The reasons minority students are subject to exclusionary discipline more often than others are varied, but many experts agree that they often have little to do with the students themselves. Large rates of suspensions and expulsions tend to result from discipline policies in need of revision that are exacerbated by numerous administrators and…

I examine parent, student, and teacher reactions in a rural Moroccan village to a national ban on corporal punishment in schools. I argue that although the ban has largely been ignored in the local primary school, talk about acts of corporal punishment are used to make claims about the relationship between rural citizen and state as represented by…

Access to quality education for all children is a common mantra for countless national and world organizations, such as the UN and its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This paper examines the struggle within two nations who continue to move beyond the impact of racial segregation in the United States (US) and "apartheid" in South…

Historically, public schools have often used shaming techniques to discipline students, even though researchers have found shaming to be not just an ineffective means of curtailing misbehavior, but, more important, psychologically harmful to children. The author reviewed policy documents from nine leading charter management organizations and found…

The author presents the concept of natality for consideration in terms of pastoral care and educational purpose. The discussion identifies significant threats to the future for pastoral care in schools, including the Global Educational Reform Movement and the increasing emphasis on teachers taking charge of discipline in the classroom, at the…

The purpose of this mixed-method case study was to determine the effectiveness of the progressive discipline matrix in high schools in one Tennessee school district. The further intent was to investigate how discipline practices influenced the perceptions of teachers and administrators. Findings from quantitative data stated that progressive…

The disproportionate discipline of Black male students is a pervasive problem in U.S. schools. To examine the role of stereotypes in disciplinary disproportionality, pre-service teachers were randomly assigned to read a vignette about a defiant student. Those who read a vignette about a Black student believed that the student was more likely to…

In December 2018, the Trump administration rescinded the Department of Education's 2014 "Dear Colleague Letter" (DCL), thus returning to local school districts and boards their traditional authority to set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…

Schools across America are losing teachers at an alarming rate. Changing workforce demographics forecasted some level of loss decades ago. More recently, however, it has been noted declines are now reaching a crisis level across parts of the United States for a variety of reasons. Today the prevailing professional literature addressing public…

Research: The goal of this study is to understand the experiences of Black and Latino former high school students who dropped out, or were pushed out, of a large urban school district in Southern California. Specifically, this paper examines the barriers students faced that contributed to them leaving high school and their journey afterward.…

To better understand how students perceive their physical safety in school, ACT surveyed high school students who took the ACT® test as part of a national administration in October 2018. Students were asked about their physical safety in school, including: (1) school climate; (2) the types of safety measures their school currently implements; (3)…

In this study, 7 items were used to define a composite variable that measures the perceived effectiveness of student conduct systems. Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA) was used to test the relationship between perceived level of system effectiveness and self-reported student learning. In the analyses, 49% of the variance in reported…

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…

Race and gender disparities in school discipline and associated harms have been well documented for decades. Suspension from school can reduce instructional time and impede academic progress for students who may already be lagging in their achievement. This chapter offers a research-based framework for increasing equity in school discipline. The…

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…