Offers research-based practices designed to assist school communities identify these warning signs early and develop prevention, intervention and crisis response plans.

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Features the Strengthening Families Program, reflecting research that indicates that the most effective interventions build parent, child, and family skills.

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Offers guidance on improving the effectiveness of efforts to collect and use disciplinary incident data, including reporting accurate and timely incident data to the federal government. Provides recommendations on what types of data to collect, why it is critical to collect such data, and how to implement and manage an incident database.

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Examines issues such as patterns of offending among adolescents and how they differ for girls and boys; risk and protective factors associated with delinquency, including gender differences; and the causes and correlates of girls’ delinquency.

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Describes a model for overcoming barriers to school reentry developed by how the Center for Alternative Sentencing and Employment Services (CASES) in New York City.

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Presents 15 principles for state, district, and school staff; parents; and other stakeholders to consider when developing policies and procedures which should be in writing on the use of restraint and seclusion; and highlights the current state of practice and implementation considerations for each principle.

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Describes the analysis of millions of school and juvenile justice records in Texas to improve policymakers’ understanding of who is suspended and expelled from public secondary schools, and the impact of those removals on students’ academic performance and juvenile justice system involvement.

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Collects data, that are disaggregated by race/ethnicity, sex, limited English proficiency, and disability, from a representative sample of schools and districts, representing 85% of the students in our nation's schools, on a range of issues including college and career readiness, discipline, school finance, and student retention.

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Presents findings on crime and violence in U.S. public schools, using data from the 2009–10 School Survey on Crime and Safety. Survey asks public school principals about the frequency of incidents, such as physical attacks, robberies, and thefts, in their schools; and asks about school programs, disciplinary actions, and the policies implemented to prevent and reduce crime in schools.

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Provides data on crime and safety at school from the perspective of students, teachers, and principals. Provides crime and safety information for students’ travel to and from school. Highlights the most current detailed statistical information on the nature of crime in schools and school environments and responses to violence and crime at school. 

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Examines the influence of teachers’ beliefs about aggression and withdrawal and overall caring and support of students on children’s social behaviors, to include engaging in aggression or withdrawal and reported peer acceptance and self-perceived social competence.

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Describes key features of the high school alcohol and drug policies in the 100 largest school districts in the United States. 

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Offers a database of scientifically-proven programs that address a range of issues, including substance abuse, mental health, and education programs.

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Demonstrates how Olweus Bullying Prevention, Positive Behavior Intervention Supports, Avid, Second Step, and Steps to Respect can be enhanced by a Connected School approach. Acquaints participants with the Connected School ideas and strategies and how to use these ideas and strategies as a unifying force in implementing best practices for creating and maintaining conditions for learning in their school.

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Identifies two sources of data on school climate variables: “Civil Rights Data Collection” and “Incident Data”. Describes types of data each source offers and explores their potential uses and applications.

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Suggests that, while out-of-school suspensions and expulsions are intended to remove sources of dangerous behavior from the school, they also remove the punished students from a community where they can learn and grow behaviorally and emotionally, resulting in travel through the school to prison pipeline. Reviews a number of behavior modification methods that can be used to improve problem-students’ behavior without resorting to removal from school.

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Introduces Social and Emotional Learning as well as Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports and demonstrates their effectiveness in building skills that will help students succeed in all aspects of life and work as they move onto college and beyond. Presents practices that will help implement these behavioral interventions.

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Documents descriptions and links to a variety of guides, briefs, tools, and websites by the school climate content areas of programmatic intervention, measures, school climate (engagement, environment, and safety), and special populations.

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Dedicates itself to preventing children and youth from becoming involved in the courts. Houses factsheets, position papers, and training archives in the same vein.

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Supports the professional development and enhancing the expertise of those who work on behalf of children with challenging behavior and their families.  Contains white papers, policy papers, and abstracts of research related to child behavior with full downloads for members.

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Works from a multi-disciplinary approach on the subjects of violence and facilitates, and, the building of bridges between the research community and practitioners and policy makers.  Offers tools and products related to school climate, bullying prevention, and problem behaviors.

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Provides information, research, and support to make schools safer as a means to high achievement, offering archives of presentation papers for download and guides on school safety and mentoring.

