The purpose of this phenomenological qualitative research study was to analyze the perspectives of educators who are also parents of public-school children regarding the effectiveness of the implementation of punitive, exclusionary and restorative discipline practices within low-income urban elementary schools. The guided protocol questions in…

Background/Context/Setting: In the wake of growing evidence regarding the negative impacts of suspension on student outcomes, states and school districts have implemented disciplinary reforms, restricting or eliminating the use of suspension for minor misbehaviors. Recent evaluations of these reforms suggest that they have the potential to…

Racial disproportionality in school discipline is a major U.S. educational problem. Official data show that Black boys are disciplined at the highest rates of any racial and gender subgroup. Scholars suggest the "criminal" Black male image shapes teachers' views and treatment of their Black male students. Yet few studies examine the…

There is an overrepresentation of elementary-age, Black boys being suspended across the United States. Researchers have found that if these boys are disconnected from school at an early age, they are at risk of becoming part of the school-to-prison pipeline (STPP). Educators, particularly those in urban settings, need to understand more about the…

Background/Context: In thousands of classrooms throughout the United States and internationally, behavior management apps have become an integral part of schools' discipline machineries. Such apps are designed to help teachers enforce rules, especially when it comes to rewards and punishments within school token economies. To understand how these…

The problem addressed by this study is that Hispanic students are disproportionately overrepresented in school discipline. The problem was addressed using a qualitative method and exploratory case study research design. Restorative justice was the conceptual framework that undergirded the study. This study added to the restorative justice…

The purpose of this phenomenological qualitative study was to examine the implementation of Restorative Practices in selected elementary schools in southeast Texas. Restorative Practices will generally be defined as a social science that studies how to build social capital and achieve social discipline through participatory learning and decision…

Safety is one of the primary reasons why parents report seeking out a school of choice in depressed cities with a high proportion of charter schools. However, little empirical research has examined how parents assess school safety in these settings. This study explores factors that parents associate with school safety in Detroit, Michigan by…

Districts have been engaged in efforts to reduce "differential processing" of discipline-referred students based on their racial backgrounds. They strive for fair assignment of exclusionary consequences across racial groups. The current study examines discipline records for one academic year in an urban school district (N = 9,039…

Morris Jeff Community School is a brand-new, ability-inclusive, intentionally diverse charter in the Mid-City area of New Orleans, Louisiana. In a city where the educational landscape is dominated by other charter schools, Morris Jeff stands out for its International Baccalaureate curriculum, dedication to ability inclusion and diversity,…

In this article, the authors share a case study of a special educator who worked closely with a leadership team in an urban elementary school to establish universal behavior expectations for all students. The special educator was a behavior coach in the urban elementary school located in a southwestern school of the United States of America.…

This study evaluated the scale-up of a Safe & Civil Schools "Foundations: Establishing Positive Discipline Policies" positive behavioral interventions and supports initiative through 4 years of "real-world" implementation in a large urban school district. The study extends results from a previous randomized controlled trial…

The purpose of the present study was to assess the efficacy of a culturally adapted version of the Strong Start intervention program on the social-emotional outcomes of African American male students. Externalizing behavior problems of children, specifically African American males, are of great concern for schools. Punitive discipline polices such…

Since the 1999 Columbine High School shooting school administrators have been tasked with creating positive education environments while also maximizing the safety of the students and staff. However, limited resources require school administrators to only employ safety policies which are actually effective in reducing crime. In order to help…

For too long, youngsters in Ohio's major cities have been ill-served and ill-educated by their public schools. In the 2008-09 school year, almost half of these quarter million students--in district and charter schools alike--attended schools rated "D" or "F" by the state. Yet this bleak picture has some bright spots--schools…