Zero Tolerance for Zero Tolerance: A Study of Alternative-to-Suspension Programs in New York City High Schools

• In Event: 35.077 - Pushing Beyond Zero: Issues in Zero-Tolerance School Discipline and Positive Discipline Alternatives

Abstract

Objectives
The past four decades have seen a near doubling in the use of suspensions in schools, an increase from 1.4 million in 1974 to over 3.1 million (Wald & Losen, 2003). While the number of administered suspensions has risen for all segments of the population, the rate of suspension for black students has increased to a greater degree. Research demonstrates that removal policies, such as suspensions, are correlated with a host of negative schooling outcomes for students such as poor academic achievement, grade retention, high school dropout, and involvement in the juvenile and criminal justice systems (Arcia, 2006; Eitle & Eitle, 2004; Safer, 1986; Fabelo et al., 2011; Gregory et al., 2010; Costenbader & Markson, 1998; Quinn, 1991; American Psychological Association, 2008; Gregory & Weinstein, 2008). Because of the disproportionate distribution of disciplinary outcomes and the host of negative schooling outcomes associated with suspension, schools are implementing new ways of approaching discipline in schools. This paper will present findings from a qualitative study of alternative-to-suspension programs implemented in six New York City high schools. The objectives of this research are to investigate a) the implementation process of alternative-to-suspension programming b) the form and content of alternative to suspension programs c) how alternative to suspension programs alter the management of discipline in schools and d) how teachers, administrators and students perceive and interpret alternative-to-suspension programs.

Perspectives/ Theoretical Framework
This work is situated in an understanding that macro-level social forces such as school segregation, the legal climate of schools, and zero-tolerance policies at the federal, state, and local levels have undermined key relationships in schools that must be rehabilitated in order to effectively and fairly discipline students (Arum & Velez, 2012; Kuscera & Orfield, 2014; Noguera, 2008). The paper is particularly interested in the role that alternative-to-suspension programs may (or may not) play in rebuilding key in-school relationships, thereby improving disciplinary outcomes for students.

Data Sources and Methods
Data collection will occur across six New York City high schools and will include observations of alternative-to-suspension programs (with attendant fieldnotes), semi-structured interviews of school principals, semi-structured focus groups with teachers and students, and reflection memos written throughout the data collection process. After uploading field notes, interview transcripts and focus group transcripts to a computer-assisted qualitative data analysis software program, I will engage in initial coding, pattern coding, and data display techniques (Miles, Huberman, & Saldana, 2014) in order to identify emerging themes and assertions related to my research objectives.

Results
This paper will present findings from initial qualitative data collection across six New York City high schools. Findings will address the implementation, form, and structure of alternative-to-suspension programs across school sites as well as the way in which programs are understood by school actors. Findings will also address the ways in which alternative-to-suspension programs alter the management of discipline in schools.

Significance
This study addresses a critical need for research on alternative-to-suspension programs, programs which provide an important leverage point for improving school outcomes for minority students.

Author

• Sarah L Klevan, Learning Policy Institute