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Examines the overrepresentation of youth with disabilities at-risk for contact with the courts or already involved in the juvenile delinquency system. Provides professional development and technical assistance, conducts research, and disseminates resources in three areas of national significance: prevention of school failure and delinquency, education and special education for detained and committed youth, and transition services for youth returning to schools and communities.

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Archives event that gathered education and judicial leaders and other community leaders from 45 states, D.C., Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands  in New York City to hear about and to become catalysts for strategies, policies and programs to keep kids in school and out of court.   Hosts downloadable presentations, papers, bios, and more related to the event.

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Serves as a collaboration between the U.S. Department of Education and 11 technical assistance units across the United States that supports the implementation of PBIS.  Provides information, tools and resources for a variety of stakeholders including schools, families, and evaluators.

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Houses free products and tools on topic it calls "Safe, Orderly and Healthy Schools" and serves as a membership organization for teachers, providing members a wealth of resources on teaching, including periodicals and videos.

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Promotes research-based strategies that combine applied behavior analysis and biomedical science with person-centered values and systems change to increase quality of life and decrease problem behaviors. Shares content on specific areas such as community agencies, early childhood, families, schools and districts, and, statewide leadership.

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Offers access to learning so that appropriate and accurate information can be collected from all students to improve decision-making.  Features downloadable presentations and training modules.

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Promotes the development and adjustment of children with or at risk of developing serious emotional disturbance.  Includes documents created with support  from Office of Special Education Programs, the Office Safe and Drug Free Schools Program, the Center for Mental Health Services, and the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.

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Works from a multi-disciplinary approach on the subject of violence and facilitates, and, the building of bridges between the research community and the practitioners and policy makers.  Offers tools and products related to school climate, bullying prevention, and problem behaviors.

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Supports the implementation of PBIS.  Provides information, tools and resources for a variety of stakeholders including schools, families, and evaluators.

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Provides resources to help schools identify, adopt, and sustain effective schoolwide disciplinary practices, such as tools to evaluate program impact, a resource search guide, videos for professional development, and podcasts on related topics.

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Provides information on programs, grants, and policies addressing drug and violence prevention, character and civic education, and physical education.

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Serves as a resource to help States comply with the JJDP Act's DMC (the disproportionate number of minority youth who come into contact with the juvenile justice system) requirements and a source of information for all who are interested in understanding and engaged in reducing the extent of DMC.

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Coordinates federal juvenile delinquency prevention programs, federal programs and activities that detain or care for unaccompanied juveniles, and federal programs related to missing and exploited children.

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New regulations regarding the use in Kansas schools of "restraint and seclusion" of students with severe behavioral disorders were adopted by the state board of education on Wednesday. Board members voted 9-1 to approve the regulations. The board then directed staff to draft regulations that include an appeals process for parents who disagree with the way local school boards are implementing the rules. Read Story

The district previously refused to release those figures, saying they were private. The new information about how often, where and why Columbus staff members have used physical means to try to control children with disabilities offers insight into the nature of kids’ behavioral problems and how school workers manage them.

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A Minnesota Department of Education report, put together with help from educators, school officials and mental health experts, is recommending schools be allowed to continue the use of a controversial physical restraint, used to subdue or calm agitated students, until 2017. Some advocates of disabled children worry the move puts students in danger. Read Story
 

Students across the nation have faced detention, lengthy suspensions and even expulsion for making firearms out of Legos or bringing cheap, plastic toy pistols to class. A Montgomery County Public Schools student was even suspended recently for pointing his fingers in the shape of a gun, though the suspension was overturned. With much of the nation caught up in a furious debate over guns and Second Amendment rights in the wake of Newtown, school leaders are struggling to walk the line between prudence and hysterical overreaction. Read Story 

Seven of eight Ivy League universities — Yale, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Princeton, University of Pennsylvania and Harvard — have all rolled out new alcohol-related policies since last August, with a series of major regulation changes occurring at Harvard and the University of Pennsylvania. Administrators and students said they have noticed a shift away from direct disciplinary approaches toward more creative educational programs, but students at four schools said the recent policies have targeted alcohol usage at the expense of Greek life. Read Story

As President Obama unveils an anti-violence plan, districts are taking dramatic steps—and even arming staff—to boost safety. School safety experts warn against making major changes to security procedures without thinking those changes through. But in many communities, people say not taking action after the deadliest K-12 shootings in American history is just not an option. Read Story

State education leaders will make changes to a set of proposals designed to shift student discipline practices in Maryland toward a more “rehabilitative” approach that would reduce suspensions, keep students in school and teach positive behavior.

