ISSUE BRIEF November 2012 Zero Tolerance and Exclusionary School Discipline Policies Harm Students and Contribute to the Cradle to Prison Pipeline ® The Problem: Pushing Students Out of School ut-of-school suspensions and expulsions—discipl ine Opractices that exclude children from school—have increased dramatically in the United States since the 1970s. This increase is largely due to schools’ overre - liance on “zero tolerance” policies. The Dignity in Schools Campaign describes zero tolerance as “a school discipline policy or practice that results in an automatic disciplinary consequence such as in-school or out-of-school suspension, expulsion, or involuntary school transfer for any student who commits one or more listed offenses. A school discipline policy may be a zero tolerance policy even if administrators have some discretion to modify the consequence on a case-by-case basis.” 1 Zero tolerance policies impose automatic and harsh discipline for a wide range of student infractions, s s i L including non-violent disruptive behavior, truancy, e v e dress code violations, and insubordination. Even when t S © o school policies don’t impose automatic suspensions for t o h behavior, the culture of overzealous exclusion from P school that is fostered by the zero tolerance mindset school year involved weapons or drugs, while 64% of has created a situation in which children are being suspensions were for “disobedient or disruptive behavi or,” removed from school for increasingly minor behavior truancy, or “intimidation.” 3 These policies are a issues. An October 2011 report from the National Edu - problem for all children, regardless of background or cation Policy Center found that only 5% of suspensions home-life. But for vulnerable children who do not have nationally were for weapons or drugs, while the other a stable, nurturing home environment, being removed 95% were for “disruptive behavior” or “other.” 2 Ohio from the safe haven of school exacerbates rather than data on school discipline mirrors this national trend. counteracts the trauma occurring at home. According to the Ohio Department of Education, only 6% of out-of-school suspensions during the 2010–11 Children’s Defense Fund – Ohio • www.cdfohio.org ISSUE BRIEF • Zero Tolerance and Exclusionary School Discipline Policies Zero tolerance policies also result in misguided applications of rules, harming students and wasting educators’ time. A third grader in a Columbus elementary school was suspended from school for three days for saying “yeah” instead of “yes, Ma’am” to his teacher. A six-year-old girl in Cincinnati was proposed for expul - sion for bringing her mother’s nail clippers to school. A middle school honors student in southwest Ohio was expelled from school for eighty days because he mistakenly left his Swiss Army knife in his backpack after y h returning from a weekend Boy Scout p a r g 4 o t camping trip. o h P r e d n a Proponents of zero tolerance policies cite x e l A school safety as a chief justification. n a e D Studies show, however, that the implemen - © o t o tation of zero tolerance policies nationally h P has failed to improve school, community, disabilities, economically disadvantaged children, and or student safety. These policies have greatly increased minority children. During the 2010–11 academic year the number of law enforcement officers working in and in Ohio schools, students with emotional disturbance responding to incidents in schools, yet they have failed (one of several disability categ ories under federal law) to show a concomitant boost in school safety or imp rove - were 7.2 times more likely to be suspended than ment in students’ overall academic performance. 5 In students with no disability. 7 Students with cognitive fact, higher rates of school suspension and expulsion disabilities were 2.5 times more likely to be suspended and increased presence of law enforcement officers in than students with no disability. 8 Low-income students schools are considered to be “themselves risk factors were 4.4 times more likely to be suspended than for a range of negative academic and life outcomes.” 6 students who are not low-income. 9 Black students were 5.2 times more likely to be suspe nded from school than Disparate Impact on Disabled, White students. 