The conference highlighted sixteen (16) new studies by leading national researchers, who discussed ways to improve school climate through effective alternatives to punitive disciplinary approaches, and strategies for eliminating disparities in school discipline based on race, gender, and disability status. The event also featured new survey results from Education Week and Gallup, and publicly unveiled the 2013 Education Week Quality Counts report, which examines school climate and discipline issues.

Background

The educational and social costs of excessive and disparate disciplinary exclusion has received attention from a larger national audience. Most notably, the Supportive School Discipline Initiative—launched in 2011 by U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and Attorney General Eric Holder—sought to bring this issue into the public dialogue and build consensus around solutions. The need to redress excessive discipline has been linked to efforts to improve school attendance, achievement, and graduation rates. The conference came at a time when the federal ESEA and the IDEA laws were overdue for reauthorization and the Obama administration was poised to make far-reaching changes to education and juvenile-justice priorities and policies.

A Summary of the “Closing the School Discipline Gap: Research to Practice” Conference is attached. It describes the school discipline gap, contributing factors, and the benefits of reducing the disparities for students’ academic and life outcomes, and school safety.

The conference agenda, bios of speakers and paper summaries are also attached.

To read the national report on secondary suspensions that was released for the conference, see “Out of School and Off Track: The Overuse of Suspensions in American Middle and High Schools”

Conference Agenda

Part I:  

Quality Counts 2013:  A School-Level View of Climate, Discipline, and Disparities: Chris Swanson (Education Week)

Plenary 1: 

Difference-Making: Why education policymakers should attend to frequent and disparate disciplinary exclusion from school 

Tia Martinez, The Center for Civil Rights Remedies, Moderator

Robert Balfanz, Johns Hopkins University, Sent Home and Put Off-Track: The Antecedents, Disproportionalities, and Consequences of Being Suspended in the Ninth Grade

Tracey Shollenberger, Harvard University, Racial Disparities in School Suspension and Subsequent Outcomes: Evidence from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997

Matthew Steinberg, University of Pennsylvania, What Conditions Jeopardize and Support Safety in Urban Schools? The Influence of Community Characteristics, School Composition and School Organizational Practices on Student and Teacher Reports of Safety in Chicago

Russell Skiba, Indiana University, Where Should We Intervene? Contributions of Behavior, Student, and School Characteristics to Suspension and Expulsion

Judith Browne-Dianis, Advancement Project, Respondent

Wade Henderson, Esq., The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, Respondent

Student Voices and Responses:

“Hope, Engagement, and Wellbeing: Lessons Learned from a Million U.S. Students,” Tim Hodges (Gallup)

Concurrent Breakout Sessions

Session A: Unintended policy consequences: How some interventions do more harm than good

Leticia Smith-Evans, NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc., Moderator

Jeremy D. Finn, The University at Buffalo – SUNY, Misbehavior, Suspensions, and Security Measures in High School: Racial and Ethnic and Gender Differences

Judi Vanderhaar, Jefferson County Public Schools, Reconsidering the Alternative: The Relationship Between Suspension, Disciplinary Alternative School Placement, Subsequent Juvenile Detention, and the Salience of Race

Karega Rausch, Indiana University, Respondent

Judith Browne-Dianis, Advancement Project, Respondent

Student, Respondent

Session B: Assessing the costs of suspension in dollars and civic sense

Kavitha Mediratta, The Atlantic Philanthropies, Moderator

Miner P. Marchbanks III, Texas A&M University, The Economic Effects of Exclusionary Discipline through Grade Retention and High School Dropout

Aaron Kupchik, University of Delaware, Discipline and Participation: The Long-Term Effects of Suspension and School Security on the Political and Civic Engagement of Youth

Robert Balfanz, Johns Hopkins University, Respondent

Student, Respondent

Session C: What policymakers can learn from data on disparities in discipline

Cheri Hodson, The Center for Civil Rights Remedies, Moderator

Ivory Toldson, Howard University, Reducing Suspensions by Improving Academic Engagement Among School-age Black Males

Claudia Vincent, University of Oregon, Towards Identifying School-Level Factors Reducing Disciplinary  Exclusions of American Indian/Alaska Native students

Tia Martinez, The Center for Civil Rights Remedies, Students with Disabilities and Race with Gender (Additional findings from CRDC and implications for IDEA) & Disturbing Inequities: Exploring the Relationship Between Racial Disparities in Special Education Identification and Discipline

Joe Tulman, Took Crowell Institute for At-Risk Youth (UDC), Respondent

Student, Respondent

Part II:  

Quality Counts 2013:  Perspectives on School-Discipline Remedies; Chris Swanson (Education Week)

Plenary 2(A):

Can lift-all-boat strategies address the racial/ethnic gaps?

Tanya Coke, The Atlantic Philanthropies, Moderator

Jeffrey R. Sprague, University of Oregon, The Effectiveness of School-wide Positive Behavior Support for Reducing Racially Inequitable Disciplinary Exclusions in Middle Schools

Pamela Fenning, Loyola University Chicago, A Mixed Methods Approach Examining Ethnic Disproportionality in Exclusionary Discipline

Kent McIntosh, University of Oregon, Examining Disproportionality in School Discipline Practices for Native American Students in Canadian Schools Implementing PBIS

George Sugai, University of Connecticut, Respondent

Plenary 2(B): 

Promising gap-closing interventions

Tanya Coke, The Atlantic Philanthropies, Moderator

Mara Schiff, Florida Atlantic University, Dignity, Disparity, & Desistance: Effective Restorative Justice Strategies to Plug the School-to-Prison Pipeline

Anne Gregory, Rutgers University, The Promise of a  Teacher Professional Development Program in Reducing the Racial Disparity in Classroom Exclusionary Discipline

Jamilia Blake, Texas A&M University, Respondent

Ivory Toldson, Howard University, Respondent

Student, Respondent

Plenary 3: 

Large scale systemic action and overcoming obstacles to change

Dan Losen, The Center for Civil Rights Remedies, Moderator

David Osher, American Institutes for Research, Avoid Simple Solutions and Quick Fixes: Lessons Learned from a Comprehensive Districtwide Approach to Improving School Safety 

Dewey Cornell, University of Virginia, Student Threat Assessment as a Method of Reducing Student Suspensions

Lisa Thomas, American Federation of Teachers, Respondent

Town Hall:

What have we learned? Where do we go from here?

Wade Henderson, The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights and The Leadership Conference Education Fund, Moderator

Lisa Thomas, American Federation of Teachers, Panelist

Kristen Harper, US Department of Education, Panelist

End