- Five things to know about suspension and expulsion in D.C. schools [AppleTree Early Learning PCS]
- D.C. charter school students disciplined 1.58 times less than DCPS students
- SIMMONS: Surprise! Schools kick out toddlers
- Grosso Bill to Ban Suspensions of Pre-K Students
- OSSE Grants Boost Participation in Farm Field Trips [Washington Yu Ying PCS, Two Rivers PCS, Thurgood Marshall PCS, and Excel PCS mentioned]
- Montgomery schools may explore boundary changes to address achievement gap
Five things to know about suspension and expulsion in D.C. schools [AppleTree Early Learning PCS]
The Washington Post
By Emma Brown
July 14, 2014
D.C. Council member David Grosso’s push to prohibit public schools from suspending and expelling pre-kindergartners comes in response to a city report that found that 3- and 4-year-olds were punished with out-of-school suspension 181 times during the 2012-2013 school year.
That report, produced by the Office of the State Superintendent of Education, represents city officials’ first attempt to produce a comprehensive picture of suspension and expulsion across both traditional and charter schools. Using data reported by schools, the agency found that about 10,000 of the city’s 80,000 public school students — or about 12 percent — were suspended at least once in 2012-2013.
Here are five other takeaways from the OSSE report:
1. D.C. Public Schools students are more likely to be suspended than charter school students.
Charter schools have garnered a lot of attention and criticism for expelling students at a far greater rate than traditional schools. In 2011-2012, charter schools expelled students at a rate 72 times higher than DCPS schools. So it comes as a bit of a surprise that charter students are actually less likely to be suspended, though the difference between the two sectors is less stark.
“That was a big eye-opener for me,” said Scott Pearson, executive director of the D.C. Public Charter School Board. “We’ve been getting beaten up for three years about the fact that DCPS doesn’t expel kids. Turns out they suspend a lot of them.”
DCPS declined to comment on the possible reasons for the discrepancy between the two sectors.
2. Black students are more likely to be suspended and expelled than white students, and the most disadvantaged students tend to be more likely to be suspended and expelled than their more affluent peers.
Nationwide, African American students are three times more likely to be suspended an expelled than white students, a trend that begins in preschool and that helped prompt Education Secretary Arne Duncan and Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. to release national school discipline guidelines earlier this year.
In the District, the disparity is more stark: black students are six times more likely (and Latinos are twice as likely) to be suspended than white students.
Poor children are also more likely to be suspended than their peers who are not poor. In the graph below, “direct-certified” refers to students who are deemed eligible for free or reduced-price lunch (FRL) because they receive welfare or food stamp benefits, or are homeless or in foster care.
Students with disabilities are also more likely to be suspended than their non-disabled peers.
Could the disproportionate discipline rates be evidence of disproportionate misbehavior rather than racism or discrimination? No, according to researchers with the Equity Project at Indiana University. Yes, according to researchers writing in the Journal of Criminal Justice.
Eduardo Ferrer of D.C. Lawyers for Youth, an advocate for reforming the city’s juvenile justice system, is adamant: “The research is clear that implicit bias exists,” he wrote in an e-mail. “Youth of color are treated differently than caucasian youth for the same behavior. … Unless we confront and accept the contribution that implicit bias plays in discipline, we cannot proactively address it.”
3. Middle school students are more likely than other students to be suspended and expelled.
Eighth-graders are eight times more likely to be suspended than first-graders. Maybe it’s not surprising that middle-schoolers are likely to be kicked out of school than younger students, but they’re also more likely to be suspended or expelled than high-school students.
4. Suspension and expulsion rates vary widely by school.
According to the report:
*43 schools reported that they did not suspend or expel any students
*37 schools reported that they suspended at least 25 percent of students
*8 schools reported that they suspended at least 50 percent of students
5. The data OSSE used to compile its report is imperfect and probably incomplete.
The disproportionate suspension of different student groups in OSSE’s report is not based on an analysis of all suspensions, but only of those suspensions that are due to weapons, drugs, alcohol and violence — i.e., those required to be reported to the federal government.
Advocates, OSSE officials, lawmakers and others worry that the more lax rules around reporting discipline for other kinds of infractions — such as for failing to wear the proper school uniform, for example, or excessive tardiness — paints a skewed picture.
AppleTree Early Learning, for example, reported 81 out-of-school suspensions of pre-K students in 2012-2013 — nearly half the city total. But spokesman Barnaby Towns said that figure includes students who were sent home early in the day. Other schools might not count such half-days as suspensions, Towns said, which could make AppleTree officials look like strict disciplinarians when in fact they’re just more apt to report infractions than other schools.
Grosso’s bill would require more and more uniform discipline reporting, something that agency officials say is needed in order to understand the long-term impacts of suspension and expulsion.
