Nearly every school district says it wants to reduce student suspensions, but only some have created plans with the kind of detail, funding and statistical savvy that make it more likely they'll succeed, according to a report released Wednesday that analyzed plans to improve "school climate" in the 50 largest school districts in California.
With a big push from the state’s new approach to education spending, many California school districts appear to be ramping up investments in positive approaches to discipline.
In response to efforts in many California school districts to reduce suspensions and expulsions, EdSource is convening an Educators Network for Effective School Discipline to help school and district officials as well as teachers share best practices and collaborate on successful strategies.
Hayward school officials, police, businesses and churches are taking a gentle approach to reducing high truancy rates among students. Merchants are refusing to serve school-aged youths during school hours, and if students persist, police take them back to school to get them help staying in class.
Educators who want to implement more positive disciplinary practices can now access an online national repository of research-based alternatives to suspension and expulsion: the National Clearinghouse on Supportive School Discipline (NCSSD).
A new law that limits the use of “willful defiance” as a reason to expel or suspend students signifies a growing commitment on the part of the state to find more positive approaches to disciplining students.
Superintendents say teachers are the group most likely to object to policies that would reduce student suspensions, according to a new national survey on school discipline released Monday by AASA, The School Superintendents Association, and the nonprofit advocacy group the Children’s Defense Fund.
Three large school districts in California are rewriting the rules about how and when police should be involved on their campuses, complementing broader efforts to implement less punitive disciplinary practices. Oakland Unified, San Francisco Unified and Pasadena Unified are revamping their policies to ensure that police are called as a last resort.
