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It is perhaps the easiest solution for dealing with unruly and disruptive students. It's also perhaps the least effective.
Even so, administrators in Virginia suspended or expelled more than 90,500 students last year. The top three reasons: Defiance, disruption and obscene or inappropriate gestures or language, according to a report released recently by JustChildren, a program of the Legal Aid Justice Center.
Some actions, of course, demand drastic measures. Drug offenses accounted for 1.6 percent of suspensions and expulsions; weapons violations, 1 percent. Fighting and aggression against other students or staff accounted for about 6.5 percent.
But those findings also suggest administrators have relied too heavily on a disciplinary measure intended as a last resort. State education policymakers would be wise to find ways to reduce the number of children who are suspended or expelled for relatively modest infractions.
Efforts to do that are already under way in about 12 percent of Virginia schools, and preliminary data show promise. The program emphasizes academic support and restorative justice, in which students are required to think about and discuss their actions and consequences and to find a way to make up for them. It also requires students to remain in school, whether in class or in a separate area, and keeps them engaged in learning.
The schools have demonstrated less teacher turnover, lower dropout rates and greater student achievement, all strong arguments for expanding the program.
The full report, available at www.justice4all.org, describes a systemic educational failure that starts at home, continues at school and, ultimately, ends in prison or poverty.
"Students who become disengaged from school and eventually drop out earn less, pay fewer taxes and are more likely to collect welfare and turn to a life of crime," the report notes, adding that the likelihood of arrest more than triples for high school dropouts compared to graduates.
In South Hampton Roads, suspension was employed more than 31,000 times last school year.
It doesn't have to be that way. And it shouldn't be.
Reversing the trend will require hard work, patience and commitment from parents, teachers, administrators and, obviously, the students themselves.
In other words, it won't be easy. Success never is.
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Lies, Damned Lies, And Statistics.
The Pilot is quick to quote the results of any study done by any left wing group and then run with it. That's just the way it is. They forget that in this case the schools are there to TEACH the kids. They would rather play politically correct politics catering to their ideology than worry about the TRUE MISSION of the schools. They do not care that these Thug and Criminal type kids are interfering with the education of the children who are there to GET AN EDUCATION. The Pilot has and always will be much more concerned about the Criminal Element than the Law Abiding citizens That too is just the way it is.
Editors- you should be held back.
I first came across this report from JUSTICE4ALL earlier this month. I’m still left with multitudes of unanswered questions.
It does not compare them to the numbers available since the 2006-2007 school year (reference #6 of their report) to date.
In 2006 there were 32,000 less students yet an additional 225,000 reported incidents as compared to the 2010-2011 school year.
This is where JUSTICE4ALL is obtaining their data yet ignoring the repeat offenders and at the same time knocking that number down to 90,500. What their report does not indicate is that the students suspended/expelled are not for singular reasons. There are multiple reasons – similar to a court docket where the accused has three or more offenses. Those students that had been admonished dozens of times before being sent to the principle. Prior to experiencing suspension/expulsion there were many teacher-student talks, visits to the principle, in-school suspensions, parent to school discussions, etc.
Remember basic journalism? Check and verify references and sources? So I must ask…what is your end goal?