How do Indiana schools use school discipline? The first briefing paper explored controversies at the national level concerning the philosophy and practice of zero tolerance. That exploration found that many of the assumptions of zero tolerance are not supported by evidence. The data suggest that zero tolerance tends to be associated with a number…

The purpose of this policy brief is to describe the usage and trends of discipline for students with disabilities in Indiana to help inform local and state policymaking. The brief begins with a review of national and Indiana studies, followed by data that illustrate (1) how general and special education students compare with respect to suspension…

Data from the U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights showing that Indiana ranked first in the nation in expulsion and ninth in the nation in expulsions in the most recent available statistics cannot help but raise questions concerning why this is so. At a preliminary presentation of that data before the Indiana State Legislature in…

One key finding of the "Children Left Behind" series has been the critical role of school leadership in setting the tone for how the day-to-day discipline and management of misbehavior is conducted. Interview and survey data from the second and third briefing papers have demonstrated that: (1) principals are sharply divided in their …

Considers the issue of predicting violence committed by students in school campuses through the use of school discipline indices such as office referrals, suspensions, and expulsions. Reviews the existing research in incidents of school discipline markers as well as sources of variation due to student characteristics and classroom or school-wide…

This analysis describes and analyzes disproportionality among Indiana's minority students. Specifically, it shows that: (1) Indiana's two largest minority groups are overrepresented in all four locale designations, with the greatest disproportionality occurring in suburban schools for both out-of-school suspension and expulsion; (2)…