Reframing Misbehavior: School Discipline Reform and the New Definition of "School Safety"

• In Event: 46.085 - Roundtable Session 15
  In Roundtable Session: 46.085-7 - Disciplining From Washington: Analyses of Federal Policy

Abstract

The Supportive School Discipline Initiative, launched in January of 2014 by the Department of Education (ED) and the Department of Justice (DOJ), has released a School Climate Guidance Package meant to support schools in implementing alternatives to exclusionary discipline practices like suspension and expulsion while also reducing racial disproportionality in discipline. The package neglects to acknowledge that, while racial disproportionality in discipline has been a phenomenon since school desegregation, federally-mandated zero tolerance discipline policies exacerbated racial disparities in discipline. Bridging the topics of educational policy and criminal justice, this Critical Discourse Analysis unpacks the Guidance Package's underlying ideologies with implications for practitioners, researchers, and advocates.

Author

• Hilary Lustick, New York University