Many states place limitations on the use of suspension and expulsion. This data point captures restrictions on the use of suspension and/or expulsion that states have set in policy. At least 15 states and the District of Columbia have restrictions on the use of suspension and/or expulsion for students based on their grade level or age. At least 14…

Chronic absenteeism and truancy have been linked to a variety of undesirable outcomes for students including increased risk of dropout, lower test scores, lower educational and social engagement, juvenile delinquency, and substance abuse. One controversial response to truancy is the use of exclusionary discipline, such as out-of-school suspensions…

In this article, school disciplinary exclusions in high schools in Ghana are highlighted to explore alternatives to school exclusions. The 2017 budget and the preceding budgets of the Republic of Ghana clearly indicate that the bulk of the nation's expenditure is spent on education. Part of the 2017 budget is especially targeted at making the…

Mirroring trends in the legal system, discipline within education has adopted zero-tolerance policies in an attempt to curb undesired behaviors in school. K-12 schools have expanded the use of exclusionary discipline policies for lesser offenses, giving way to the phenomenon known as the school-to-prison-pipeline (STPP), which disproportionately…

Beginning in the early 1990s, states and districts enacted zero-tolerance discipline policies that relied heavily on out-of-school suspensions. Recently, districts nationwide have revised these policies in favor of more tempered disciplinary responses. In 2012-2013, Philadelphia reformed its discipline policy to limit suspensions for nonviolent…

Researchers and others in the education community are concerned about over-reliance on exclusionary discipline such as out-of-school suspension (OSS) and expulsion. Exclusionary discipline is associated with lower student achievement, higher risk of drop-out or grade retention, and involvement in the juvenile justice system. In response, many…

Mounting evidence indicates that students of color are more likely than their white peers to receive exclusionary discipline (out-of-school suspensions and expulsions), but alleviating these disparities requires an understanding of what drives them. In this study, we use seven years of student- and infraction-level data from every public school in…

Truancy, or unexcused absence, is a common problem facing nearly all high schools across the United States and other nations. Understanding how schools typically respond to student truancy and the relative effectiveness of these responses is an important, yet relatively unexplored area. Using a national extant dataset, this study examined which…

The Virginia Board of Education's "Student Conduct Policy Guidelines" were first developed in 1994 in response to action by the 1993 General Assembly requiring the Virginia Board of Education to establish such guidelines. In 2004, the "Guidelines" underwent a major revision in response to requirements of § 22.1-279.6. of the…

The Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) reauthorization requires State Education Agencies to establish a school choice policy for students attending a persistently dangerous school as defined by the state. No Child Left Behind (NCLB) stipulates that a school can be deemed unsafe as a whole entity or for an individual student who is the…

States, districts and schools are now being offered unprecedented opportunities to develop programs that will improve student performance and turn around underperforming schools. An understanding of how reducing chronic early absence helps those efforts will go a long way to assure that innovative school improvement policies and practices will be…

The purpose of this handbook is to stimulate thought, planning, and action. Although few of the alternatives outlined here are "canned" techniques that can be readily applied, the experiences and techniques reported should stimulate the thinking of school officials and citizens so that efforts can be initiated to develop and put into…

A three-step plan to improve attendance at Aurora Central High School, Colorado, has successfully reduced truancies to less than 1.25 percent. Students with exemplary attendance are exempt from taking final exams; chronic truants are suspended; and all students are required to do makeup work for all absences. (MLF)

A review of court opinions on school discipline suggests that the use of academic penalties as a sanction for student misconduct is widespread and increasing. In 12 cases during the past decade examined in this chapter, students won 5 and lost 7. In challenges of school board policies that assess academic penalties for truancy, students won in…

A review of court decisions indicates that schools may consider absence from class as a factor in overall academic evaluation and may impose academic penalties for absences due to truancy, suspension, or expulsion. However, academic penalties may not be imposed for misconduct that does not result in absence from class. (MLF)