Presented to: 25th Annual NAEHCY Conference Dream, Believe, Achieve: Turning Transition to Triumph

GEORGIA APPLESEED CENTER FOR LAW & JUSTICE

Sharon N. Hill, Executive Director

November 4, 2013

Dismantling the “School to Prison Pipeline”

Georgia Appleseed is committed to improving the “SCHOOL TO SUCCESS” Pipeline. Higher frequency of absences from school strongly

correlates with lower academic performance.

2011 GaDOE Study: “Data indicate that missing more than five days of school each year, regardless of the cause, begins to impact student academic performance and starts shaping attitudes about school.”

“The adverse individual and societal impacts associated with an elevated high school drop out rate are enormous. The existence of the "school to prison pipeline” is beyond reasonable debate. In this 21st Century, a young person who does not obtain at least a high quality high school education will have enormous difficulties in becoming gainfully employed and potentially may be more susceptible to engaging in unlawful behavior.” ESD Report, 2011

WHY WE CARE ABOUT STUDENT DISCIPLINE PRACTICES:

A DIFFICULT CHALLENGE:

The right of each student to have a reasonable chance to obtain at least a quality high school education.

A DELICATE BALANCE:

The right of all students to have a safe and effective school learning environment.

Florida (2006) A ”school discipline crisis?”

Texas (2007, 2010, 2011) 60% of all students between 7th and 12th grade suspended or expelled at least once.

Louisiana (2010) A “human rights crisis?”

City of Philadelphia (2011) High reliance on zero tolerance policies.

FINDINGS IN OTHER STATES:

UCLA CIVIL RIGHTS PROJECT [report release Sept. 2013 – based on data from 2009/10 school year http://civilrightsproject.ucla.edu/research/k-12-education/school-discipline ; http://www.schooldisciplinedata.org/

-Nearly 1 in 3 Black Male MS Students Suspended -Nearly 20% MS/HS SWD Suspended (3x Rate for Gen. Ed.)

-36% of Black Male SWD in MS Suspended NATIONAL SCHOOL BOARDS ASSOCIATION (April 2013) -”Perhaps the most important barriers [to improving student achievement] relate to out of school suspension. School disciplinary measures should not be used to exclude students from school or otherwise deprive them of an education, and should be used as a last resort in schools in order to preserve the safety of students and staff.”

RECENT NATIONAL FINDINGS

A detailed analysis of the student discipline data

Report on "Voices from the Field”

The key elements of an effective student discipline system

Call for conversation on zero tolerance

Call to Action.

ESD REVIEW IN GEORGIA: AN OVERVIEW

DISCIPLINARY ACTION DATA REVIEW AND ANALYSIS:

The student disciplinary data under review was collected by

school districts and compiled by GaDOE for nine years

(school years 2003-04 through 2011-12).

CAVEAT: Data are only the starting point—a basis to initiate a conversation.

REPRESENTATIVE DATA

The School to Prison Pipeline:Data can be misleading

School Year

Students Incidents Student Referred Juv/Adu Court

Ratio

2004 1,640,215 2,265 2,100 0.1280%

2005 1,676,517 2,492 2,310 0.1378%

2006 1,698,914 2,455 2,242 0.1320%

2007 1,716,642 2,486 2,232 0.1300%

2008 1,731,102 2,218 1,964 0.1135%

2009 1,734,543 1,901 1,746 0.1007%

2010 1,744,250 1,959 1,793 0.1028%

These data suggest only 1,700 to 2,300 students are referred to court by schools state-wide per year. This is not correct.

Actual Referrals to Juvenile Courts

Example:

DeKalb County Juvenile Court: reported receiving 4,467 to 5,898 individual students per year in the period 2004 through 2009.

DeKalb County School System: reported referring fewer than 10 students per year to juvenile court in the same period.

The issue is in how the data are recorded and reported in the different “silos.”

Because of the significant uncertainty with regard to data collection, GA Appleseed has focused on OSS data for its more detailed analyses.

In School Year 2011-12, 7.7 percent of students in Georgia's K-12 public school system received at least one out of school suspension ("OSS”) disciplinary action.

Use of exclusionary discipline is highly variable among the school districts in Georgia.

KEY FINDINGS:

KEY FINDINGS:

OSS rates and graduation rates are negatively correlated.