D.C. charter school students disciplined 1.58 times less than DCPS students
The Examiner
By Mark Lerner
July 15, 2014
Charter schools have been criticized from the time of their creation for being able to obtain higher academic results than the traditional schools because they were somehow able to self-select their student bodies. Charter proponents have consistently refuted this argument pointing out as if there was a continuous playback loop that charters are public schools just like the regular ones and that they have to accept whoever shows up at their door. Usually the argument fall on deft ears as the average citizen confused charters with private schools because they are given autonomy that neighborhood schools lack. Some have even referred to the proliferation of these alternative schools as the privatization movement.
Now we have concrete evidence to refute the notion that charters can somehow manipulate their enrollment. A major study by the Office of the State Superintendent of Education has found that DCPS expels or gives children suspensions at a rate 1.68 greater than charters. The Washington Post quotes Scott Pearson, the executive director of the D.C. Public Charter School Board, as commenting on these findings, “We’ve been getting beaten up for three years about the fact that DCPS doesn’t expel kids. Turns out they suspend a lot of them.”
Still there is much work to be done to reduce the number of serious school disciplinary actions against students. For example, the study found that male students were 1.68 times more likely to be disciplined than female students. Black students were disciplined six times more than white kids. Low income children were 1.3 times more likely to face disciplinary action compared to those who do not qualify for free or reduced lunch. Those with disabilities were 1.4 to 1.7 times more likely to be disciplined compared to those who do not receive special education services. Finally, the Post states that 181 pre-school students had out-of-school suspensions during the 2012 to 2013 term. The report recommends that three and four year olds never receive these type of suspensions. The observation resulted in D.C. Councilman David Grosso introducing legislation yesterday to make this suggestion a reality.
The report and its conclusions are important because suspensions and expulsions result in children limiting their years in schools and increases the likelihood that they will end up committing acts of crime and ending up in jail. Here is an excellent area where charters and DCPS can partner to figure out methods for keeping kids in school.
SIMMONS: Surprise! Schools kick out toddlers
The Washington Times
By Deborah Simmons
July 14, 2014
A seminal study of D.C.’s public schools in the late 1990s concluded that the longer a child stayed in the system, the worse off he became.
Well, now that universal pre-K continues sweeping the nation, guess what?
Comes evidence that the wet nurses are treating tykes and toddlers like their older counterparts.
That is to say, the little ones are being suspended and expelled, too.
Preschoolers have “temper tantrums.”
Preschoolers are “disruptive.”
Preschoolers have “restroom” accidents.
Quelle horreur.
The preschoolers are behaving like preschool-age children, so schools stack the deck against them.
Welcome to the new world order in public education, where toddlers are expected to act like teens and punished when they do just that.
And D.C. isn’t the only school district.
I first raised concerns about universal and compulsory pre-K in June 2001, when then-D.C. Council member Kevin Chavous introduced legislation to introduce 3-year-olds to daily public schooling.
At the time, Mr. Chavous said his measure “would force the school system to take charge and responsibility for every 3- and 4-year-old in the city to make sure they are prepared for kindergarten.”
I questioned whether 3- and 4-year-olds, and certainly some 2-year-olds, were physically, emotionally and mentally prepared to be away from their parents and forced into a rigid academic and group environment for six- and seven-hour stretches for five days a week.
Visit link above for the complete article.
Grosso Bill to Ban Suspensions of Pre-K Students
The Washington Informer
By Dorothy Rowley
July 14, 2014
D.C. Council member David Grosso (I-At Large) introduced a bill Monday that bans the suspension of 3- and 4-year-old children from publicly funded programs in the city, keeping in line with his push for equitable education reform.
Grosso said his bill was spurred by a report from the Office of the State Superintendent, which found that of the roughly 10,000 public school students suspended during the 2012-13 school year, 181 were enrolled in pre-kindergarten programs.
"While I understand that children at times can be difficult, I have a hard time understanding what behavior of a 3- or 4-year old would constitute an out-of-school suspension or expulsion," Grosso said. "We are beginning the school-to-prison pipeline before some students even have the opportunity to fully begin their educational pursuits."
Numerous studies have shown that students who are suspended from school, at any age, tend to perform poorly academically and drop out of high school than those who have not been suspended. Civil rights organizations such as The Advancement Project in D.C. have released data showing that children of color suffer higher rates of suspensions and expulsions than whites, even for the same offenses.
Many school districts throughout the nation, including Prince George's County, have already begun changing their polices on suspensions. According to a statement from Grosso's office, the Chicago Public School Board of Education voted last month to prohibit the suspension of students in pre-K through 2nd grade, except for cases involving extreme safety concerns.