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While President Obama said recently that he would be skeptical that more guns would be an answer to school safety, his administration is considering paying to add police to secure schools. Read Story

Data collected by the U.S. Department of Education show wide variations in how schools use out-of-school suspension and expulsion. Read Story

About three-fourths of Florida 9th graders who were never suspended out of school as freshmen graduated from high school, compared with a 52 percent graduation rate for those suspended once and a 38 percent rate for those suspended twice in their first high school year, an analysis has found. Read Story

A supportive environment can promote student achievement, and stress can be a hindrance, research and experience show. Read Story

The Memphis City Schools Mental Health Center in Tennessee has implemented a program to help keep students with disabilities in school. The Why Try? program includes professional development, group counseling and a summer reinforcement program. The school system credits the program, paid for with a federal grant, for reducing suspensions and expulsions among students in special education.

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Officials in a Pennsylvania district are working with police to place school resource officers in all buildings. The move comes after the tragic shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., and also follows what turned out to be an unsubstantiated rumor that a violent incident would take place at a local high school. 

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The DeKalb police have issued arrest warrants for 22 students after the fraternity hazing-related death of a freshmen student. The arrests amount to one of the largest numbers of people to be criminally charged in a single college hazing episode, reflecting recent efforts by the police and prosecutors around the country to enforce anti-hazing laws more aggressively. But some experts said the message was unlikely to make a lasting change in college drinking culture. Read Story

At a U.S. Senate hearing Wednesday about ending the 'school-to-prison pipeline,' leaders in the U.S. Departments of Education and Justice said they expect to provide guidance to schools about school discipline policies, a measure that would add to the growing list of actions the current administration has taken in this arena.

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The idea behind the College Readiness Indicator System is that grades and student performance alone are not enough to determine college readiness. And schools can be more effective using a model that allows them to engage proactively with students before they go off-track. The indicator system measures three areas: 1. Academic preparedness - as reflected in grade point average and availability of Advanced Placement courses; 2. Academic tenacity - using attendance or disciplinary infractions to demonstrate effort; and 3. College knowledge - understanding financial requirements for college and other skills needed to access and navigate college.

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Accusing officials of conducting a school to prison pipeline, DOJ filed a lawsuit in October against the city of Meridian, its police department, Lauderdale County and its two youth court judges, as well as the Mississippi Department of  Human Services Youth Services Division. The lawsuit alleges that students in trouble with the judicial system have been deprived of their constitutional rights and have been jailed for violating probation conditions over relatively minor infractions, such as talking back to teachers, flatulence and dress code violations.

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The office for civil rights maintains that minority students are disciplined more harshly and more frequently than other students, "resulting in serious, negative educational consequences, particularly when such students are excluded from school." One analysis of data collected by the agency from the 2009-10 school year found that one in six black students was suspended out of school at least once that school year.

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Furthering its quest to end Columbus schools' use of seclusion rooms for disabled students, a state disability-rights group has filed a formal complaint against the district with the Ohio Department of Education. The complaint will force the department to investigate whether the district failed to properly educate students who were secluded.

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The Positive Behavior Support-Nevada Program, a statewide nonprofit program headquartered at the University of Nevada, Reno, trains parents, teachers and community workers to help children of all ages who have disabilities find alternatives to "challenging behaviors."
Don Johnson, the program's project director, said the statewide nonprofit program works closely with local school districts to teach educators how to use positive reinforcement in the classroom.

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A minor student's arrest record may be wiped clean at 18, but it may already have permanently blemished her chances of graduating high school and going on to college and funneled her into the school-to-prison pipeline, according to a new study at the University of Texas at Austin. The study, to be published in the January 2013 issue of Sociology of Education, finds that school discipline policies that heavily favor out-of-school suspensions and expulsions disproportionately "push out" students after an arrest. 

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More than 1,000 students receive an out-of-school suspension every month in the Buffalo Public Schools, and a high proportion of them are black males. Nearly one in five students receives an out-of-school suspension each year, compared to the statewide average of one in 20. The district has been undergoing a profound shift with regard to student discipline, a process begun in 2009. It started by updating district disciplinary policies to require principals to consider using a parental conference in lieu of suspension.

