“U.S. Department of Education”
U.S. Education Secretary John B. King Jr. [5] sent a letter [6] today
urging state leaders to end the use of corporal punishment in schools, a
practice repeatedly linked to harmful short-term and long-term outcomes
for students.
“Our schools are bound by a sacred trust to safeguard the well-being,
safety, and extraordinary potential of the children and youth within the
communities they serve,” King said. “While some may argue that corporal
punishment is a tradition in some school communities, society has
evolved and past practice alone is no justification. No school can be
considered safe or supportive if its students are fearful of being
physically punished. We strongly urge states to eliminate the use of
corporal punishment in schools– a practice that educators, civil rights
advocates, medical professionals, and researchers agree is harmful to
students and which the data show us unequivocally disproportionally
impacts students of color and students with disabilities.”
There is a wide consensus from teachers’ groups – including both the
American Federation of Teachers and the National Education Association –
as well as the National PTA, medical and mental health professionals,
and civil rights advocates that corporal punishment has no place in our
schools. Eighty organizations, include the National Women’s Law Center,
are releasing a letter [7] this week calling on states and policymakers
to end this practice.
“It is a disgrace that it is still legal in states to physically punish
a child in school. Students are subject to corporal punishment for
something as minor as cell phone use or going to the bathroom without
permission. And students of color and students with disabilities are
disproportionately victims of physical punishment,” said Fatima Goss
Graves, Senior Vice President for Program at the National Women’s Law
Center. “Not only does corporal punishment inflict pain and injury, it
also stifles students’ ability to learn. Policymakers must eradicate
violence against schoolchildren and instead foster learning environments
that are safe and productive. This barbaric practice must end.”
In the short term, students who receive this form of punishment show an
increase in aggressive and defiant behavior – the opposite of the
intended outcome.[i] [8] In the long term, students who experience
physical punishment in school are more likely to later grapple with
substance abuse and mental health issues, including depression,
personality disorders and post-traumatic stress.[ii] [9]
Corporal punishment in school is also associated with poorer academic
outcomes. Research has shown, for example, that corporal punishment can
affect students’ cognitive functions,[iii] [10] lessening brain
development,[iv] [11] verbal ability,[v] [12] problem-solving skills in
young children,[vi] [13] and lowering academic achievement.[vii] [14]
Corporal punishment has been banned in 28 states and D.C. and has been
abandoned by individual districts in many others. Despite that progress,
more than 110,000 students across the country were subjected to corporal
punishments in 2013-14, according to the latest version of the
Department’s Civil Rights Data Collection [15] (CRDC).
What’s more alarming is that the CRDC shows that corporal punishment is
used overwhelmingly on male students and is much more commonly
administered to African-American students of all genders. In nearly all
of the states where the practice is permitted, students with
disabilities were subjected to corporal punishment at a higher rate than
students without disabilities.
For more on the CRDC data, the Department is also releasing new maps
[16] that show where the use of corporal punishment occurs across the
country.
The letter from the Secretary was sent to governors and chief state
school officers and provides links to resources that can be promoted by
those state leaders and adopted by district and school leaders.
The letter builds on the Obama Administration’s work with states and
districts through its Rethink Discipline [17] campaign, which has
focused attention on the importance of school disciplinary approaches
that foster safe, supportive, and productive learning environments in
which students can thrive. These efforts include
* SUPPORTIVE SCHOOL DISCIPLINE INITIATIVE: In 2011, the Departments
of Education and Justice announced the launch of a collaborative project
to support the use of school discipline practices that foster safe,
supportive, and productive learning environments while keeping students
in school. A cornerstone of this Initiative is the School Discipline
Consensus Project, managed by the Council of State Governments and
supported by various philanthropic organizations. The Consensus Project
brought together practitioners from various fields to develop consensus
recommendations to dismantle the “school-to-prison pipeline.”
* Joint Federal Policy and Legal Guidance: Education and Justice
jointly released a School Climate and Discipline Guidance Package
[18] in 2014 to provide schools with a roadmap to reduce the usage of
exclusionary discipline practices and clarify schools’ civil rights
obligation to not discriminate on the basis of race, color, or national
origin in the administration of school discipline.
