Ending zero tolerance : the crisis of absolute school discipline /
"In the era of zero tolerance, we are flooded with stories about schools issuing draconian punishments for relatively innocent behavior. One student was suspended for chewing a Pop-Tart into the shape of a gun. Another was expelled for cursing on social media from home. Suspension and expulsion...
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| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Book |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
New York :
New York University Press,
2016
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| Series: | Families, law, and society series
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| Subjects: | |
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| Summary: | "In the era of zero tolerance, we are flooded with stories about schools issuing draconian punishments for relatively innocent behavior. One student was suspended for chewing a Pop-Tart into the shape of a gun. Another was expelled for cursing on social media from home. Suspension and expulsion rates have doubled over the past three decades as zero-tolerance policies have become the normal response to a host of infractions that extend well beyond drugs and weapons. Students from all demographic groups have suffered, but minority and special-needs students have suffered the most. The national suspension rate for middle and high school African American students is nearly 25 percent, a rate three and half times that of white students. The effects of these policies are devastating: just one suspension in the ninth grade doubles the likelihood that a student will drop out; 50 percent of students who drop out are subsequently unemployed; 80 percent of prisoners are high school dropouts. The risks associated with suspension and expulsion are so high that, as a practical matter, they amount to educational death penalties, not behavioral correction tools. Most important, punitive discipline policies also undermine the quality of education that innocent bystanders receive - a result that is the exact opposite of what schools intend. Ending Zero Tolerance answers the calls of grassroots communities with a complete rethinking of school discipline. Derek W. Black, a former attorney with the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, weaves stories about individual students, lessons from social science, and outcomes of court cases to unearth a shockingly irrational system of punishment. While schools and legislature have proven unable and unwilling to amend their failing policies, Ending Zero Tolerance argues for constitutional protections to check abuses in school discipline and for courts to reengage to enforce students' rights and support broader reforms"--Unedited summary from book jacket |
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| Physical Description: | x, 237 pages ; 24 cm |
| Bibliography: | Includes bibliographical references (pages 211-228) and index |
| ISBN: | 9781479877027 (hbk.) 1479877026 (hbk.) |