Dive Brief:
- To resolve a suit that alleged disproportionate disciplinary actions against black students in Oklahoma City Public Schools, the district has reached a settlement with the U.S. Department of Education.
- Black students were significantly over-represented in disciplinary actions, an investigation related to the lawsuit revealed, accounting for 42% of in-school suspensions despite making up just 26% of the student population in 2014-15.
- The district's solutions to the problem include the creation of a new office and office director for the Office of School Climate and Student Discipline, and hiring three student behavior specialists.
Dive Insight:
In a press release, the Education Department noted that "for the 2011-12 school year, black students received in-school and out-of-school suspensions, were referred to law enforcement, and were arrested for school-related incidents at statistically significant proportions compared to their enrollment in the district."
Other districts should take note, since the disprortionate discipline of students of color is a nationwide problem. Approaches to discipline need to be meted out appropriately, and teachers need to take care to examine inherent bias against marginalized and disadvantaged students. The school-to-prison pipeline can be curbed through efforts like implementing guidelines outlined in Rethink Discipline, a guide created by the federal government in 2015 aimed at assisting school leaders in efforts to reduce suspensions and expulsions.
The School Climate and Discipline Guidance Package can also be used as a roadmap to "reduce the usage of exclusionary discipline practice and clarify schools' civil rights obligation to not discriminate on the basis of race, color, or national origin in the administration of school discipline," the Education Department notes.