State proposals and new laws aim to allow or ban corporal punishment, remove violent students from classrooms, and restrict preschool suspensions, according to an article in K-12 Dive. Three examples:
- Arkansas has a $7 million program to support students’ mental health by restricting their cellphone use and using telehealth to connect students to mental health providers.
- Texas’s multiyear effort to study student mental and behavioral health produced recommendations including putting Medicaid funds toward school-based mental health supports and better tracking of interventions.
• West Virginia education leaders and partnership organizations have compiled resource documents and developed training to help schools address student mental health challenges.
All three states are considering or expected to pass laws allowing schools to implement tougher discipline policies.
In fact, many states are reworking their discipline policies as they direct more resources toward supporting students’ mental well-being – a two-pronged strategy to address troubling student behavior that has been on the rise since the pandemic.
States are using various measures from proactively providing mental health help to loosening restrictions for exclusionary discipline, says Richard Welsh, founding director of the School Discipline Lab who is also an associate professor of education and public policy at Vanderbilt University.
Post-COVID, schools have reported a rise in unruly behaviors. Some have been violent and have even injured teachers.
Research published by the American Psychological Association found an increase in violence against K-12 educators in the past decade. After COVID restrictions ended in 2022, a survey found that 2% to 56% of respondents reported physical violence at least once during the year.
Student verbal abuse was occurring at least once a week on average, doubling from 4.8% in the 2009-10 school year to 9.8% in 2019-20, according to APA.
There is some concern that harsher student discipline policies will subvert evidenced-based practices for decreasing challenging behaviors and keeping students in school. Some parents and educators worry that after several years of expanding positive behavior supports and restorative practices, a focus on stricter discipline policies will disproportionately affect students of color and those with disabilities.
Some groups are urging caution over stricter discipline policies, concerned that harsher approaches will harm students from marginalized groups. Welsh says states can address disparities in discipline through accountability measures and by not conflating school discipline with school safety. “When that happens, we tend to bring safety reforms as a response to student behavior,” he says.
Leaders should view school safety and school discipline concerns as distinct issues, said a recent National Education Policy Center report.
This includes investing in measures to support behavior management; providing resources to educators and interventions for students; and addressing the causes for students’ challenging behaviors and educators’ perceptions and responses to misbehavior, the report said.
According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, almost one hundred state bills concerning school discipline and behavioral supports have been introduced, and some of the bills strengthen discipline policies.
West Virginia’s Senate Bill 199 allows teachers to remove from the classroom students who are threatening or intimidating other students.
Texas House Bill 6 extends in-school suspensions from a maximum of three days to the length of time administrators deem appropriate; they would need to evaluate on the 10th day whether to extend the suspension or bring the student back. A teacher would also be permitted to remove a student from a classroom who “demonstrates behavior that is unruly, disruptive, or abusive toward the teacher, another adult, or another student.”
Arkansas HB 1062 states that if a student is removed from a classroom for violent behavior, that student may not re-enter a classroom that has the teacher or student who was the target for the violent behavior.
A mix of legislation is percolating in other states, including reforms to encourage discipline data analysis, expand behavior interventions, and provide student protection during discipline or emergency situations.
HB 1248 in Colorado clarifies when physical restraint can be used and the limitations for such actions.
A bill being in Illinois General Assembly would limit who could determine if a preschooler can be suspended and for how long.
There are 23 states that permit corporal punishment in schools, a National Education Association report said last year.
K-12 Dive
