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Date: November 22, 2024 Fri
Time: 12:03 pm
Time: 12:03 pm
Results for zero tolerance policies, schools
2 results foundAuthor: Boccanfuso, Christopher Title: Multiple Responses, Promising Results: Evidence-Based, Nonpunitive Alternatives to Zero Tolerance Summary: In response to highly publicized violent incidents in schools, such as the Columbine High School massacre, school disciplinary policies have become increasingly severe. These policies have been implemented at the school, district, and state levels with the goal of ensuring the safety of students and staff. Many of these policies have one component in common: zero tolerance. While it is clear that protecting the safety of students and staff is one of school leaders‘ most important responsibilities, it is not clear that zero tolerance policies are succeeding in improving school safety. In fact, some evidence based on nonexperimental studies suggests that these policies actually may have an adverse effect on student academic and behavioral outcomes. Child Trends developed this brief to explore these issues. The brief does this in two ways: it reviews existing research on the implementation and effects of zero tolerance in the school setting; and it highlights rigorously evaluated, nonpunitive alternatives to zero tolerance that have shown greater promise in improving school safety and student outcomes. Nonpunitive programs that take a largely preventive approach to school discipline have been found to keep students and schools safe by reducing the need for harsh discipline. These programs take many forms, such as targeted behavioral supports for students who are at-risk for violent behavior, character education programs, or positive behavioral interventions and supports that are instituted schoolwide. Details: Washington, DC: Child Trends, 2011. 12p. Source: Internet Resource: Publications #2011-09: Accessed April 25, 2011 at: http://www.childtrends.org/Files/Child_Trends-2011_03_01_RB_AltToZeroTolerance.pdf Year: 2011 Country: United States URL: http://www.childtrends.org/Files/Child_Trends-2011_03_01_RB_AltToZeroTolerance.pdf Shelf Number: 121485 Keywords: School CrimesSchool SafetySchool ViolenceZero Tolerance Policies, Schools |
Author: Skiba, Russell Title: Are Zero Tolerance Policies Effective in the Schools? An Evidentiary Review and Recommendations Summary: There can be no doubt that schools have a duty to use all effective means needed to maintain a safe and disciplined learning environment. Beyond the simple responsibility to keep children safe, teachers cannot teach and students cannot learn in a climate marked by chaos and disruption. About this there is no controversy. Abundant controversy has arisen however, over the methods used to achieve that aim. Since the early 1990s, the national discourse on school discipline has been dominated by the philosophy of zero tolerance. Originally developed as an approach to drug enforcement, the term became widely adopted in schools in the early 1990s as a philosophy or policy that mandates the application of predetermined consequences, most often severe and punitive in nature, that are intended to be applied regardless of the seriousness of behavior, mitigating circumstances, or situational context. Such policies appear to be relatively widespread in America’s schools, although the lack of a single definition of zero tolerance makes it difficult to estimate how prevalent such policies may be. In addition to universal goals of any school discipline approach, such as maintaining a safe school climate, zero tolerance policies assume that removing students who engage in disruptive behavior will deter others from disruption, and create an improved climate for those students who remain. In an era of educational policy defined by accountability, it is appropriate and important to examine the extent to which any widely-implemented philosophy, practice, or policy has demonstrated, through sound research, that it has contributed to furthering important educational goals. Thus the American Psychological Association, as part of its mission to advance health, education, and human welfare, commissioned the Zero Tolerance Task Force to examine the evidence concerning the effects of zero tolerance policies. The task force examined the assumptions that underlie zero tolerance policies and all data relevant to testing those assumptions in practice. In addition, due to concerns about the equity of school discipline, the task force synthesized the evidence regarding the effects of exclusionary discipline on students of color and students with disabilities. Finally, the Zero Tolerance Task Force examined research pertaining to the effects of zero tolerance policies with respect to child development, the relationship between education and the juvenile justice system, and on students, families, and communities. The task force was also charged with offering recommendations for the improvement of zero tolerance policies and with identifying promising alternatives to zero tolerance. Thus the report concludes with recommendations for both reforming zero tolerance policies and for implementing alternatives in practice, policy, and research. The following are the findings of the Zero Tolerance Task Force. Details: Washington, DC: American Psychological Association, Zero Tolerance Task Force, 2006. 141p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 2, 2012 at: http://fairfaxzerotolerancereform.org/images/20060221_APA_Report_on_Zero_Tolerance.pdf Year: 2006 Country: United States URL: http://fairfaxzerotolerancereform.org/images/20060221_APA_Report_on_Zero_Tolerance.pdf Shelf Number: 104040 Keywords: School DisciplineSchool SafetyZero Tolerance Policies, Schools |