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Educator Richard Byrne writes in this blog post about three free software applications that teachers can use to track positive and negative student behaviors. Two of the programs are in beta, but the third, ClassDojo, is a free app being used by teachers across all grade levels to track attendance and behaviors. Teachers using the app can assign access codes to parents so they can look in on their child's progress. Read Story

Schools are using lunchtime detentions, Saturday schools, alternative schools, and other forms of in-school suspension to keep students on the academic track. School-based discipline options like this one are being tried in schools nationwide as a substitute for punishments that force students out of school, which have been shown to disproportionately affect black, Latino, and male students and those with disabilities.

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Improving or overhauling classroom-management training is one of many ways states, districts, and teacher education programs are attacking the problem of too many out-of-school suspensions and office referrals, actions that disproportionately affect African-American, Latino, and male students and those who have disabilities. Insubordination, defiance, and disobedience—whatever those may mean to a particular school—are among the top reasons students are suspended from school.

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A new survey of 11 school districts in Texas finds that they spent close to $140 million on out-of-school suspensions and alternatives including referrals to disciplinary alternative education programs. The report, from the social justice advocacy group Texas Appleseed, encourages districts to be more judicious when punishing students via out-of-school suspension. The tradeoff: an increase in the district's portion of state education funds, which are doled out based on average daily attendance, Texas Appleseed said.

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Lawmakers in Texas are considering changes to the way in which students are disciplined, following a report that found the state's "exclusionary discipline" policies could be ineffective and costly. David Slayton, executive director of the Texas Judicial Council, advised lawmakers to allow prosecution of Class C misdemeanors to be deferred and give teachers greater discretion in disciplining students.

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At many schools across the country, restorative practices are about holding students accountable and getting them to right a wrong. The approach is getting more notice than ever as criticism grows of zero-tolerance disciplinary policies that often require out-of-school suspension and expulsion. Educators are turning to restorative practices, peer courts in middle and high schools, and related efforts in the hopes of changing students' bad behaviors rather than simply kicking them out of school as punishment and risking disconnecting them from school altogether.

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Elementary schools in Maryland that used the Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports program reported more positive behaviors among their students than schools not using the program, a study in the journal Pediatrics found. Researchers also noted fewer students displaying problem behavior or sent to the principal's office for disciplinary problems in PBIS schools. 

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The Kentucky Board of Education on Monday approved a policy change restricting the use of restraint and seclusion of students by school staff to cases involving imminent danger of physical harm. The policy change also calls for staff training on positive discipline techniques and forbids the restraint or seclusion of students who use their hands to communicate such as those who use sign language. Some superintendents have opposed the measure because they believe policy is too vague. 

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Roughly a thousand kids are suspended every week in New York City schools and advocacy groups say these suspensions are unnecessarily harsh, especially for black and Latino students. Dignity in Schools says the suspensions are derailing learning and increasing the dropout rate, and wants DOE to implement alternative policies that focus on resolving conflict.

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Responding to state and national concerns about the effects of out-of-school suspensions on students' education trajectories, California has adopted several measures attempting to change the way that form of school discipline is used. Concerns linger, though, that Gov. Jerry Brown's veto of one related bill, a measure that would have limited schools' ability to suspend students on the grounds of the undefined concepts of "willful defiance or disruption of school activities," may undermine the others.

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The first of some 20 federal investigations into racial disparity in school district discipline practices closed today, yielding a long-term, prescriptive plan for change in the Oakland public schools, a district in which black students made up 32 percent of enrollments last school year but accounted for 63 percent of all suspensions. Oakland will take a number of steps to address the issue, including working to find ways to address misbehavior that doesn't require students to leave school.

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Proposed regulations on the use of restraint and seclusion in schools drew comments from supporters and critics during a public hearing before the Kentucky Board of Education on Tuesday. At least 20 superintendents from western Kentucky oppose the measures, saying they interfere with their ability to maintain safety in schools. However, advocates for students with special needs praised the regulations, which they say will reduce the use of ineffective -- and sometimes harmful -- techniques and provide training for school personnel. 

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A coalition of more than 200 disability-advocacy groups is calling on Congress to regulate the use of restraint and seclusion in the country's schools. "It is time for a national policy addressing restraint and seclusion in our schools for all children," reads a letter sent last week to the education committees of both houses. "America needs more than the current patchwork of state laws to ensure that every child is afforded protection." 

