[Ohiogift] Public Educdation NewsBlast — Dec. 17, 2015

Thu Dec 17 14:38:30 EST 2015

 Friends,

We have worked to share current information about what is happening on the ground in public education. This year, with more limited resources, we are focused on the issues that contribute to positive school climate and the conditions that all children and teachers deserve to foster teaching and learning.   

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     December 17, 2015 - In This Issue:
National out-of-school suspensions: the data
Criminalization and medicalization
The complexities of a dynamic, encapsulated in one incident
Vast disproportions in the South
Sharp reductions in California
School-wide positive behavior interventions in CA
But does SWPBIS work?
The PRIDE Room
The myth of 'disrupters' versus 'strivers'
 National out-of-school suspensions: the data
A 2015 report from the Center for Civil Rights Remedies examines out-of-school suspension rates for every district in the country, finding that some administrators suspend students with high frequency. In many districts, more than one in every ten elementary and one out of every four secondary students was suspended in 2011-12. However, suspension rates at state and district levels varied, with many districts on the lower end of the suspension-rate spectrum. State-to-state comparisons revealed substantial divides. Nationally, suspension rates are three- to four-times higher at the secondary than elementary level, with racial gaps much wider in high school. Tremendous disparities exist in suspension rates according to race, gender, and disability. Suspensions are a vast loss of instructional time for students and carry school-wide implications for graduation rates, learning environment, and juvenile crime and delinquency in the larger community. Suspension therefore must be limited to a last resort. Ultimately, improving conditions for learning by eliminating excessive and disproportionate discipline depends on wider acknowledgement of the problem and a deeper commitment to practices and policy changes informed by research. The data reveal clear and deep civil rights issues, and our nation cannot close the achievement gap until it addresses the discipline gap.
 More

 Criminalization and medicalization
In an article in the journal Sociology of Education, David Ramey uses a large, multilevel data set to examine associations between school- and district-level racial/ethnic and socio-economic compositions and the criminalization and medicalization of student misbehavior. Schools criminalize behavior through zero-tolerance mandatory suspension and expulsion policies, employing on-campus law enforcement and arresting students on campus. At the same time, schools engage in medicalization by defining some misbehavior in medical or psychological terms and implementing behavior management based on therapy and rehabilitation. Ramey's analysis suggests that school racial composition and school- and district-level economic disadvantage interact to create potentially hyperpunitive environments that, in the pursuit of safe school environments, may inadequately consider the mental health needs of minority students. Schools and districts with relatively larger black and Hispanic populations tended to organize student disciplinary policies around the criminal justice system rather than the mental health system. However, the relationship between greater proportions of students of color at the school level and criminalized and medicalized discipline varies significantly across different concentrations of district-level disadvantage. Schools and districts with greater levels of economic disadvantage were more likely to implement formal disciplinary measures that require few local resources, i.e. criminalized school discipline policies. More
 The complexities of a dynamic, encapsulated in one incident
Videos of a white sheriff's deputy in Columbia, South Carolina throwing a black high school girl to the floor on October 26, 2015 renewed a national discussion around disproportionate punishment for black students, write Richard Fausset, Richard Pérez-Peña, and Alan Blinder for The New York Times. The Justice Department is investigating the incident. In Richland School District Two, which encompasses parts of Columbia and its suburbs, 26 percent of students are white and 59 percent black, but blacks made up 77 percent of those suspended in 2011-12. In 2014-15, the district's racial divide led to formation of a Black Parents Association and a bitter campaign for control of the district's board. Despite this, the community has at times been seen as a model of amicable integration, where students of divergent backgrounds socialize together. James McLawhorn Jr., chief executive of the Columbia Urban League, said that over the last generation, as schools gradually shifted away from being mostly white, residents failed to grasp how the approach to discipline was also changing. But he cautioned against broad negative conclusions from October's incident. And while some students have called the deputy concerned overly rough or racist, others, of all races, defend his record in the school. Deputy Ben Fields has been the subject of two federal lawsuits about his conduct in the past. More
 Vast disproportions in the South
Nationally, 1.2 million black students were suspended from K-12 public schools in 2011-2012; of these suspensions, 55 percent occurred in just 13 Southern states: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia. A new report from the Center for the Study of Race and Equity in Education finds that in 132 Southern districts, blacks were suspended at rates five times or higher than their representation in the student population. In 84 districts, blacks made up 100 percent of students suspended from schools. In Mississippi, blacks are 50 percent of students across the state, but were 74 percent of suspensions and 72 percent of expulsions in 2011-12, a total of 37,897 black students in all. Florida suspended the highest number of black students in actual terms (121,468). In the 13 Southern states, boys were 65 percent of black students suspended from schools, but, compared to girls from other racial/ethnic groups, black girls were most severely and disproportionately affected. Nationally, blacks were 45 percent of girls suspended and 42 of girls expelled from K-12 public schools, highest among all racial/ethnic groups. Across the Southern states, black girls comprised 56 percent of suspensions and 45 percent of expulsions, both of which were also highest among all girls. As a remedy, the report recommends that more time and attention be placed on educating aspiring teachers and school leaders about implicit bias. Faculty in programs that prepare these professionals must introduce alternative approaches to zero tolerance into curricula and skill-building experiences. More

