Dive Brief:
- U.S. Secretary of Education John King Jr. founded a charter school known for its harsh discipline policy, but he is now calling on charter leaders to stop relying on suspensions and expulsions in their schools.
- The Washington Post reports King commemorated the 25th anniversary of the charter school movement by saying he was proud of his work at Roxbury Prep in Boston, but schools like it should reconsider policies that suspend and expel students at higher rates than district schools, especially students of color.
- The idea of restorative justice has caught on in some schools that now preference softer punishments, but others still worry stepping away from the “no excuses” model will create chaos in classrooms, though King says charter schools, with their autonomy, are well-positioned to find a good balance.
Dive Insight:
Harsh discipline policies have disproportionately affected black and Latino students who are significantly more likely to be suspended than their white peers. Across all K-12 public schools, black students, specifically, are nearly four times as likely to be suspended. Even as early as preschool, black students are 3.6 times more likely to be suspended than their white peers.
In charter schools, behavior problems that lead to suspensions can also lead to expulsions, creating a significant point of criticism of the sector as they do not necessarily have to educate the hardest cases. They can simply send them away, back to neighborhood schools that don’t have a choice. The “no excuses” model has been an important element in the success of top-performing college prep charter schools in cities across the country, however, and some charter leaders remain committed to it.