Texas-style discipline puts suspension first

08-08-2011

Blog by Pedro Noguera/Huffington Post

The release of a Texas study on school discipline last month should be a cause for alarm among policymakers and educators throughout the country. Unfortunately, it will probably get lost amidst the chatter that gets regarded as news these days and its importance to those who seek to find ways to reform America's public schools is likely to go unrecognized. "Breaking School Rules" is by far the most comprehensive study on school discipline conducted in recent years. The study followed every incoming seventh grader in Texas over three years and in some cases beyond high school graduation. Its most shocking finding is that nearly 60% of the students in the study were suspended at least once (this includes in-school suspension) and an alarming 31% were suspended at least four times. African American students were over-represented among those who had been suspended and subjected to the harshest forms of discipline, including placement in alternative classrooms. A shocking 83% of African American males and 74% of Latino males in the study were suspended at least once, and one in seven students in the study was suspended at least eleven times. (more...)

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