers. Discipline has led to many negative consequences in the lives of youth in the United States, including the school-to-prison pipeline. In 2014, the U.S. Department of Education issued guidance encouraging school districts to develop policies that…