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Four school districts in Sacramento County are among 49 districts in California that have been flagged for having a "significantly disproportionate" number of African-American students in special education. The districts now must allocate a portion of their special-education funding to preventative programs and submit intervention plans for state review. 

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The four-year graduation rate for black males has steadily improved over the last decade, but remains dismally low compared to the rate for their white male peers, according to a recent study. One of the most persistent problems for black male achievement, the report contends, is the ongoing “pushout” problem. African-American boys are far more likely than their white peers to be suspended outside of school, expelled, or placed in alternative settings.

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Indiana state officials unveiled a multi-agency plan to better secure services -- without court intervention -- for children with mental health needs or developmental disabilities. Under the plan, community members, schools and other officials would refer students to a community mental health access site to have their level of need evaluated. In addition, the Division of Child Services will help fund services for those who cannot secure funding through Medicaid or private insurance.

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Public schools in the District of Columbia will have new discipline rules this winter that, among other things, focus on ensuring restraint and seclusion practices are not used improperly with students who have disabilities. The new rules, which aim to offer strict guidelines on the practices, are set to be finalized in November, with implementation to follow in later months. 

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All schools will be required to track — and disclose — how often they are restraining or secluding children under a proposed state policy. But details about incidents, such as the reasons children are placed in seclusion rooms, would not be made public, according to a draft policy presented to a state Board of Education committee yesterday.

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A new survey of school discipline policies in California finds that districts have a patchwork of approaches to dealing with students who misbehave, administrators are concerned about how to manage students' behavior, and they worry about the disproportionate impact of some discipline policies on black and Latino students.

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An openly gay Indianapolis teenager expelled for bringing a stun gun to school to ward off alleged bullies is suing Indianapolis Public Schools, accusing administrators of failing to stop the “relentless, severe harassment” he faced in school. The suit alleges bullies used homophobic slurs, spat at Young and threw rocks and glass bottles at him, but that school administrators blamed Young, who carried his mother’s purses and wore her jewelry to school.

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An African-American teenager recently told William R. Hite, Jr., the incoming schools superintendent in Philadelphia, that there are more adults working in his high school who could arrest him than could help him fill out applications for college financial aid. That story, shared Monday with an audience of educators, advocates, and state and federal policymakers, punctuated an issue of increasing concern: the persistent vulnerability of black boys.

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The court said the use of the U-shaped desk, with a wooden bar designed to keep a student from pushing back his or her chair, did not amount to an unconstitutional "seizure" under the Fourth Amendment. It also held that the exclusive use of the desks in special education classrooms did not violate the 14th Amendment equal-protection rights of students.

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The New York City Education Department issued new disciplinary guidelines this week that ease a previous policy on suspensions for students. Under the new guidelines, students no longer will be suspended for a one-time, low-level offense, and students in kindergarten through third grade no longer can be suspended for more than five days for midlevel infractions. Officials say teachers also are being advised to offer counseling and take other steps to prevent suspensions. 

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Earlier this month, Toledo Public School teachers, administrators, and even a member of the school board studied social-emotional learning, using the Responsive Classroom approach. Schools in the district that use the Responsive Classroom approach have histories of high discipline rates and often, a large number of students with emotional disabilities. Schools that are using the program saw decreases in discipline referrals and increased parental involvement. Three TPS schools will also start positive behavior intervention programs, which deals more with gaining consistency in following rules. 

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Award-winning behavior specialist Leslie Beal and her Positive Intervention Team at the San Angelo Independent School District in Texas work with students who have varying degrees of special needs and disabilities. The team employs tools such as positive reinforcement and implement structure into students' routines to address their individual challenges. 

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Data show that Orange County Public Schools in Florida restrain more students with disabilities than any other district in the state. However, the number -- 952 incidents -- has declined by two-thirds since the 2010-11 school year. "We're going to continue to work on bringing those numbers down, using strategies to keep students safe and staff safe," said superintendent Barbara Jenkins. 

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The number of children with disabilities restrained last year in Palm Beach County, Fla., public schools declined over the previous year, but school board members plan to continue monitoring the practice. "We're heading in the right direction but we do want to keep our eye on it," board member Karen Brill said. 

