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#171497 - 01/11/06 05:14 PM Is racisim the cause?
Theking Offline
River Nutrients

Registered: 10/10/03
Posts: 4756
Loc: The right side of the line
Race gap in school discipline persists in Seattle
Blacks twice as likely to face severest measures

By JESSICA BLANCHARD
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

Nearly two decades after it began tracking student discipline, Seattle Public Schools continues to struggle with a chronic problem: African American students are still far more likely than their white peers to be suspended or expelled.

The "discipline gap" persists even as the district drastically lowered the overall number of students who were expelled last year, new statistics show.

Compared with white students, African Americans were nearly twice as likely last year to receive short-term suspensions, lasting 10 or fewer days. Long-term suspensions were imposed on black students more than twice the time.

"We're still seeing a lot of disproportionality," said School Board member Darlene Flynn, chairwoman of Student Learning Committee. "That hasn't improved at all."

The disparity was investigated by the Seattle P-I in 2002 in a special report, "An Uneven Hand," which found that black students were being disciplined at much higher rates than students of other races -- and had been for at least two decades.

The district has made an effort in recent years to provide better training to teachers and administrators and focus on alternatives to suspending or expelling students. But short- and long-term suspension rates are virtually unchanged since 2000, and in some cases are higher.

Flynn said the district needs to do a better job of lowering discipline rates, especially for black and Hispanic students.

It's a daunting problem that has long frustrated district officials. Several task forces have been convened to study the problem and make recommendations -- recommendations that were rarely followed.

In its five-year strategic plan, approved last spring, the School Board formally set a goal of narrowing the discipline gap by 20 percent a year, starting in 2005-06.


"We're working on that; we're not ignoring it," said Ruth McFadden, who oversees district programs that address student discipline and truancy.

In recent years, some funding from Initiative 728 -- state money used to reduce class sizes and make other improvements -- has been used to give teachers and administrators more training in effective discipline measures and classroom management. The district hopes to land some sort of grant or more state funding to provide even more training.

There has also been a "big shift" in how discipline is meted out, McFadden said.

That change is reflected in the district's discipline standards, which were revised in 2004. They direct administrators to select the "least form of corrective action or punishment" necessary to change a student's behavior before resorting to a short-term suspension.

Nearly all first-time district offenses are now punished with some sort of school-based penalty, which varies depending on the student's grade level and the offense. For a minor transgression, an elementary school student might lose recess privileges for a week, while a high school student could receive detention or a shift cleaning up in the school lunchroom.

Schools can still expel a student if he or she commits a crime, even if it is a first offense, but administrators have tried to cut down on automatic expulsions.

Flynn firmly believes that there is a link between the discipline gap and the academic achievement gap.

Many students who are suspended or expelled are already on weak ground academically, she said, and keeping them away from school isn't going to help them. In some cases, it could push them to drop out.

"If we're not connecting the dots between academic success and academic suspensions, we're missing a very logical connection," Flynn said.

The solution might be to do away with suspensions and expulsions, except for extreme cases, she said. "Maybe this needs to go the same way as corporal punishment."

It wouldn't be the first time the district has banned those measures. In 1986, following a task force's recommendation, then-Superintendent William Kendrick instituted a moratorium on suspensions and expulsions in elementary schools.

The move was criticized by some teachers and administrators, who complained that the district took away effective disciplinary methods without providing enough alternatives for dealing with problem students. Zero-tolerance policies gradually returned, which led discipline rates to rise again.

While she would like to lower her school's discipline rates, Principal Bi Hoa Caldwell at Aki Kurose Middle School said eliminating suspensions and expulsions isn't the answer.

More than a quarter of Aki Kurose students were suspended last year, one of the highest rates among Seattle middle schools. But Caldwell said taking away the option of suspending students could send them a message that there are no serious consequences for misconduct.

"Children need to understand that there is a bottom line," she said.

Teachers and administrators, however, should be sensitive to why students are misbehaving, she said. Often, students who are struggling academically would rather act up and be the class clown than risk looking stupid in front of classmates.

Teachers need to make sure those students are receiving extra help if they need it, "but if they're doing this continually, we can't keep them in class to continue to disrupt," Caldwell said.

Until a few years ago, Aki Kurose had an in-house suspension program that kept misbehaving students out of the classroom, but made sure they stayed in school. "As funding has gone down, those kinds of options have gone away," she said.