KEY FINDINGS:2011-12 GRADUATION RATES/CCRPI(HS)

3000+ Districts w/ Lowest OSS % 80.8% / 76.8

State Average 69.7% / 72.6Districts with Highest OSS % 68.4% / 62.8

10,000+ Districts w/ Lowest OSS % 74.8% / 78.3

State Average 69.7% / 72.6Districts with Highest OSS % 61.6% / 65.7

Key Districts:APS 50.9%Bibb 52.3%

Clayton 53.6%DeKalb 57.3%Dougherty 56.7%Richmond 59.2%

.

The vast majority of OSS

actions were taken for nonviolent actions.

KEY FINDINGS:

KEY FINDINGS:

African-American students were consistently more than three times as likely to receive an OSS than

students of other racial classifications.

SCHOOL DISTRICT DATA

OSS RATES BY COMPARABLE SIZE DISTRICTS District 2009 2010 2011 2012

Cherokee 3.1 3.0 2.8 2.9Chatham 15.4 13.3 10.4 11.0Dougherty 17.8 18.5 17.7 15.7Forsyth 2.3 1.9 1.8 1.7Richmond 17.2 16.4 15.5 14.7Muscogee 13.9 10.8 13.4 12.2Paulding 6.0 6.7 6.5 6.4Houston 1.2 1.0 0.9 1.0Hall 4.7 4.3 4.2 4.1Bibb 17.8 17.8 14.4 12.1

.

METRO ATLANTA SCHOOL DISTRICT DATA

OSS RATES (%) Year State APS Fulton DeKalb Clayton2004 9.4 13.5 6.2 13.4 12.62005 9.3 13.8 6.2 12.3 11.82006 9.5 14.8 7.6 12.3 11.72007 9.4 14.5 8.1 11.9 11.32008 9.3 12.9 9.0 11.9 12.12009 8.8 10.6 9.3 11.2 12.52010 8.1 8.6 8.1 10.1 12.42011 7.7 9.3 6.9 10.3 10.52012 7.7 12.4 7.2 10.8 11.8

.

FULTON COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT DATA

2012 HIGH SCHOOLS(STATE AVG.=12.3%)

HUGHES 27.3*BANNEKER 23.2*TRI CITIES 19.6*WESTLAKE 18.0*

ROSWELL 6.2CHATTAHOOCHEE 4.1JOHNS CREEK 2.8ALPHARETTA 2.6MILTON 1.4

*Reflects downward trend from historical rates.

APS SCHOOL DISTRICT DATA

2012 HIGH SCHOOL OSS RATES (STATE AVG=12.3%)

BEST ACADEMY (Carson) 48.6THERRELL (Eng.) 45.4CARVER (Health) 45.1WASHINGTON (Health) 42.3THERRELL (Law/Govt.) 34.5

MAYS 15.5N. ATLANTA 15.6

CARVER (Arts) 3.1CARVER (Early College) 0.0

Most (16 of 26) APS HS had OSS rates >2x state average

APS SCHOOL DISTRICT DATA

2012 MIDDLE SCHOOL OSS RATES (STATE AVG=11.4%)

BEST ACADEMY (Carson) 42.1KENNEDY 39.6*PARKS 36.6KING 36.4LONG 34.8HARPER-ARCHER 30.8

SUTTON 6.2BROWN 5.9INMAN 5.4**

8 of 18 APS MS had OSS rates >2x state average*Closed in 2012-13**But consider 2012-13 experience

APS SCHOOL DISTRICT DATA

2012 ELEMENTARY SCHOOL OSS RATES (STATE AVG= 3.0%)

HERNDON 20.7ATLANTA PREP 17.9INTOWN CHARTER 14.2WHITE 14.0PERKERSON 11.7DUNBAR 10.1

CASCADE 0.0RIVERS 0.0WEST MANOR 0.0

ALTERNATIVES/SUPPLEMENTS TO OSS

Beefed Up ISS

Early Identification/Intervention (RTI)

School Climate Initiatives

Restorative Justice

Alternative Education Settings

Community Resources

Review Student Code of Conduct

Sharon Hill | shill@gaappleseed.org

THANK YOU

For More Information: www.gaappleseed.org (Including the new “Keeping

Kids in School Toolkit webpage, with OSS data for each school in GA, to be launched in late November 2013)

For the full Effective Student Discipline (ESD) Report, go to http://www.gaappleseed.org/keepingkidsinclass/

Like us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/GeorgiaAppleseed

Rob Rhodes, Dir. of Projects | rrhodes@gaappleseed.org

Sharon Hill, Exec. Dir. | shill@gaappleseed.org