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A federal appeals court has upheld a New York state prohibition on the use of "aversive interventions" such as electric shock, food limitations, and restraints in schools, including for children with disabilities being served in out-of-state schools that have permitted such practices. The New York regulation was challenged by parents who believe such interventions are proper for their children, who commit self-injurious behaviors such as banging their heads on walls and pulling out their own teeth.

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Behavioral management professor Richard Curwin offers tips on how to deal with a classroom situation in which several students or student groups act out at the same time. His "Leader of the Pack" strategy involves three steps: find the leader or leaders, enlist their help in controlling the disruptions, and then create new leaders over time by establishing new classroom groups and giving every student the opportunity to lead. 

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Thirty Texas school districts have been flagged for suspending a disproportionate number of students with disabilities. The group Disability Rights Texas noted that, in those districts, about 22% of students with disabilities received out-of-school suspensions during the 2010-11 school year, compared with an average 7% of the students with disabilities statewide. 

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The Kentucky Board of Education has approved a policy restricting the use of restraint and seclusion with children in public schools. Under the policy, which could be implemented in the 2013-14 school year, the practice would only be permitted when a student's actions constitute "imminent danger of serious physical harm" to the child or others. The measure was lauded by some people, while others expressed concern about the schools' ability to maintain order. 

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A new analysis of U.S. Department of Education data shows that students with disabilities are almost twice as likely to be suspended from school as their peers without disabilities. The highest suspension rates were seen among black students with disabilities, according to the analysis, which was conducted by the Center for Civil Rights Remedies at the University of California, Los Angeles.

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Nearly one in six African-American students was suspended from school during the 2009-10 academic year, more than three times the rate of their white peers, a new analysis of federal education data has found. And for black children with disabilities, the rate was even higher: One in four such students was suspended at least once that year.

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Many educators in Ohio schools have not received adequate training in the use of seclusion rooms for students with behavioral problems, according to a newspaper investigation. Some advocates and educators say more training is needed, particularly on "positive behavior management" techniques, in which good behavior is emphasized over discipline. 

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Teachers in Quincy, Illinois under went an annual Crisis Intervention Training seminar, where they learned how to de-escalate potentially dangerous situations using non-violent techniques with the goal of keeping the student in the classroom setting. Crisis intervention training excercises, like this one, prepares teachers to recognize different emotions and behaviors in students and how best to deal with those situations.

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The Baltimore State Board of Education overwhelmingly approved regulations intended to cut back on suspensions, keep students in class and create a less-punitive culture in public schools...

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The Maryland State Board of Education voted to give preliminary approval to changes to the state's discipline policy that will replace zero-tolerance consequences with a rehabilitative approach to discipline and make suspensions and expulsions last-resort disciplinary measures. The policy also will require the state Education Department to track data to find and eliminate punishment disparities affecting students who are minorities or in special education. The board will take a final vote on the changes next month. 

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In the teen courts that have operated for two decades in Los Angeles, trained high school students question their peers, determine guilt, and recommend sentences.

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An advocacy group for children charges that Wake County schools are failing in their legal obligation to educate those students with disabilities who are on long-term suspension. 

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Education advocacy groups continue to weigh in on the specifics of a potential federal law governing the use in schools of restraint and seclusion, a practice used disproportionately with students who have disabilities. 

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Baltimore officials say the achievement gap between chronically absent students and students who attend school regularly must be addressed. Officials also point out that there is an achievement gap among students who are suspended and those who are not, raising questions about suspension policies. 

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Parents of children with disabilities testified Thursday before a Congressional committee urging lawmakers to enact measures to limit the ability of schools to use restraint and seclusion to deal with students' behavior problems. Of the estimated 38,792 cases of seclusion or restraint in the 2009-2010 school year, 69% involved students with disabilities, according to an Education Department report.

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Educators’ use of restraints and seclusion for managing disruptive student behaviors are scheduled to be the focus of a first-of-its-kind hearing before the Senate education committee. In general, students may be restrained or secluded only when they are in immediate danger of hurting themselves or others. But critics say too often these practices are used to discipline students or remove them from class if they are being disruptive.

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The teachers of a 30-student inclusion classroom knew they had to do something drastic to change the classroom environment. With the help of a colleague, they devised an intervention of sorts: a reading-buddy program, pairing their students with first graders for two classes a week. The hope was two-fold: that the fourth graders would assume a leadership role, and see how difficult it can be to teach.

