Reaching a Critical Juncture for Our Kids: The Need to Reassess School‐Justice Practices

Abstract

Perceived increases in school disruption and violence led to an increased reliance on punitive and exclusionary approaches to school discipline in America's schools in the 1980s and 1990s. Evaluation of these policies has shown little evidence that reliance on suspension and expulsion has led to improvements in school safety and student behavior. Indeed, removal from educational opportunity associated with exclusionary school discipline places students at increased risk of a variety of negative outcomes, including academic disengagement, school dropout, and contact with the juvenile justice system. These risks are even more likely to befall students of color, especially African American students, as they are disproportionately exposed to exclusionary approaches. In recent years, a preventive approach to discipline, stressing instruction and relationship rather than punishment, has begun to provide a clear alternative to zero tolerance.Keypoints Although zero tolerance was thought to be a promising disciplinary approach, extensive study has found that it does not contribute to preventing school violence or improving school behavior. Students of color, especially Black students, are overrepresented in out‐of‐school suspension and expulsion, and this is not due to poverty or higher rates of misbehavior among African American students. Removing students from school through suspension and expulsion seems to place students at risk for a host of negative long‐term outcomes, including decreased school engagement, negative academic outcomes, dropout, and increased risk for juvenile justice involvement. There are effective alternatives to suspension and expulsion that can keep schools safe without threatening students' opportunity to learn.