The school this year has logged far fewer referrals -- precursors to suspensions. Caldwell attributes that drop largely to more professional development opportunities for teachers.

McFadden and a colleague have been studying schools around the district that have had similar success in lowering discipline rates or closing the gap.

While they have visited only a handful of schools so far, a theme is emerging, she said: The administrators discipline all students who misbehave, but take cultural differences into account when deciding on a punishment.

"It doesn't mean they're not disciplining a child of color because they're a child of color; it means they keep it in mind," she said. "It is not a case of 'justice is blind,' it's a case of, 'what is the most ... fair way to discipline this student so they will change their behavior?' "

That seems like a step in the right direction to Donald Felder, a former educator who is active in the Seattle chapter of the non-profit Black Child Development Institute.

Talking to students when they break the rules -- creating "teachable moments" -- sometimes can do more to improve future behavior than a suspension, he said.

Educators should also be held accountable for their role in the discipline gap, said Germaine Covington, the Seattle group's president. At the school where the disparity is high, for example, teachers and administrators should be targeted for additional training.

Attempts by Seattle Public Schools to solve the problem clearly aren't working, she said.

"They've done some changes around the edges, but clearly haven't addressed the heart of the situation," she said.

"Somehow, we've got to turn that around."


READ THE REPORT

TO LEARN MORE

The Seattle Public Schools discipline report is available online at www.seattleschools.org/area/siso/disprof/2005/disprof_2005.xml, then click "Student Outcome Measures." The section on discipline rates begins on Page 41.

P-I REPORT ONLINE

To read "An Uneven Hand," the P-I's 2002 series on the discipline gap, visit www.seattlepi.com/specials/education.asp.


P-I reporter Jessica Blanchard can be reached at 206-448-8322 or jessicablanchard@seattlepi.com.
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#171498 - 01/11/06 06:20 PM Re: Is racisim the cause?
Salmo g. Offline
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Registered: 03/08/99
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I don't know. I doubt racism is the topical cause. Blacks are probably suspended disproportionately because they misbehave disproportionately. Getting at the root cause could likely uncover racism, and probably already has, as one of the main reasons blacks are at a disadvantage in American society, on average. If that's the case, then it's probable that a black student would be more likely than a white student to show up at school, under-rested, under-nourished, under-dressed, un-loved, and otherwise unprepared to learn. Hence, they misbehave and are more likely to be suspended.

I've had a lot of friends and relatives in education, and I was initially surprised to learn how prevalent social dysfunction is, cutting across racial and economic classes. However, as expected, blacks and hispanics are hit disproportionately harder.

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#171499 - 01/11/06 06:36 PM Re: Is racisim the cause?
Theking Offline
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Registered: 10/10/03
Posts: 4756
Loc: The right side of the line
What would you think about adding these stats to the discussion?

Highest % of two parents in the household by race:

Asian
Whites
Hispanics
Blacks

Highest test scores by race:

Asian
Whites
Hispanics
Blacks
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#171500 - 01/11/06 06:40 PM Re: Is racisim the cause?
Wailuku Offline
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#171501 - 01/11/06 06:47 PM Re: Is racisim the cause?
Salmo g. Offline
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Registered: 03/08/99
Posts: 13467
KT,

As long as discourse remains civil . . .

Yes,the correlation you pose between two parents and test scores is completely consistent with the observations of my friends in education. It would be interesting to see how it breaks out in a multi-variate analysis, ranking the factors most highly correlated with the observations. Still, what really surprised me, maybe being a naive small town kid, was how pervasive dysfunction is in a lot of 2 parent white families.

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#171502 - 01/11/06 06:54 PM Re: Is racisim the cause?
Theking Offline
River Nutrients

Registered: 10/10/03
Posts: 4756
Loc: The right side of the line
I am not sure why the district insists that actions like applying more funds, Studying it more or removing disciplinary actions can change the cold reality that is is based in the home and culture and what they do will have little impact. Seems to me that they believe the underlying cause to be racisim and will fund or study to prove it.
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#171503 - 01/11/06 06:58 PM Re: Is racisim the cause?
SuckerSnagger Offline
Spawner

Registered: 12/29/04
Posts: 528
Loc: Richland,Washington
"In its five-year strategic plan, approved last spring, the School Board formally set a goal of narrowing the discipline gap by 20 percent a year, starting in 2005-06."