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In Baltimore County, Md., principals will have more autonomy in how they discipline students under a vote taken by the school board Tuesday that eliminates the district's zero-tolerance approach. Supporters said the new policy -- which is aligned with recommendations from the state school board -- is intended to help reduce the number of days students spend out of school. 

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Fairfax County principals became a potent voice of opposition to proposed discipline reforms this week, objecting to measures that would have required notifying parents before their children are questioned about serious offenses at school. the Fairfax County School Board voted 7 to 5 late Thursday to postpone action on policy changes that focused on parental notification, marijuana offenses and the appeals process. The vote effectively put off the debate until next year.

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Jackson Public Schools (JPS) will no longer handcuff students to poles or other objects and will train staff at its alternative school on better methods of discipline. JPS agreed to settle a suit brought by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), which charged that staff at the school district’s Capital City Alternative School engaged in the practice of shackling students to a pole in the school.

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Colorado joins a growing number of states rethinking zero-tolerance policies requiring expulsion or suspension for behavior or actions that might once have meant a stern talking to or a visit to the principal's office. Now lawmakers want to give educators flexibility. In California the Legislature is considering nine bills aimed at limiting school discipline. One would require schools that suspend more than 25% of their students to adopt strategies aimed at reducing behavior that leads to suspension.

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School suspension rates at all grade levels have more than doubled in this country over the past 30 years, according to data released by the U.S. Department of Education. Critics say zero-tolerance policies and mandatory suspensions have resulted in students losing class time for relatively minor infractions. Now, many districts are looking for better ways to discipline students and change student behavior over the long term. 

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The Education Department said issued its 15 principles about restraints and seclusion, to be used as the foundation of policies and procedures created by states and districts, but it isn't binding or required. The principles were a collaboration between the department and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

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A committee of city officials in Chicago is calling on school leaders to reduce school suspensions and expulsions by 40%. Several student and community groups have been pushing for changes to disciplinary policies in Chicago Public Schools, advocating a switch to "restorative justice programs."

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New York City education officials were criticized Tuesday for a lack of adequate policies for managing cases in which students with mental health difficulties are disruptive in school. At a hearing of the City Council's education and mental health committees, officials discussed the need for more comprehensive programs in city schools. The hearing follows recent reports of students with such difficulties being sent to hospital emergency rooms. 

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The Kansas State Board of Education voted unanimously this month to adopt regulations that regulate the use of restraints and seclusion at school. Among other provisions, the regulations—developed by a special education advisory committee—say that rules about the use of these emergency interventions should apply to all students, not just those with disabilities, and that these techniques be used only for emergency or safety reasons, not as a behavior modification tool.

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More than 40 percent of suspensions in California are for "willful defiance," or any behavior that disrupts class, and critics say it's a catchall that needs to be eliminated because it's overused for trivial offenses, disproportionately used against black and Latino boys and alienates the students who need most to stay in school.

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A coalition of advocates for people with disabilities offered more criticism of a recent report by the American Association of School Administrators that touted the merits and necessity of using restraints and seclusion.

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The National Leadership Summit on School-Justice Partnerships was convened on March 11-13, 2012 in New York City for top state justice and education officials and their partners to raise awareness of the importance of focusing on school-justice partnerships in order to promote practices and policies of our education and justice systems that can help children succeed in school and in turn reduce the number of children involved in the juvenile and adult court systems.

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New federal data that for the first time attempt to catalog how many times students were isolated or restrained—by a school employee or with a device—show that, in many cases, those techniques are applied disproportionately to students with disabilities, particularly black students with disabilities.

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African American students in large school systems are arrested far more often on campus than their white peers, new federal data show. The data, from an Education Department civil rights survey, provide the government’s most extensive examination yet of how public schools across the country bring police into the handling of student offenses.

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Maryland's school board released a proposal to limit out-of-school suspensions to 10 days to be used only in cases where school safety is a factor. The board is also calling on schools to develop plans over a three-year period that would reduce suspension rates for students with disabilities and minorities after a recent report showed the two groups to be subject to a disproportionate number of overall suspensions. 

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Proposals expected to be considered in Maryland would seek to reduce school suspensions by revising the state's zero-tolerance discipline policies. The changes would include lowering the number of suspensions for nonviolent behavior, reducing the disproportionate number of suspensions ordered for minority students and students in special education, while requiring educational services be provided for those who are serving lengthy out-of-school suspensions.

