Youth Organizing for Increased Investment in Student Supports and Violence Prevention in Chicago

• In Event: The True Cost of Failed Policies: Research and Organizing for Increased Investment in Proven Reforms

Abstract

Voices of Youth in Chicago Education is a youth organizing collaborative for education justice led by students of color from seven community organizations across the city: Albany Park Neighborhood Council, Brighton Park Neighborhood Council, Kenwood Oakland Community Organization, Logan Square Neighborhood Association, Organization of the NorthEast, Southwest Organizing Project and TARGET Area Development Corporation. Since its formation in 2007, VOYCE has worked towards increasing Chicago’s graduation rate by using youth-driven research and organizing to advance district-level policies that support student achievement. All of VOYCE’s work is driven by the belief that the young people who are most directly affected by issues of educational inequity must be the ones to develop meaningful, long-lasting solutions. To lay the foundation for VOYCE’s work, over a hundred youth conducted an in-depth, year-long Participatory Action Research (PAR) study on the root causes of the city’s 50% graduation rate. In order to increase graduation rates, they found that CPS must build a foundation for student success through district-level policies and school-level practices that: foster trusting and supportive relationships with peers and school staff, establish the sense of purpose that comes from high expectations and academic engagement, and emotional and physical safety.

In this presentation, student leaders will share the methodology and findings behind their 2011 report, “Failed Policies, Broken Futures: The True Cost of Zero Tolerance in Chicago,” which drew on a literature review, student interviews and focus groups, and original research on Chicago Public Schools spending to conclude that CPS’s zero tolerance approach has not been effective at making schools safe and has cost the city hundreds of millions of dollars over the long term. Some key findings included:
- Harsh discipline policies are overused at CPS, keeping students out of valuable learning time and decreasing their chances of graduating, contributing to hundreds of millions of dollars in long-term public costs. For example, in 2009, there were 4,597 school-based arrests of CPS students age 16 and younger. 78% of these arrests were for misdemeanors. Students who have been arrested are 50% more likely to drop out.
- CPS's overuse of harsh discipline policies has cost the city tens of millions of dollars in the short term, and diverted funds from proven approaches to school safety, such as mental health supports and counseling. In last year's budget, for example, CPS allocated just $3.5 million towards school-based college and career coaches and $51.4 million towards school-based security guards.

Student leaders will then reflect on the successes and challenges that they have faced in using this research to advance a district-level campaign aimed at shifting CPS spending away from the enforcement of zero tolerance measures, such as security guards, surveillance cameras and metal detectors, and invest instead in the policies and practices that have been shown to positively impact school safety, climate and achievement: mental health counseling, positive relationship-building between teachers, students and other school staff, and an approach to school discipline that eliminates overly harsh punishments and keeps young people in school through prevention and restoration.

Author

• Emma Tai, VOYCE