10 Students with more than one of these Economically Disadvantaged, characteristics—for example, poor Black children with and Minority Children emotional disturbance—are 10 or more times likely to be suspended. Although zero tolerance policies were originally inte nded to impose the same harsh consequences on all stud ents, Zero tolerance policies do not consider the underlying thereby reducing disparities, that is not what has causes of student behavior. Although the behavior may happened. In fact, disability, economic, and race dis - stem from disability, hunger, safety concerns at home, parities in school discipline have skyrocketed since the trauma, poverty, or simply from the fact that children advent of zero tolerance policies in the mid-1990s. have never been taught the “appropriate” behaviors, In Ohio, overly harsh discipline practices disproportion - school authorities focus only on removing students ately harm the most vulnerable children: children with from school. Unfortunately, expulsion takes the place 2 Children’s Defense Fund – Ohio • www.cdfohio.org A KIDS COUNT PROJECT of discipline tactics designed to help students address In Ohio’s eight largest urban districts, the factor by the underlying problems that lead to behavior incidents which a student with a disability is more likely to be and learn how to respond positively to challenges. suspended than a student with no disability depends upon the type of disability. For example, students Impact on Students with Disabilities classified as having an emotional disturbance are over three times more likely to be suspended than students Removing a child from school is problematic for any with no disability in these districts. These disparities child, but it is particularly devastating for a child who should raise concerns, since the Individuals with already struggles in school, especially a child with a Disabilities Education Act 14 requires schools to provide disability. For these children, removal from school can individualized education programs (IEPs) to students w ith make it nearly impossible to catch up after returning. disabilities, conduct functional behavior assessments, The further children fall behind, the greater the and consider positive behavioral intervention and likelihood that they will drop out. 11 Yet, despite this supports (PBIS). IEPs are designed to provide behavior fact, children with disabilities are disproportionately goals, when appropriate, in addition to academic goals, disciplined in comparison to their non-disabled peers. and give educators tools to address behavior issues, Statewide, students with disabilities (in all categories) rather than simply suspending students when they comprised 14.8% of the total enrolled student popula - act out. tion for the 2010–11 school year. 12 But they accounted for 27.5% of the total out-of-school suspensions for that same year. 13 Table 1 Ohio’s Urban School Districts Out-of-School Suspensions per 100 Students Students with Disabilities Emotional Cognitive Other Specific No Disturbance Disability Health Learning Disability (SBH) Impaired- Disability Minor Out-of-School Suspension Rate 125.7* 54.0 63.2 53.9 35.3 per 100 Students Disparity Between Rates of Disabled and 3.6 1.5 1.8 1.5 — Non-Disabled Factor by which type of disability is more likely to be suspended than no disability. Source: Ohio Department of Education, 2010–11 school year discipline data for Akron, Canton, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, Dayton, Toledo, and Youngstown school districts. *Students in some disability categories are being suspended multiple times in a given year for the same behavior, resulting in rates higher than 100, even as the denominator remains the same. Children’s Defense Fund – Ohio • www.cdfohio.org 3 ISSUE BRIEF • Zero Tolerance and Exclusionary School Discipline Policies Figure 1 Ohio's Urban School Districts Out-of-School Suspensions per 100 Students Students with Disabilities 300 250 200 150 No Disability Emotional Disturbance 100 Cognitive Disabilities 50 Specific Learning Disabilities Other Health Impaired - Minor 0 n n i d s n o n o o t n u o d w r t a a b t e o k n nn l m y l t A a i e u a o gs C c v l D T n n le o u i C C o C Y Source: Ohio Department of Education, 2010–11 school year discipline data for Akron, Canton, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, Dayton, Toledo, and Youngstown school districts. Impact on Economically Disadvantaged school year, students identified as economically Students disadvantaged were more than four times as likely to be suspended as those not identified as economically Children from economically disadvantaged backgrounds disadvantaged. This disparity has gradually increased are more likely to be suspended than children from since the 2003–04 school year, when economically dis - economically stable backgrounds. A student who meets advantaged students were slightly less than three times any of the following criteria is defined as economically as likely to be suspended as students not identified as disadvantaged by the Ohio Department of Education: economically disadvantaged. The disparity is especially eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, resident of a relevant because of the high number of children living i n household in which