Seems pretty simple to achieve. Just discipline more Asians and Whites.
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#171504 - 01/11/06 07:04 PM Re: Is racisim the cause?
Theking Offline
River Nutrients

Registered: 10/10/03
Posts: 4756
Loc: The right side of the line
SS

Thats what they did with the exceptional student programs. It was dominated by Asians and White's again based on test scores. So they eliminated or altered most of the programs because they where under represented by Blacks and Hispanics.
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#171505 - 01/12/06 01:57 PM Re: Is racisim the cause?
Salmo g. Offline
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Registered: 03/08/99
Posts: 13467
KT,

I think the school district approaches the issue by throwing money at it, studying it, and modifying disciplinary actions for the same reasons politicians behave that way. Society, on average, believes problems in schools are somehow the school system's fault. Society doesn't want to hear, and will not accept as an answer, that if they want better student results in public schools, they need to send better raw materials (better children who are prepared to learn) to school in the first place.

This seems to fit nicely with your theory that liberals seek to avoid personal responsibility and accountability, altho the actions cross the ideological lines. I agree that it appears to be more prevalent among liberals, however, somewhat substantiating your expressed view.

Sincerely,

Salmo g.

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#171506 - 01/12/06 02:26 PM Re: Is racisim the cause?
Theking Offline
River Nutrients

Registered: 10/10/03
Posts: 4756
Loc: The right side of the line
Well Said SG. If they were as concerned with the 25 million from Bill Gates they blew and their budget shortfalls.
_________________________
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#171507 - 01/12/06 03:03 PM Re: Is racisim the cause?
Salmo g. Offline
River Nutrients

Registered: 03/08/99
Posts: 13467
Not very entertaining when we agree, is it? I think this thread's gonna' die unless you propose firing any gay teachers and hanging the 10 Commandments on the wall of every classroom.

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#171509 - 01/12/06 06:21 PM Re: Is racisim the cause?
Salmo g. Offline
River Nutrients

Registered: 03/08/99
Posts: 13467
Aunty,

That would be a good idea if the black kids came to school prepared to learn. Sorry to digress.

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#171511 - 01/13/06 11:43 AM Re: Is racisim the cause?
SuckerSnagger Offline
Spawner

Registered: 12/29/04
Posts: 528
Loc: Richland,Washington
Quote:
Originally posted by AuntyM:
Schools rely on tattle tales far more than they used to. It's encouraged instead of discouraged.
If true, that means we are training our kids to be snitches. Just what an authoritarian government needs.
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#171512 - 01/13/06 12:02 PM Re: Is racisim the cause?
Theking Offline
River Nutrients

Registered: 10/10/03
Posts: 4756
Loc: The right side of the line
I bet AM has a lot of expirience with inner city schools and blacks out there in Mason county.
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#171514 - 01/13/06 03:23 PM Re: Is racisim the cause?
Salmo g. Offline
River Nutrients

Registered: 03/08/99
Posts: 13467
Aunty,

I went to the stereotype only after commenting that neither society or the school district is treating the root cause. Blacks are disadvantaged in many parts of society, including the schools. The school doesn't make them disadvantaged; it merely reflects what society has already done.

I would imagine most blacks, along with most minorities, find life in America discouraging at times, whether they are discouraged in fact or not. As a society I think we talk racial and ethnic tolerance much better than we live it.

Sincerely,

Salmo g.

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#171515 - 01/13/06 03:54 PM Re: Is racisim the cause?
SuckerSnagger Offline
Spawner

Registered: 12/29/04
Posts: 528
Loc: Richland,Washington
I'd bet that if a discipline study were based on measures of social disadvantage the results would be similar to a race based study.

IMO the role of the schools should be to educate children in a healthy non-threatening environment. The teachers should maintain a classroom in which children feel safe and can focus on learning.

Certainly teachers should be trained and encouraged to provide support and encouragement to disadvanted children. But should disruptive children be allowed to lessen the educational opportunity for the other children?

The schoolboard setting race based quotas for discipline is absurd.

And training kids to be snitches is worse, if that is really happening.
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#171516 - 01/13/06 04:00 PM Re: Is racisim the cause?
Theking Offline
River Nutrients

Registered: 10/10/03
Posts: 4756
Loc: The right side of the line
"it merely reflects what society has already done."

What has soceity done?
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