Illinois School Discipline Crisis: Perceptions and Practice

• In Event: Hilton Roundtable Session 11
  In Roundtable Session: Hitting or Honey: Responding to Student Behavior

Abstract

The Illinois legislature passed Senate Bill 100 (SB100 or Public Act 99-0456; 2015) as a reaction to the fact that Illinois reported higher gaps than the nation between the suspension rates of Black students and White students (U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights, 2014). SB100 requires school districts to amend their local student discipline policies to eliminate zero-tolerance policies, and encourages school districts to implement preventative and non-exclusionary discipline procedures. This study proposes to examine the impact of SB100 after one year of implementation. To date, the results indicate that while many schools have not implemented this law with fidelity, there is evidence that Illinois teachers are receptive to learning about and applying proactive non-exclusionary discipline strategies.

Author

• Diana Janet Zaleski, Illinois Education Association