ERIC Number: ED569208
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 2016
Pages: 26
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1075-7031
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
Corporal Punishment in U.S. Public Schools: Prevalence, Disparities in Use, and Status in State and Federal Policy. Social Policy Report. Volume 30, Number 1
Gershoff, Elizabeth T.; Font, Sarah A.
Society for Research in Child Development
School corporal punishment is currently legal in 19 states, and over 160,000 children in these states are subject to corporal punishment in schools each year. Given that the use of school corporal punishment is heavily concentrated in Southern states, and that the federal government has not included corporal punishment in its recent initiatives about improving school discipline, public knowledge of this issue is limited. The aim of this policy report is to fill the gap in knowledge about school corporal punishment by describing the prevalence and geographic dispersion of corporal punishment in U.S. public schools and by assessing the extent to which schools disproportionately apply corporal punishment to children who are Black, to boys, and to children with disabilities. This policy report is the first-ever effort to describe the prevalence of and disparities in the use of school corporal punishment at the school and school-district levels. We end the report by summarizing sources of concern about school corporal punishment, reviewing state policies related to school corporal punishment, and discussing the future of school corporal punishment in state and federal policy.
Descriptors: Punishment, Public Schools, Incidence, State Policy, Discipline Policy, Bias, African Americans, Males, Disabilities, Racial Differences, Gender Differences, Court Litigation, Injuries, Child Abuse, National Organizations, Civil Rights Legislation, Childrens Rights, State Legislation, Federal Legislation, Educational Trends, Educational Change
Society for Research in Child Development. 2950 South State Street Suite 401, Ann Arbor, MI 48104. Tel: 734-926-0600; Fax: 734-926-0601; e-mail: info@srcd.org; Web site: http://www.srcd.org
Publication Type: Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: N/A
Audience: Policymakers
Language: English
Sponsor: Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) (NIH)
Authoring Institution: Society for Research in Child Development
Identifiers - Location: United States
Grant or Contract Numbers: T32HD007081; R24HD042849
Author Affiliations: N/A