A NYT editorial:

 

March 6, 2012

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/07/opinion/the-wrong-approach-to-discipline.html

The Wrong Approach to Discipline

Distressing new federal data on the disciplinary treatment of black students adds urgency to investigations into the treatment of minority children in a dozen school districts around the country by the Office of Civil Rights in the Department of Education. The agency, which is negotiating policies with some of these districts, needs to push for procedures that keep children in school.

The new 2009-10 federal data, drawn from more than 72,000 schools, serving about 85 percent of the nation's students, covers a range of issues, including student discipline and retention.

Black students made up only 18 percent of those in the sample but 35 percent of those suspended one time and 39 percent of all expulsions. Blacks, in general, are three-and-a-half times as likely to be suspended or expelled than their white peers, and more than 70 percent of the students who were involved in arrests or referred to law enforcement agencies were black or Hispanic.

The federal disciplinary data echoes a major study in Texas last year that showed racial disparities in school discipline. Both surveys offer grim evidence that states and local districts must revisit "zero tolerance" policies, which are increasingly common in schools and often cover too broad a range of misbehaviors. Studies have shown that removing children from school can lead to long-term problems like the risk of being held back, dropping out or ending up in the juvenile justice system. Students who pose a danger to others should be suspended or expelled, but that is not the case in most removals.

For its part, the Office of Civil Rights should be pressing school systems with the worst records to develop fair and sensible strategies that involve working with troubled children and their families instead of reflexively showing them the door.