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A charter network is charging students $5 for minor disciplinary infractions like having untied shoelaces, bringing chips to school or dozing off in class. Critics say the network is using the fines to push out troubled students so it can boost graduation rates, but school leaders say tougher discipline has led to a safer school environment.

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Sheriffs and police chiefs are on a mission to convince state legislatures that investing in early childhood education, such as quality prekindergarten and the federal Head Start program, can be an important crime-prevention weapon—and ultimately save states money in incarceration costs.

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The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear appeals of three cases involving students' free-speech rights on the Internet. Two cases involved Pennsylvania students who had posted mockeries of their school principals on the Internet, while another case involved a West Virginia student who had ridiculed a peer online.

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Colorado policymakers are divided on how best to reform the state's practices for disciplining students, which have relied on a zero-tolerance approach for nearly 20 years. Advocates of reform criticize what they call a "school-to-prison pipeline," particularly for minority students. Others, including some school districts, are concerned about the effectiveness and cost of alternative programs.

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Too many rural minority students are categorized as learning disabled, a new study asserts, attributing that in part to an overly broad method used to identify those children.

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A new initiative is aimed at using advocacy by parents and educators to address factors that contribute to a disproportionate number of African-American students being identified as having disabilities. Data show that black students comprise 17% of public-school students but account for 31% of those with intellectual disabilities, 28% of those with emotional disorders and 21% of those with learning disabilities, all diagnoses that could be influenced by bias.

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A new initiative hopes to tackle one of special education's most persistent problems: the disproportionate identification of black children as having disabilities. Now, the National Association for the Education of African American Children with Learning Disabilities will use grant money from the Oak Foundation to train parents how to better advocate for their children and address this persistent disproportionality.

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A preschool in Ohio offers short-term interventions for preschool students with behavioral and mental health challenges who have been suspended from other area preschool programs. Educators at the school use puppets and other hands-on strategies to help teach positive behavior and impulse control to students, who typically attend the school for three to six months.

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The Justice Department, stepping up its oversight of the juvenile justice system, has launched an investigation into whether school and law enforcement officials are targeting black students in Meridian, Miss., for unfair treatment.

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Turnaround for Children is a non-profit focusing on students’ psychological and emotional well-being, in addition to academics. Turnaround offers a whole-child model that requires the hiring of social workers and the training of teachers in how to respond to outbursts in ways other than sending children to the principal’s office.

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Chicago-based charter program Perspectives, which operates five schools across the city, will receive $400,000 in federal funding over the next two years. Their program, called "A Disciplined Life," focuses on social and emotional learning inside and outside of the classroom.

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The Supportive School Discipline Initiative is a collaboration between the two agencies that hopes to target the school disciplinary policies and in-school arrests that push youth out of school and into the justice system, also known as the school-to-prison pipeline.

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Many schools cater to disadvantaged children, but Haven Academy is unique because it houses hundreds of counselors in the same building. The school features a small student-teacher ratio, an extended school day, many tutor options and special training to keep teachers consistent in the language they use and their responses to problems.

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The NAACP has joined forces with fiscally conservative groups, former U.S. Secretary of Education Rod Paige, and others to persuade legislators and policymakers to shift the growing amount of money spent on prisons to education.

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A report, compiled by the New York Civil Liberties Union and based on 10 years of previously undisclosed suspension statistics in New York City schools, echoed a nationwide trend toward mandatory suspensions for an increasing variety of infractions. The department is looking to use more social and emotional mediation to address behavioral issues among special-education students.

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School Climate Survey Compendium (as of December 20, 2011)

To assist educators and education agencies in locating a valid and reliable needs assessment that suits their needs, the Safe and Supportive Schools Technical Assistance Center is developing a compendium of student, staff, and family surveys that can be used as part of a school climate needs assessment.  Below is an initial list of school climate survey batteries. (Alternatively, click  here to download a summary table (PDF) of each survey by respondent type.)

Please note that the Office of Safe and Healthy Students does not endorse any particular scale or survey presented in this compendium. Additionally, the database presented is not an exhaustive listing of available measures or survey instruments.  If you would like to nominate a survey that is not currently included in the compendium, click on the link below.

 Nominate a Survey
 

Alaska School Climate and Connectedness Survey