Problem behavior disrupts classrooms across the United States, impacting student learning. Despite the adverse consequences, teachers often exclude disruptive students from school as a punitive and default response to problem behavior. Alternatives to exclusion are becoming increasingly popular in many school districts to improve behavior and keep…

Neoliberalism, after decades of reform, continues to steer educational policies around the world. As private enterprise encroaches public education, schools are held accountable, tangled up in an internationally competitive culture of achieving benchmarks that meet technically managed standards. Not only is it academic performance that is audited…

How should universities handle cases of student misconduct? While universities cannot make decisions about whether a criminal offence has been committed, they can judge whether there has been a breach of their own code of conduct. This guidance, building on a UUK and Pinsent Mason publication from 2016, sets out principles and practical case…

This article reports on a critical policy analysis of discourses related to school exclusions. The management of problematic student behaviour is one of the intractable problems facing education systems today. Despite being ineffective, school suspensions and exclusions are commonly used in many countries as a discipline strategy to manage student…

As advocates for children and youth with exceptionalities, the members of the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) are committed to ensuring a safe and positive climate in school and community settings. This requires elimination of any inherent biases school leaders, teachers, and other school personnel may hold and investing in policies and…

In July 2022, the United States Department of Education Office for Civil Rights issued guidance on supporting students with disabilities and avoiding the discriminatory use of student discipline under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. The purpose of this guidance is to remind schools of their obligations under the law specific to…

There have been an increasing number of incidents in which school resource officers (SRO) have been used to manage student disciplinary issues with disastrous results. Court cases brought by parents and advocacy groups claim SROs have traumatized and injured students. This article addresses several critical issues concerning SROs being used to…

This policy brief explores the growing concern around student behavior and school discipline, particularly in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, which exacerbated existing inequities and increased trauma for students and educators. It highlights the long-standing conflation of school safety and school discipline--distinct but often treated as…

The purpose of this paper is to explore the ways in which white fear governs school discipline policies and practices in Alabama. Specifically, we advance white fear as a conceptual framework through which school discipline policies implementation, interpretation, and data reporting can be understood. We focus here on the case of Alabama public…

Reflecting an overall policy shift in Oregon and nationwide, Oregon passed laws in 2013 and 2015 aimed at changing the way school discipline is applied in grades K-12. The 2013 legislation directed districts to replace zero-tolerance policies with an emphasis on preventing and reducing unnecessary student suspensions and expulsions. Suspensions…

Educational leaders are faced with multiple ethical decisions every day. This article presents the Values-Issue-Action (VIA) Model as a tool for developing ethical decisions in K-12 schools. The model is presented with three scenarios from K-12 education to practice using the model into practice. The model can be used by current school leaders and…

Racial inequity has long been an issue in the educational system. In recent years, researchers and policy makers have begun to recognize the role of implicit bias in the disproportionate number of African American children who are suspended or expelled from school. Particular attention is being given to the use of exclusionary practices in early…

Exclusionary and punitive school discipline policies, such as suspensions and expulsions, allow educators to remove students from the classroom for poor behavior or misconduct. However, emerging research suggests that these practices also increase the likelihood that students repeat grades, are excessively absent from school, drop out entirely…

Research in school discipline suggests that punitive and exclusionary sanctions have adverse effects on students and are disproportionately administered to students of color and low-income students. School-based restorative justice practices have recently gained attention as an alternative disciplinary approach that emphasizes the reparation of…

Together, a school district and a local union are working to ensure that educators are trained in restorative practices in order to improve school climates and keep students in school and learning. This article describes how, in recent years, administrators and teachers have shifted from traditional school punishments, such as suspension, to…