Washington state disallows long-term suspensions of students from kindergarten to 4th grade, and none of them can be suspended for more than of 10 school days during a semester. New York City also decided in recent years that no student from kindergarten to 3rd grade can be suspended longer than five days.
"Regardless of which sector our youngest public school students begin their education, it's in the public interest that the most extreme options with regard to student discipline be age- and developmentally-appropriate," Grosso said.
OSSE Grants Boost Participation in Farm Field Trips [Washington Yu Ying PCS, Two Rivers PCS, Thurgood Marshall PCS, and Excel PCS mentioned]
The Washington Informer
By Dorothy Rowley
July 14, 2014
The Office of the State Superintendent of Education announced that it will grant $33,000 to the District's Farm Field Trip program as part of a new initiative of the DC Healthy Schools Act.
Awards from the program during the upcoming school year will help 23 public and charter schools increase their capacity to participate in trips to area farms.
"The Farm Field Trip program enables our schools to provide students with firsthand experience of where food comes from, while developing critical skills and meeting age-appropriate curriculum standards," said Jesús Aguirre, state superintendent. "These field trips help encourage students to make healthier food choices at school and at home. By doing so, we are investing in the preservation of our communities."
The trips aim to teach students about nutrition, pollination and pest control, and cultural and historical crops.
Among participants for the upcoming program are the Washington Yu Ying Public Charter School in Ward 5; Tyler Elementary School and Two Rivers Public Charter School in Ward 6; and Excel Public Charter School and Thurgood Marshall Academy Public Charter School in Ward 8.
Montgomery schools may explore boundary changes to address achievement gap
The Washington Post
By Bill Turque
July 14, 2014
The Montgomery County Council pressed school officials Monday to consider shifting attendance boundaries to make schools more economically and racially diverse — a potential and politically volatile remedy for a persistent achievement gap.
In Montgomery, the question of how students are assigned to neighborhood schools until now has largely been absent from the debate over how to close the troubling achievement gap. Such plans, like the one currently being considered for D.C. schools, inevitably trigger rancorous community debates. Boundary changes in the 151,000-student system have focused on accommodating enrollment increases and the opening of new schools.
But several council members told Superintendent Joshua P. Starr at a meeting of the council’s education committee on Monday that the idea of shifting students to address a gap in academic achievement merits serious consideration.
Starr said the possibility would be considered in a consultant’s study on school choice that the district will commission later this year.
“We have to throw everything at this,” council President Craig Rice (D-Upcounty) said after the 31 / 2-hour session, which drew nearly every member of the council and school board. “I understand it creates some nervousness and uncertainty. But if it helps us to get to our goal,” it must be considered.
Montgomery schools have experienced a major demographic shift over the past decade. Forty nine percent of students are black or Hispanic. More than a third of the student population is eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. Most minority and low-income students live and attend school in the eastern part of the county, and their schools for the most part have the lowest test scores.
A council staff report released in April by the council’s Office of Legislative Oversight, found that students at high-poverty schools were nine percent less likely to graduate on time and 45 percent less likely to earn at least one passing score on an AP exam than peers at low-poverty schools. They were also 56 percent less likely to score a 1650 or better on the SAT.
But the study also showed that economically disadvantaged students who attended schools with a higher proportion of middle-class or affluent students did better on several key measures. Low-income students in low-poverty high schools were more likely to be college- or career-ready than their economic counterparts in poorer schools. They were also only half as likely to be suspended or drop out.
The findings are consistent with other research showing that placing poor students in higher-achieving, lower-poverty schools is a more effective way to boost academic performance than pouring extra funds into racially and economically isolated schools.
When Board of Education President Philip Kauffman acknowledged that boundary changes “have not really been the focus of the school system” in earlier efforts to address the achievement gap, council member Cherrie Branson (D-Silver Spring-Eastern County) demanded to know why not.
“I’m very troubled by the notion that boundaries are off limits. We change boundaries all the time,” Branson said, referring to adjustments in state legislative and council districts. “People don’t like it usually, but it happens.”
Starr described closing the achievement gap as “a moral imperative” for the county and said boundary overhauls have never been off limits. But he said the matter was “a complex undertaking” that has to be approached with great caution and in full partnership with families and other stakeholders. He added that there is no single solution to the problem of educational inequity.
After the hearing, school board member Christopher Barclay rejected the idea of boundary changes, saying he was offended by the notion that students of color could thrive only if surrounded by more middle-class and affluent whites.
“I don’t believe in white supremacy,” said Barclay, who is African American. He said without improvements in teacher quality and other reforms, especially in struggling schools, boundary changes would simply redistribute poor children, essentially hiding “pockets of need” inside more racially diverse schools.
“What gets missed in this is, what are the abilities of those teachers to teach those children?” Barclay said. “I don’t want kids shipped all over the world.”