The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends schools reduce the use of exclusionary discipline (suspension or expulsion, for example) through trauma-informed practices and collect and analyze discipline data to identify areas for improvement, according to an article in K-12 Dive.
Suspending or expelling a student can have lifelong, harmful consequences, according to an updated APP policy statement issued Oct. 1.
Research in the past 20 years shows that suspensions and expulsions don’t necessarily deter misbehavior, according to the AAP. In the 2020-21 school year, 28% of students were suspended more than once.
Monitor students for chronic absenteeism and screen for developmental disabilities — both detrimental to learning.
Marginalized students, including students with disabilities and LGBTQ+ students, are disproportionately affected by exclusionary school discipline policies, AAP says.
“When students are not in school, they are more likely to use recreational drugs, engage in fights and carry a weapon, with potential for increased contact with the juvenile justice system,” says Dr. Susanna Jain, author of the policy, in a statement. “The school-to-prison pipeline places these children at increased risk of a cycle of incarceration.”
“Unfair” school discipline practices are linked to various health risks and experiences, such as being bullied at school, carrying a weapon to school, prescription opioid use and attempted suicide, according to a report issued in October by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The report is the first to investigate the connection between school discipline and health and well-being using a nationally representative survey sample of U.S. high school students, according to the CDC. Of the survey respondents, 19.3% reported being unfairly disciplined during the previous year.
″Investigating the association between discipline and health is important to understand and promote health equity in schools,” the CDC report says. “These findings demonstrate that school discipline is an urgent public health problem.”
The U.S. Department of Education issued a guide in 2023 to reduce disproportionate discipline through such practices as these:
- Create a positive school climate
- Increase access to student mental health services
- Develop rigorous and welcoming learning environments.
K-12 Dive