 Sharp reductions in California

A new study from UCLA's Civil Rights Project shows that districts in California sharply reduced suspensions between 2011 and 2014, writes Rebecca Klein in The Huffington Post. Where rates decreased, academic achievement often improved -- suggesting a move away from harsh discipline is beneficial. In straight numbers, California suspensions dropped from 709,580 in 2011-2012 to 503,101 in 2013-2014. Suspensions for black students saw the largest decline, though blacks remain significantly more likely to be suspended than whites. While 2011-2012 saw 33 suspensions for every 100 black students in California, 2013-2014 saw 25.6 per 100 students. Where districts reduced suspensions, black students saw large academic gains, based on the California Academic Performance Index. Yet recent reports from Los Angeles indicate some teachers feel ill-prepared to deal with conflict or misbehavior in lieu of suspensions, and that classrooms have become unruly as a result. The report recommends districts support increased student engagement, and that state and district policymakers eliminate suspensions for minor offenses for all grades. More School-wide positive behavior interventions in CA
A new report from the California Technical Assistance Center-PBIS examines California's scaling-up of school-wide positive behavior interventions and supports (SW-PBIS) across districts, focusing on five features: context, professional-development themes, fidelity in implementation, outcomes, and systemic change. SW-PBIS is a multi-tiered framework to foster learning environments that support positive student academic and behavioral outcomes. The approach is tiered: Tier 1 offers universal supports; Tier 2 offers targeted interventions to students with needs not met by Tier 1; and Tier 3 implements individualized supports for students with the most complex academic, social, mental, and behavioral needs. The report finds that California has made remarkable strides in scaling-up SW-PBIS over the last decade, despite lacking a formalized infrastructure. To sustain progress, the report recommends: state-wide coaching, training, and teacher evaluation; state-wide monitoring of student and training outcomes, with data for team-based decision making; further collaboration between the California PBIS Coalition, the California Technical Assistance Center on PBIS, and state agencies; a formal infrastructure for scaling up PBIS in California systemically  and equitably; creation of a state MTSS-PBIS website and a statewide PBIS Implementation Recognition System; ongoing coaching and technical assistance around this system; and the participation of California's research universities in studies of ongoing cultural issues around SW-PBIS. More But does SWPBIS work?
In a chapter from the book Closing the School Discipline Gap, researchers Claudia Vincent, Jeffrey Sprague, CHiXapkaid, Tary Tobin, and Jeff Gau examine the capacity of school-wide positive behavior interventions and supports (SWPBIS) to reduce racially inequitable disciplinary exclusions, and how such practices can be modified for greater effectiveness. SWPBIS is a school-wide approach to discipline that creates safe, predictable school environments responsive to the varying needs of an entire school population. Key SWPBIS practices are: clearly defining behavioral expectations; proactively teaching what those expected behaviors look like; frequently rewarding students who comply with behavioral expectations; administering a clearly defined continuum of consequences for behavioral violations; and continuously collecting and analyzing data to assess student responsiveness to behavioral support. Examining available data, the authors conclude that SWPBIS effectiveness in reducing racial disparities in disciplinary exclusion is currently unclear, particularly at the secondary level, where racial disparities are most pronounced. Despite promising outcomes, SWPBIS in its current form is insufficient to improve disciplinary equity. Though intended to meet the needs of all students, its limited attention to cultural differences in the student population and potential differences in cultural backgrounds between adults and students within a school make SWPBIS liable to insufficiently reducing racial/ethnic disparities in discipline outcomes. More The PRIDE Room

In a December 2014 profile in The Hechinger Report of a program in suburban Minnesota, Sarah Butrymowicz writes that whereas in an earlier year, students at Robbinsdale Middle School caught fighting were automatically given out-of-school suspensions for five days, from September 2014 onward they've been sent to the PRIDE room, which holds bouncy chairs, stress balls, and an exercise bike for those with pent-up energy. A curtained-off area with bean-bag chairs is available to those needing to be alone and calm down. Every desk bears a printed reminder: "This is a working zone. You will be academically successful in PRIDE. Please regroup and remind yourself that opting out is not an option." The room is part of Robbinsdale's district-wide effort to reduce overall suspensions and eradicate racial disparities in discipline rates. In 2012-2013 (the data available at publication time), black students -- 30 percent of Robbinsdale's enrollment -- received 35 out-of-school suspensions or expulsions for every 100 students, versus 6 for every 100 white students. Statewide, black students were punished at a rate seven times that of white students. By mid-November of 2014, however, Robbinsdale Middle had reduced suspension rates nearly 80 percent compared to the same time in 2013 for all students. Still, black students are over-represented in the PRIDE room. Advocates for alternatives say schools must address both student and teacher behavior to correct racial disparities. More The myth of 'disrupters' versus 'strivers'

In a November 2015 article for Real Clear Education, Sarah Yatsko examines two myths around school discipline. The first myth is that exclusionary discipline (rapid suspension or expulsion) is solely a charter-school practice. In fact, Yatsko writes, so-called "Got to Go" lists of disruptive students that schools want to expel are common in all types of public schools, with exclusionary discipline at record highs everywhere. Nationally, roughly 35 percent of all children are suspended at least once between kindergarten and 12th grade, with the rate for African-American boys nearly twice this. The second myth is that "good" schools must choose between Disruptors and Strivers. Actually, good public schools know that kids are not fixed assets. With proper supports and early interventions, "disrupters" are less likely to disrupt and more likely to productively learn and have potential to become school and civic leaders. High-poverty charters should welcome and support even the most troubled students and provide them with what they need to excel; pitting charters against traditional public schools around this issue perpetuates the myth that students fall neatly and statically into categories of "strivers" and  "disrupters." Yatsko advocates for a "Third Way" of school discipline, with effective interventions backed up by research.  More Quote of the Month:

"Convinced traditional discipline is racist because blacks are suspended at higher rates than whites, New York City's Department of Education has in all but the most serious and dangerous offenses replaced out-of-school suspensions with a touchy-feely alternative punishment called "restorative justice," which isn't really punishment at all. It's therapy." -- Paul Sperry, The New York Post. More

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