When was the zero tolerance law created

It cites National Center on Education Statistics NCES data that show the great majority of suspensions and expulsions were for non-criminal offenses such as coming late to class, talking back to a teacher, or violating dress codes.

It also mentions an essential movement against unproven, expensive, harmful zero tolerance policies to end of the school-to-prison pipeline. This report presents findings of a project that identified and examined three communities where schools have successfully reduced discipline problems and improved learning and behavior of all students, including those with disabilities. The presentation also provides potential solutions e. This report aims to help stakeholders move beyond zero tolerance policies and high-stakes testing, explaining their mutual reinforcement contributes to hostile school environments and pushes students into the school-to-prison pipeline.

It cites evidence that zero tolerance policies have not improved school safety or student behavior and provides examples in which alternative prevention and intervention strategies have been successful. This report aims to inspire people to discuss the negative impact of zero tolerance policies and bring about alternative methods that have decreased school violence and improved learning environments.

It reviews the disparate impact on students of color; the expanding role of law enforcement in schools; provides examples of the school-to-prison pipeline in Denver, Chicago, and Palm Beach; and presents initial solutions. This brief reviews existing research on the implementation and effects of zero tolerance in the school setting; and it highlights rigorously evaluated, nonpunitive alternatives to zero tolerance that have shown greater promise in improving school safety and student outcomes.

The report describes relevant data about school-justice indicators in New York City, emerging trends in policy and practice around the country, and provides recommendations and strategies for implementation. This guide presents a summary of the research on violence prevention and intervention and crisis response in schools. The guide tells school communities: 1 what to look for--the early warning signs that relate to violence and other troubling student behavior; and 2 what to do--the action steps that school communities can take to prevent violence and other troubling behaviors, to intervene and get help for troubled children, and to respond to school violence when it occurs.

Produced for the Departments of Education and Justice, and vetted by the White House and 26 National Associations, this Action Guide provides practical steps schools can take to design and implement school safety plans to reduce violence in our schools and help children get access to services they need.

Wider use of zero tolerance approaches by schools for other offenses, such as tobacco and alcohol, soon followed. These kinds of broad definitions might rally people to join the cause of school discipline reform. However, they also muddy the water when it comes to understanding the scope of actual zero tolerance policies and efforts to reform specific practices of schools. For example, research I have conducted with education policy expert Maida Finch of Salisbury University shows that exclusionary forms of discipline, like suspension, are an option for infractions at many schools but usually are not required.

Instead, exclusionary forms of discipline are often part of a tiered system in which other interventions are tried first. However, it is a far stretch from being zero tolerance in actual practice.

A recent report by the Education Commission of the States shows that only 15 states require suspension or expulsion for physical harm or assault. And only 11 do for drug use or possession. This focus on serious infractions in laws and policies contrasts with many media portrayals of zero tolerance. Students who are suspended are also more likely to wind up in the juvenile corrections system. Skiba said it's not just that kids who were headed for juvenile detention happen to get suspended on the way.

It's that suspension itself appears to contribute to later trouble with the law. Take similar kids at similar schools who commit similar offenses. Suspend some but not others. The ones who are suspended are more likely to get suspended again, to drop out, and to get arrested. The act required states that get federal education money to pass zero-tolerance laws requiring the expulsion of any student who brought a weapon to school.

But many states passed laws that went further, requiring suspension or expulsion for other offenses, too. Some school districts created zero-tolerance policies calling for suspension or expulsion for fighting, drugs, smoking, defiant behavior, tardiness and even truancy.

But that thinking didn't make sense to Skiba. A tenet of behavioral psychology is that punishment alone can't shape appropriate behavior, he said. He and other researchers started looking at data from a large Midwestern school district, "and began to see some troubling patterns in that data," Skiba said. The majority of suspensions were not for the most serious offenses but rather for more minor behaviors.

And we began to see a huge racial gap. Kids of color were more likely to be suspended than white children. Skiba looked at other studies and found the same result. Skiba says there's not much difference between black and white students when it comes to concrete offenses, such as bringing a weapon to school. But when the infraction is something that's in the eye of the beholder — something like loitering, disrespect, or threatening behavior — black students are more likely than white students to be suspended.

Other researchers have found similar results. Open containers of alcohol in motor vehicles. Curran FC. Estimating the effect of state zero tolerance laws on exclusionary discipline, racial discipline gaps, and student behavior.

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