Zero tolerance discipline relies upon a certain set of assumptions about schools, violence, and the outcomes of discipline. In the period of heightened fear about school-based violence during the 1990s, it was not always easy to dispassionately examine the evidence for different strategies of violence prevention. It seemed imperative to put an…

Since the 1980's, fear of school violence has driven American public education toward increasingly punitive and exclusionary methods of school discipline. Yet recent research has begun to raise serious questions about the effectiveness and equity of suspension and expulsion. Despite such controversy concerning the use and effectiveness of…

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…

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…

How can schools be kept safe and promote a school climate that is conducive to student learning? The previous two papers, examined methods that have not demonstrated success in maintaining safe and productive school climates. The first briefing paper demonstrated that zero tolerance has not met its goal of maintaining safety, has been…

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 …

This document summarizes the findings of a series of three briefing papers that were produced via the collaboration of the Center for Evaluation and Education Policy and the Indiana Youth Services Association in an effort to create a dialogue between the education and juvenile justice communities on effective methods of school discipline: (1)…

This paper discusses ways that educators can develop a variety of school-based programs that can significantly reduce the threat of serious violence and disruptions. An effective technology of school safety, it states, begins with knowledge and understanding. The purpose of the paper is to outline the current state of knowledge about…