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Schools rethinking zero tolerance

June 10, 2011 By Anne 1 Comment

Now, this is good news: “Nearly two decades after a zero-tolerance culture took hold in American schools, a growing number of educators and elected leaders are scaling back discipline policies that led to lengthy suspensions and ousters for such mistakes as carrying toy guns or Advil,” the Washington Post reports. Launched by the Gun-Free Schools Act of 1994, during a period when being tough on crime was a popular political position, and cemented by fears arising from the Columbine High shooting spree in 1999, the zero-tolerance approach is now being seeing as less than effective by more and more school officials. “The shift is a quiet counterpoint to a long string of high-profile cases about severe punishments for childhood misjudgments,” according to the Post. It says school personnel are seeking out “more calibrated” approaches than instant suspensions, which – not surprisingly – are linked to lower academic achievement and students dropping out. In Indiana, there’s even a new law requiring schools to review zero-tolerance policies and “modernize” school discipline. The Post gives a number of examples of schools rethinking suspension as able to accomplish anything close to behavior change. What’s taking its place? Where zero-tolerance tolerance is going down (and there are still too many schools and districts where it remains in place), it’s being replaced with “positive behavior support” strategies (see this) and “restorative justice” programs that focus on “recognizing mistakes and repairing harm.” [See also instructional designer Ali Carr-Chellman’s view of zero tolerance in her TED Talk about reengaging boys in learning; “Zero tolerance = zero intelligence: Juvenile judge“; “Cyberbullying and … second chances?“; and “Clicks, cliques & cyberbullying: Whole school response is key.”]

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Filed Under: School & Tech, school policy Tagged With: positive behavior support, restorative justice, school policy, zero tolerance

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  1. What school suspension 'accomplishes': Study | NetFamilyNews.org says:
    July 22, 2011 at 3:29 pm

    […] in Texas, it is representative of the US as a whole. Here’s the study itself. [See also: "Schools rethinking zero tolerance" and "Zero tolerance = zero intelligence: Juvenile judge."] Permalink Post a comment — […]

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Our (DIGITAL) PARENTING BASICS: Safety + Social
NAMLE, the National Association for Media Literacy Education
CASEL.org & the 5 core social-emotional competencies of SEL
Center for Democracy & Technology
Center for Innovative Public Health Research
Childnet International
Committee for Children
Congressional Internet Caucus Academy
ConnectSafely.org
Control Shift: a pivotal book for Internet safety
Crimes Against Children Research Center
Crisis Textline
Cyber Civil Rights Initiative's Revenge Porn Crisis Line
Cyberwise.org
danah boyd's blog and book about networked youth
Disconnected, Carrie James's book on digital ethics
FOSI.org's Good Digital Parenting
The research of Global Kids Online
The Good Project at Harvard's School of Education
If you watch nothing else: "Parenting in a Digital Age" TED Talk by Prof. Sonia Livingstone
The International Bullying Prevention Association
Let Grow Foundation
Making Caring Common
Raising Digital Natives, author Devorah Heitner's site
Renee Hobbs at the Media Education Lab
MediaSmarts.ca
The New Media Literacies
Report of the Aspen Task Force on Learning & the Internet and our guide to Creating Trusted Learning Environments
The Ruler Approach to social-emotional learning (Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence)
Sources of Strength
"Young & Online: Perspectives on life in a digital age" from young people in 26 countries (via UNICEF)
"Youth Safety on a Living Internet": 2010 report of the Online Safety & Technology Working Group (and my post about it)

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