New Initiative Targets ‘School-to-Prison’ Pipeline

Posted by on August 08, 2011

A matter of discipline

Attorney General Eric Holder and Education Secretary Arne Duncan have unveiled a new undertaking from the U.S. Departments of Justice and Education, targeting school discipline policies, Education Week reports. The Supportive School Discipline Initiative has four parts: building consensus for action among federal, state and local education and justice stakeholders; collaborating on research and data collection to shape policy; developing guidance to ensure discipline policies and practices are in line with federal civil rights laws; and promoting awareness and knowledge about evidence-based and promising policies and practices. Secretary Duncan recalled that when he led Chicago’s public schools, 7 percent of schools were responsible for more than half of juvenile arrests in the city. A small group was calling the police too often to deal with minor disciplinary issues, while schools with similar demographics handled the same behaviors in other ways. “People wanted to do the right thing. They just didn’t know better,” Duncan explained. “So many of these children need assistance. What they don’t need is to be pushed out the door.” Holder and Duncan also referenced a recent report by the Council of State Governments Justice Center that found more than half of all Texas middle and high school students were suspended or expelled at least once between 7th and 12th grades.

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