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Date: November 22, 2024 Fri
Time: 11:57 am
Time: 11:57 am
Results for school crime and disorder
2 results foundAuthor: Vermeire, Diana Tate Title: Discipline in California Schools: Legal Requirements and Positive School Environments Summary: The American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California (ACLU-NC) has a longstanding commitment to educational equity and ensuring that all California students are guaranteed their fundamental right to an education as promised under the California Constitution. Among the most serious of the issues facing our state’s public education institutions is the “pushout” phenomenon, where students either leave school voluntarily or are forced to leave. Racially disparate and punitive discipline, among other things, underlies the phenomenon; we believe it to be one of the reasons California fails to graduate many of its students. Although inconsistent discipline is by no means the sole cause of the dropout crisis, it is certainly a significant contributor. ACLU-NC has long worked with the educational community — school administrators, principals, and teachers — to reach our common goals of educating students, protecting them from harm, and helping them reach their full potential through a meaningful and equal educational experience. In order to combat pushout, school discipline policies and practices must be fair and equitable — both in their writing and their implementation. ACLU-NC’s varied litigation, policy advocacy, and organizing experience gained through our school bias and pushout work has given us insight into some of the successful strategies employed by — as well as common mistakes made by — California school districts in implementing effective and fair school discipline. In general, schools with the least number of suspensions and referrals maintain clearly defined policies, and the principal and teachers have established protocol that enables them to handle individual cases of misbehavior consistently. On the other hand, schools with the highest number of suspensions and referrals tend to have rigid, yet vague, discipline policies that do not incorporate preventive measures or positive interventions. Schools that shift to clearly defined discipline policies will most likely not only reduce discipline referrals and improve school environment but also improve students’ academic performance: schools that significantly lower their suspension and expulsion rates find that improved scholastic performance follows. Discipline in California Schools: Legal Requirements and Positive School Environments is intended to help school districts develop and implement more successful school discipline policies and therefore reduce pushout. It is based on the work of the ACLU-NC and the expertise of other organizations and individuals committed to ending racially disparate discipline in our nation’s schools. In particular, we want to acknowledge the excellent work of the following organizations: the Advancement Project; national American Civil Liberties Union; American Civil Liberties Unions of Florida and Washington; New York Civil Liberties Union; Dignity in Schools Campaign; UCLA Institute for Democracy, Education and Access; Southern Poverty Law Center; and Equity Project at Indiana University. Discipline in California Schools also incorporates the admirable work of the California Department of Education (CDE) to address school discipline and environment through CDE policy guidelines and resources, sample policies, and other materials. This guide is intended to highlight successful approaches and common mistakes without purporting to cover all potential best practices and pitfalls. Details: San Francisco: ACLU of Northern California, 2010. 36p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed November 11, 2011 at: http://www.aclunc.org/docs/racial_justice/discipline_in_california.pdf Year: 2010 Country: United States URL: http://www.aclunc.org/docs/racial_justice/discipline_in_california.pdf Shelf Number: 123314 Keywords: School Crime and DisorderSchool Discipline (California)School Dropouts |
Author: Great Britain. Office of the Children's Commissioner for England Title: “They Never Give Up On You”: Office of the Children’s Commissioner School Exclusions Inquiry Summary: This report is the result of the first formal Inquiry by a Children’s Commissioner for England using powers in the Children Act 2004. It follows eight months of work by a small team of staff from my office, supported by an expert panel. We travelled throughout England and listened to hours of formal evidence as well as taking account of written evidence submitted by adults and children alike. Why this subject, and why now? Firstly, in 2010 we asked researchers to gather the views of a representative sample of 2,000 children and young people on what makes school a triumph, a challenge or a disaster. Eight out of 10 said they had experienced disrupted learning caused by the bad behaviour of a minority. Yet nine out of 10 insisted schools should never exclude a child, but should help them deal with their problems. Even more surprising, only one in seven said that their school always got exclusion decisions right. We were struck by their opinions held in spite of having their learning disrupted by peers who were potential candidates for exclusion. They seemed worthy of further investigation. Our second reason is that, while exclusion is a sanction used in England, it is not used in much of mainland Europe. This report recognises that exclusion may be a necessary last resort in rare cases, but argues that all exclusions must: • be fair and transparent; • listen to the views of the child concerned; • lead to high quality alternative provision for the child excluded; and • be within the law. Exclusion usually happens because of a child’s behaviour. Schools, Academics and Ministers have recognised such behaviour often originates in troubled home lives which spill over into school. We were keen to know how schools exclude, why, using what systems of escalating sanctions, in whose interests, listening to whose evidence, with what consistency of approach and with what results. Thirdly, despite our claims of being an equal society that treats children on their merits, some groups of children are far more likely to be excluded from school than others. These are children who are vulnerable because of who they are, and because of the challenges already present in their lives. They are: • boys rather than girls; • children with some types of special needs; • children from some specific ethnic backgrounds, and • the children of the poor. One stark figure should make us all want to confront this scandal. In 2009-10, if you were a Black African-Caribbean boy with special needs and eligible for free school meals you were 168 times more likely to be permanently excluded from a state-funded school than a White girl without special needs from a middle class family. This figure comes from official government statistics. Exclusions have fallen overall in the last few years, but these stark gaps remain. It is high time, on the basis of equality, natural justice and the inalienable right of every child to an education that we act to close those gaps. This report celebrates good practice. Its title comes from something a teenager – to quote him, “a bit of a handful” – said to us during our fieldwork. We found schools of all types in a wide range of circumstances all over the country working together and with other agencies. They could prove they had saved the educational and life chances of their communities’ children and young people. Their young citizens knew they were lucky. The adults they worked with were passionate advocates of schools as places of safety and ambition, calm and standards. We have included as many of their stories in this report as space allows. Details: London: Children's Commissioner, 2012. 118p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 9, 2012 at: http://www.childrenscommissioner.gov.uk/content/publications/content_561 Year: 2012 Country: United Kingdom URL: http://www.childrenscommissioner.gov.uk/content/publications/content_561 Shelf Number: 124896 Keywords: EducationSchool Crime and DisorderSchool Discipline (U.K.)School Suspensions |