Real Solutions, Real Results in School Discipline Reform
Restorative justice, peer courts, an end to out-of-school
suspensions... This isn't "touchy-feely" stuff as proponents of
zero-tolerance discipline policies would have it. These are
real, systemic solutions to the pushout crisis in school
discipline that is barring students from the classroom and
disproportionately denying students of color and students with
disabilities a fair and substantive opportunity to learn. A
recent article in Education Week takes an in-depth and
fascinating look at how districts across the country are
beginning to integrate these new approaches and the positive
effects they're having on school climate and student success.
Take this example of a peer court at Davidson Middle School in
San Rafael, CA, and 7th grader Jacob Watenpaugh, who came to
school with a small knife in his backpack. Rather than
suspending him and risk Jacob falling behind in classwork or
feeling alienated from the classroom, school officials put him
in front