Yes, Schools Do Discriminate Against Students of Color -- Reports
March 13, 2014
Huffington Post
A so-called school-to-prison pipeline flows from school discipline
that lands disproportionately on students with disabilities and students
of color, according to a set of reports by 26 experts released on
Thursday.
African-American students and students with disabilities
are suspended at "hugely disproportionate rates compared to white
students," said a report by the Discipline Disparities
Research-to-Practice Collaborative, which includes experts from fields
such as advocacy, policy, social science and law.
...
Research shows that
removing so-called "bad kids" from the classroom doesn't help
non-disruptive kids learn, according to the collaborative. The group
found that some restorative justice programs and prevention programs
that call for more student-teacher engagement can help lower suspension
rates and minimize disruptions. The researchers also found that school
police often make arrests for “what might otherwise be considered
adolescent misbehaviors.”
...
The
idea of a school-to-prison pipeline that punishes students of color and
students with disabilities more than their peers has gained steam in
recent months. In January, the Obama administration released its first legal guidance
on school discipline, telling schools that they may be legally
accountable for the disparate impact of their actions on different
races, and that they are liable for all disciplinary actions in their
buildings -- even those committed by police not employed by the school
district. The guidance relied on the Civil Rights Act of 1965.
In late February, President Barack Obama himself highlighted the problem with the launch
of the My Brother's Keeper initiative. The program kicked off with $200
million in foundation money aimed to help males of color succeed in
school and graduate into steady work through mentorship and communal
solutions. Some of those efforts, according to a White House memo, will be school discipline reform.
"School districts have just been put on notice and now we're showing
them there's real research to show that there are alternatives to
frequent use of suspension that will not just reduce suspensions but
also reduce racial disparities," said Dan Losen, a member of the
collaborative who directs the University of California, Los Angeles,
Center for Civil Rights Remedies.
...
According to the collaborative, evidence “suggests that police
presence in schools, particularly armed police, should be a very last
resort in school discipline strategies.”
"There is a tendency in times of threat to focus on implementing more
extreme solutions," Skiba said. "There are schools that feel they need
to use metal detectors or video surveillance but we also need to realize
that kids who really get to the point where they want to engage in
these incidents, they're looking for ways around those things. Our best
bet is to be comprehensive from the start and say let's look at all
levels."
The school-to-prison pipeline thesis has its skeptics,
including Michael Petrilli, executive vice president of the
right-leaning Thomas B. Fordham Institute.
"This is part of the
steady drumbeat now of people talking about different approaches to
student discipline," Petrilli said. "I have to say, it makes me very
nervous that we're going to be making it harder on educators to be able
to discipline students when necessary. This push to make it harder to
suspend students is going to have a chilling effect on teaching and
learning. We would be incredibly naive to think we would stop
disciplining kids and not see an adverse impact on learning."
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