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Student Wellbeing
Topic

Discipline

California districts are looking closely at their zero-tolerance discipline policies. Changes include raising awareness of the impact of trauma on students and implementing restorative justice principles, which require misbehaving students to make amends to those they have harmed. Disproportionate numbers of African-American and, to a lesser extent, Latino youth are suspended or disciplined.

April 19, 2019

As a candidate for president, Harris taking a softer stance on truancy than she did as a prosecutor

U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris championed tough-on-truancy laws while serving as San Francisco’s district attorney and California attorney general. Now she's taking heat for it on the campaign trail.

David Washburn
March 27, 2019

Q&A: California’s first-ever surgeon general on her plans to tackle toxic stress in children

Dr. Nadine Burke Harris, a pediatrician who Gov. Gavin Newsom appointed in January, is recognized as a pioneer in the study of how adverse childhood experiences affect brain development and life-long health.

David Washburn
March 24, 2019

Schools lack a clear view of Asian and Pacific Islander discipline disparities, study finds

The study found that students from Southeast Asian countries, like Vietnam and Cambodia, had suspension and expulsion rates that were 2 to 3 times higher than those from China, Japan and other East Asian countries.

David Washburn
March 10, 2019

Many California schools have police but no counselors, ACLU report finds

The report used federal data to make the argument that schoolchildren in America are over-policed and under-supported by health and mental health professionals.

David Washburn
February 27, 2019

Renewed push underway to expand California's ban on some suspensions

A new bill proposed by state Sen. Nancy Skinner would ban out-of-school suspensions in all grades for student behavior deemed “defiant and disruptive” by school authorities. Advocates hopeful Gov. Newsom will be more receptive than Jerry Brown, who vetoed two previous bills.

David Washburn
February 10, 2019

Kamala Harris’s stance on truancy resurfaces as she launches presidential campaign

A 2010 video clip of California senator and presidential hopeful Kamala Harris advocating the prosecution of parents for their children's truancy has re-ignited controversy as schools statewide face greater scrutiny for their rates of chronic absenteeism.

David Washburn
January 22, 2019

Stockton Unified settles state complaint over discriminatory policing practices

State investigators also found that the district violated students' Fourth Amendment rights and the rights of students with disabilities. The district agreed to five years of state monitoring.

David Washburn
January 17, 2019

California’s student suspension rates are far higher in rural schools

Behind the high suspension rates in rural areas are family struggles with poverty, mental illness, addiction and parental incarceration, a dearth of resources to address those needs and underfunded schools.

Lee Romney And Daniel J. Willis
January 4, 2019

Restorative justice reduces suspensions in elementary grades but not middle school, study shows

Many educators say restorative justice has transformed school climates. Others say it is over-hyped. A new study by the RAND Corp. lends support to both sides.

David Washburn
December 19, 2018

Trump administration’s school safety report met with harsh criticism in California

The report strongly recommended rescinding the Obama policies that both emphasized alternatives to suspensions and expulsions and highlighted data showing that students of color and those with disabilities were more likely than white students to face these punishments.

David Washburn
December 11, 2018

School suspensions continue downward trend in California, new data show

About half as many students were sent home for disciplinary reasons during the 2017-18 school year as had been at the beginning of the decade.

David Washburn And Daniel J. Willis
October 1, 2018

Gov. Brown vetoes expansion of California’s school suspension ban

Brown's decision is a bitter disappointment for youth and civil rights advocates who have made eliminating suspensions for "disruption and defiance," which are disproportionately meted out to students of color, a priority.

David Washburn
September 24, 2018

Evidence justifies limiting student suspensions for disruptive behavior

Eliminating 'willful defiance' as a basis for suspending students does not result in more serious discipline problems

Dan Losen
September 20, 2018

Suspensions in California schools drop, but trouble spots remain

Instruction days lost to suspensions dropped nearly by half from 2011-12 to 2016-17, according to a new report. But African American and Native American students -- and students with disabilities -- are still suspended at disproportionately high rates.

David Washburn
September 17, 2018

Reversing 760,000 lost days of learning in our schools

Schools must be both creative and effective at responding to discipline problems.

Pedro A. Noguera and Joseph P. Bishop