Racial disproportionality in disciplinary practices has persisted in United States schools for decades. Students of color are consistently overrepresented in school discipline referrals, suspensions, and expulsions. These exclusionary discipline practices alienate students and set them on the pathway to disengagement and potential dropout from…

The U.S. Department of Education released a data set in 2011-2012 regarding discipline in schools in the U.S. The data revealed Black girls were the fastest growing population of students experiencing suspension and expulsion. Compared to their White peers, Black girls were suspended at a rate of six times more. The theoretical framework for this…

This data point highlights reporting requirements in state policy regarding the use of suspension and/or expulsion. At least 39 states and the District of Columbia outline reporting requirements for the use of suspension and/or expulsion in statute or regulation. At least 11 states have reporting requirements that are specific to certain types of…

One of the persistent challenges in United States elementary schools is the ongoing use of exclusionary discipline practices. In Oregon, despite the application of a number of legal and policy shifts intended to reduce the use of suspension and expulsion in K-5 and K-8 schools, particularly for students of color, there continues to be an increase…

Zero tolerance policies were designed to create safety by implementing automatic exclusion (e.g., suspensions, expulsions) for misbehavior in response to rising school violence in the United States. However, evidence over the past four decades shows that these policies fail to increase objective and subjective safety, and instead foster poor…

Black students account for 15.1% of public school students, yet represent 38.2% of out-of-school suspensions, 28.7% of referrals to law enforcement, and 31.6% of school arrests (U.S. Department of Education, 2021). Suspended and expelled youth are less likely to complete high school or attend college (Rosenbaum, 2020), and more likely to be…

Across public and private settings, about 250 preschoolers are suspended or expelled each day, according to a Center for American Progress analysis of the 2016 National Survey of Children's Health (Malik, 2017). The U.S. Department of Education's Civil Rights Data Collection has exposed serious inequities in exclusionary discipline practices.…

The enactment of Senate Bill 100/Public Act 099-0456 (SB100) in 2016 compelled school districts throughout Illinois to evaluate student discipline policies. This dissertation examines the impact SB100 had on middle and high schools throughout the state and within a large suburban K-12 school district. This dissertation is organized into three…

In December 2018, the Trump administration rescinded the Department of Education's 2014 "Dear Colleague Letter" (DCL), thus returning to local school districts and boards their traditional authority to set discipline policy. Although it was frequently described as "nonbinding guidance," the DCL was anything but. Instead, the…

Zero tolerance policies have contributed to suspension and expulsion becoming common methods of addressing problem behaviors in schools. If suspension and expulsion are being used as forms of punishment, they should theoretically result in a reduction of problem behavior after their administration. In reality, exclusionary disciplinary practices…

Drawing on data from a longitudinal study of at-risk youth (n = 593), this article reports on the analysis of factors that enabled these youth to succeed at school. It considers the impact of three baseline factors (age, gender, ethnicity) and a number of time-dynamic factors [positive school environment, additional educational support, positive…

As the implementation of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) of 2015 moves forward, the overuse of exclusionary discipline practices in schools, and the role such practices play in perpetuating the school-to-prison pipeline, deservedly continue to garner national attention. Under these harsh practices, children are suspended and expelled from…

Many teachers do not receive the support necessary to simultaneously teach and respond appropriately to challenging student behavior. The systems in place are often purely reactive and lack a preventative component to address challenging behavior. The Center for Promise examined exclusionary discipline in Minnesota by speaking with young people…

This policy brief is part of a larger research report, "Making ESSA's Equity Promise Real: State Strategies to Close the Opportunity Gap," that describes how states are using opportunities in ESSA [Every Student Succeeds Act] to better support historically underserved students through the thoughtful selection of specific equity measures…

Positive and effective school discipline is critical to promoting students' successful learning and well-being. This guidance from National Association of School Psychologists (NASP) provides an evidence-based framework for effective school discipline policies and practices that: (1) promote a positive school climate; (2) reinforce positive and…