Exclusionary Discipline

Currently, I have been in the process of researching the equity of English Learners. As I was looking for research to support my own findings and my school’s data, I found an interesting piece on exclusionary discipline. At first glance I assumed that exclusionary discipline was disciplining certain groups of students more than others, even though you may be unaware of it. I assumed it was referring to “excluding” students by unintentionally focusing on them. However, the only part of this definition I seemed to have gotten correct is the “exclude”. Exclusionary discipline is actually defined as removing students, no specific group, from their normal educational setting. Essentially,I discovered this was a fancy word for discipline such as suspension and/or expulsion. Unfortunately I found that California is “one of 4th highest troublesome states for English Learner exclusionary discipline” (Wormeli, 2016, p. 74). This led me to question the effectiveness of exclusionary discipline and examine not only the why, but the prevention as well.

Why do we use Exclusionary Discipline?

From what I have noticed, exclusionary discipline is often used as a scare tactic to help keep students “in line.” Many students want to avoid having any of these larger disciplinary actions on their “record”, so they fall in line with the idea that “removal from school is bad”. No educator would argue that missing class time negatively impacts students, and students who are dedicated to their education certainly would not argue this either. The issue lies within students who may not “love” academics. They may rely on school for friendships, social/ emotional skills, or safety. If we cannot get these students to buy into “missing class is bad”, then exclusionary discipline seems somewhat pointless. “Several studies have concluded that district and school policies and practices, as well as school leadership, strongly influence the frequency of exclusionary discipline use” says Whitford (2019 p. 305).  Whitford continues to explain that exclusionary discipline has always been what “is”. Many have not questioned the results for the mere fact that they may not be comfortable with change (p. 308). Furthermore, The Center for Public Education (2016) states, “In addition, students with multiple suspensions have a higher likelihood of dropping out and can even lead to worse outcomes – substance abuse and delinquency in the community” (p. 6). To me, it seems like exclusionary discipline either scares students or may cause more harm to them in the long run; which leads me to my next question…

How can we avoid Exclusionary Discipline?

Firstly, he U.S. Department of Education and the Office for Civil Rights (USDOE/OCR 2014) recommended (a) the revision of discipline policies to ensure clarity and equality in what constitutes an infraction and how students are treated based on that infraction, (b) developing and implementing strategies that reinforce positive student behavior and reduce the use of exclusionary discipline, and (c) educator training in regard to discipline policies and classroom management techniques (p. 302). As seen by the U.S. Department of Education, there are plenty of ways educators can assist students in a positive direction rather than exclude them from learning. Clarity is key. Students, administrators, teachers, and parents should be aware of the discipline criteria set in place. PBIS strategies are encouraged. It is important that positive student behavior is encouraged and rewarded.Keeping the focus positive can be more effective than negative threats like suspension and expulsion. Finally, in order to implement positive strategies (PBIS) training for all levels (administrators, teachers, and even some classified staff) will be necessary. This refers to the previous statement: clarity is key. It is also important that the school as a whole work together with the community and parents in order to create and encourage a culturally sensitive environment. This will allow comfort for every student to succeed while ridding of exclusionary discipline!

References:

Educational Equity. Center for Public Education, January 2016. Retrieved

from: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ERf1C3N-ONc4e778tVJd3DvFI8JyB8Cg/view Wormeli, R. (2016). What Does Data Tell Us About Inequity? Educational Leadership, 74(3), 9. Whitford, D. K., Katsiyannis, A., Counts, J., Carrero, K. M., & Couvillon, M. (2019). Exclusionary
Discipline for English Learners: A National Analysis. Journal of Child & Family Studies,
28(2), 301–314. https://doi-org.cui.idm.oclc.org/10.1007/s10826-018-1278-y