* #RethinkDiscipline Convening and Public Awareness Campaign: The
Departments of Education and Justice launched Rethink Discipline [19] at
the White House in July of 2015, convening school district teams,
including superintendents, some law enforcement practitioners, and
justice officials from across the country and sparking a national
dialogue around punitive school discipline policies and practices that
exclude students from classroom instruction and targeted supports.
* Rethink School Discipline – Resource Guide for Superintendent
Action: As a part of Rethink Discipline, the Department of Education
developed a resource guide [20] with a set of potential action items to
help school leaders implement safe, supportive school climate and
discipline by engaging stakeholders, assessing the results and history
of existing school climate and discipline systems and practices;
implementing reform; and monitoring progress.
* Support for State and Local Educational Leaders and Partners from
Other Systems: In 2015, the Department of Justice launched the National
Resource Center for School Justice Partnerships [21] to advance school
discipline reform efforts and serve as a dynamic resource hub for
schools, law enforcement agencies, and others to support school
discipline reform efforts at the local level.
* Fostering Safe and Supportive Learning Environments: In 2016, the
Department of Education released the ED School Climate Surveys [22]and
the Quick Guide on Making School Climate Improvements [23] to help
foster and sustain safe and more nurturing environments that are
conducive to learning for all students.
* Addressing Implicit Bias and Discipline Disparities in Early
Childhood Settings: In 2016, the Departments of Education and Health and
Human Services announced a new investment of $1 million [24] in
the Pyramid Equity Project [25] to establish national models for
addressing issues of implicit bias, and uneven implementation of
discipline, including expulsions and suspensions, in early learning
programs.
* Providing Guidance to Schools on Ensuring Equity and Providing
Behavioral Supports to Students with Disabilities: In 2016, the
Department of Education announced the release [26] of a significant
guidance document in the form of a Dear Colleague Letter [27], which
emphasized the requirement that schools provide positive behavioral
supports to students with disabilities who need them. It also clarified
that the repeated use of disciplinary actions may suggest that many
children with disabilities may not be receiving appropriate behavioral
interventions and supports. Also included was a Summary for Stakeholders
[28].
* TRANSFORMING SCHOOL CLIMATE: In the 2016 Investing in Innovation
Program [29], the Department supports innovative approaches to creating
a supporting school climate. This priority builds on
the #RethinkDiscipline [30] campaign to increase awareness about the
detrimental impacts of exclusionary discipline, the Department’s
investment in School Climate Transformation Grants [31] to help states
and districts strengthen behavioral supports for students, and a school
discipline guidance package [32] to clarify schools’ obligation not to
discriminate on the basis of race in discipline.
* BEST PRACTICES AND PROCEDURES FOR SCHOOL RESOURCE OFFICERS: In
September of 2016, U.S. Departments of Education and U.S. Justice
released new tools to assist states, districts and schools in the
implementation of best practices for the appropriate use of school
resource officers (SROs). The release is the result of collaborative
work between both Departments to define the best use of law enforcement
officers when utilized within a school environment. The Departments
also jointly released the Safe, School-based Enforcement through
Collaboration, Understanding, and Respect (SECURe) Rubrics [33]. These
new resource are designed to help education and law enforcement agencies
that use SROs to review and, if necessary, revise SRO-related policies
in alignment with common-sense action steps that can lead to improved
school safety and better outcomes for students while safeguarding their
civil rights.
The letter also advances the goals of the President’s My Brother’s
Keeper Initiative [34], which was launched in 2014 to address persistent
opportunity gaps faced by boys and young men of color and ensure that
all young people can reach their full potential.
For more information about the Administration’s work on school climate
and discipline go to www.ed.gov/rethinkdiscipline [35].
The post U.S. Education Secretary John B. King Jr. sent a letter urging state leaders to end the use of corporal punishment in schools appeared first on Milwaukee Community Journal.
