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LAUSD will no longer suspend students for ‘willful defiance’
Los Angeles Unified is the first district in the state to stop suspending students for “willful defiance” – a subjective category that accounts for 54 percent of suspensions and a quarter of all expulsions across the state. The school board voted 5-2 to ban suspensions for defiance following an impassioned discussion, according to the Los Angeles Times, with one board member saying he considered this change an experiment. The vote is a victory for civil rights groups and other activists who have been working to change the “zero tolerance” approach to discipline in favor of alternatives such as referring students to counseling or contacting parents to determine the root cause of the misbehavior. Supporters of the change point out that disproportionate numbers of African American students are suspended for willful defiance. African … Read entire article »
Filed under: Discipline, K-12 Challenges, Interventions, Quick Hits, Race, Ethnicity, Students
Bill restricting ‘willful defiance’ for suspending students moves ahead
With new data showing that more than half of all suspensions and a quarter of expulsions in California schools are for “willful defiance” of school authorities, the Assembly Education Committee voted 6-0 on Wednesday to move forward a bill that would restrict the use of the vague category by school administrators. Assemblymember Roger Dickinson, D-Sacramento, who introduced Assembly Bill 420, said that current law enumerates 23 other reasons why a student can be suspended or expelled, yet … Read entire article »
Filed under: Discipline, Equity issues, Featured, Governance, K-12 Challenges, Interventions, Legislature, Bills, Race, Ethnicity, Reporting & Analysis, Students
Report finds large jump in suspensions after students enter middle school
The likelihood of a student being suspended from school jumps from about 2.4 percent in elementary school to 11 percent in middle school, according to a new analysis by The Civil Rights Project at the University of California, Los Angeles. When broken down by race, the numbers show the risk of suspension increases by 18 points for African American students and 11 points for Latino students, and only about 5 points for white students. “Kids are getting pushed off track to graduation,” said Daniel J. Losen, co-author with Tia Elena Martinez of Out of School & Off Track: The Overuse of Suspensions in American Middle and High Schools. The report relies on 2009-10 data from more than 26,000 U.S. middle and high schools. More than 2 million students were suspended during that … Read entire article »
Filed under: Discipline, English learners, K-12 Challenges, Interventions, Quick Hits, Race, Ethnicity, Students
Migrant program offers lessons for reaching Latino preschoolers
HUGHSON – Long before President Obama triggered a new national interest in universal preschool earlier this year, a Central Valley-based Head Start program for children of migrant workers has been breaking down barriers that have kept Latino families out of early learning programs. Data suggests that Latino children, who now make up more than half of children under 5 years old in California, have historically enrolled in early education programs at lower rates than their peers … Read entire article »
Filed under: Achievement Gap, Early Childhood, Featured, Head Start, Kindergarten and Preschool, Poverty, Race, Ethnicity, Reporting & Analysis
Report: Youth incarceration rates drop dramatically
California cut its youth incarceration rate almost in half between 1997 and 2010, but the state still ranks 11th in the nation in the proportion of youth under age 21 it confines, according to a new report. KIDS COUNT, a project of The Annie E. Casey Foundation, reports that California is part of a “dramatic decline in youth incarceration” across the nation, with rates dropping by 37 percent during that same time period. However, the United States still locks up a larger share of the youth population than any other developed country. In California, 271 per 100,000 youth are incarcerated, compared to the national average of 225. The decline occurred in California partly due to changes in state law “to explicitly prohibit commitments for less serious offenses,” according to KIDS COUNT Data Snapshot: … Read entire article »
Filed under: Discipline, Quick Hits, Race, Ethnicity, Students
Second effort to limit ‘willful defiance’ as cause to expel and suspend
Assemblymember Roger Dickinson (D-Sacramento) is reintroducing his bill to limit the use of willfully defying authorities or disrupting school activities as a reason to suspend or expel students. Last year, Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed a different version of the bill, saying disciplinary practices should be left up to local school districts. The Association of California School Administrators (ACSA) and the California School Boards Association (CSBA) did not originally support the bill, though they later withdrew their … Read entire article »
Filed under: Discipline, Equity issues, K-12 Challenges, Interventions, Race, Ethnicity, Reporting & Analysis, Students
Two California teachers win “culturally responsive” awards
A kindergarten teacher from San Francisco and a 5th grade teacher from Los Angeles were two of only five winners selected nationally for the 2012 Teaching Tolerance Culturally Responsive Teaching Award. The Southern Poverty Law Center’s Teaching Tolerance project each year recognizes educators who have demonstrated excellence in teaching students from diverse racial, ethnic and cultural backgrounds. Teaching Tolerance provided profiles and videos of the California winners: Robert Sautter, a kindergarten teacher at Leonard R. Flynn Elementary School in San Francisco, creates a bond of trust between himself, his students and their families. He opens his classrooms with a “community circle” in which students greet each other using their home languages. He also makes sure that students see themselves and their families in the books, artwork and photography displayed in his classroom. Sautter … Read entire article »
Filed under: English learners, Poverty, Quick Hits, Race, Ethnicity, Students, Teachers, Values and Habits
Student discipline laws, though weakened, still will have an impact
Advocates for changing punitive school discipline policies that are disproportionately affecting African American and Latino students can claim at least a partial victory at the end of this year’s legislative session, with five bills signed into law by Gov. Jerry Brown last month that raise awareness and pave the way for alternative approaches to out-of-school suspensions and expulsions. However, the governor vetoed two of the strongest measures that potentially would have reduced the 700,000 suspensions given … Read entire article »
Filed under: Absence, Truancy, Discipline, Equity issues, Foster care, K-12 Challenges, Interventions, Legislature, Bills, Race, Ethnicity, Reporting & Analysis, Students
The grit factor: hard to measure, hard to succeed without
Much of the debate over how to reform public schools has fixated on improving student achievement by focusing almost exclusively on strengthening academics and students’ cognitive skills. Paying disproportionate attention to standardized tests, teacher quality, per-student spending, technology, extra learning time and adequate facilities is like putting the heaviest boys on one end of a schoolyard see-saw. In his important new book, How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity and the Hidden Power of Character, New York Times … Read entire article »
Filed under: Equity issues, Featured, K-12 Challenges, Interventions, Poverty, Poverty, Race, Ethnicity, Reporting & Analysis, Research, Values and Habits
A dozen-plus bills would reduce barriers to success for boys of color
The chairman of the Assembly Select Committee on Boys and Men of Color is confident that the bulk of legislation supported by the panel this session will become law. Oakland Democrat Sandré Swanson wrapped up the committee’s first two years yesterday, presiding over a hearing in the Capitol that laid out current and future proposals for creating a path to success for African American, Latino, and Native American boys. Of about 19 bills supported by or … Read entire article »
Filed under: Discipline, Dropout prevention, Equity issues, Featured, Jerry Brown, K-12 Challenges, Interventions, Legislature, Bills, Poverty, Poverty, Race, Ethnicity, Reporting & Analysis, Workforce preparation
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