The late Art Linkletter (and then Bill Cosby) made us laugh by pointing out that “kids say the darnedest things.” Kids, being kids, are still saying (and doing) the darnedest things, especially in our public schools.
But it is no laughing matter. Often these words and deeds result in the child being suspended from school and, perhaps, referred to juvenile court.
The Georgia Appleseed Center for Law & Justice recently issued a report titled Effective Student Discipline: Keeping Kids in Class (www.gaappleseed.org) summarizing the results of an 18-month study of student discipline policies and practices in Georgia’s K-12 public school system. The report notes the wide variability among student discipline results in the state’s 180 school districts. Some districts only rarely use out of school discipline alternatives such as out of school suspension (OSS) while in other districts this technique is regularly used. OSS discipline often appears to be disproportionately imposed upon black, poor, and special education students. School districts with high OSS rates tend to have lower than average graduation rates.
In the Muscogee County School District, 11 percent of all students received at least one OSS in the 2009-10 school year compared to a statewide average of about 8 percent. The data also show wide variability in the use of OSS within the county. The average high school in Georgia suspended around 14 per cent of the student body last year. At Spencer High, just over 30 per cent of the students received an OSS, while at Shaw, Carver, and Jordan Vocational the rate ranged from 20-25 per cent. Other high schools in the district, Kendrick, Hardaway, Columbus and Early College Academy, had substantially lower rates --- 6.2, 2.7, 2.1, and 1.1 per cent respectively.
Why should we care? After all, shouldn’t unruly students be excluded from the classroom so that the students who do not misbehave are not disturbed in their efforts to learn?
The report notes that teachers and school administrators face a challenging “balancing act.” Certainly it is vital that our public schools be safe and provide an environment that allows all students collectively the opportunity to learn. On the other hand, the right of each individual child, even one who is periodically unruly, to have a reasonable chance to obtain a quality high school education is also precious.
The Georgia Appleseed study and similar studies done in other localities such as Florida, Texas, New Orleans and Philadelphia support the notion that “zero tolerance” and other get-tough policies adopted by school districts in response to the Columbine High School tragedy and similar incidents may now be forcing many children out of school unnecessarily. The failure of a child to obtain a high school education in the 21st Century almost certainly means a life of economic destitution and often is a step toward incarceration.
The good news is that there is increasing evidence that several alternatives to out of school discipline practices can work to maintain order and a safe school environment while keeping kids in class. Approximately 250 schools in Georgia are implementing proactive school-wide approaches to discipline with very promising early results.
It is clear, however, that these new programs will require a fundamental change in our approach to student discipline. Change is always hard. Initiating and following through on a new direction for student discipline will require the committed cooperation and collaboration of all of the key stakeholders, with a special need for parents to step up and take an active role in the process.
Georgia Appleseed is profoundly aware that student discipline is only one of many factors that affect student performance and graduation rates.
We do not suggest that developing more effective student discipline practices will necessarily immediately elevate graduation rates. There is no “silver bullet.”
We do think, however, that the elements of an effective student discipline program will necessarily involve a focus on many of the key issues that do impact overall academic performance. Therefore, we urge students, parents, teachers and administrators to ask if there may be a better way.
Sharon N. Hill, executive director, Georgia Appleseed Center for Law & Justice; shill@gaappleseed.org.
