will-def-small

Click to enlarge

An EdSource analysis has found dramatic differences amongst the state's largest schoolhouse districts in their reliance on the controversial category of "willful disobedience" of school regime as a reason to suspend students.

In a review of 2011-12 information of in-school and out-of-school suspensions for the thirty largest districts in the state, EdSource plant that 4 districts used the category of willful defiance every bit a reason to suspend students about 2-thirds of the fourth dimension, while nine districts relied on information technology a third or less of the time. Overall, almost half – 48 percent – of the suspensions in the state were for willful defiance in 2011-12, the most recent information available from the California Department of Teaching.

Fontana Unified, e of Los Angeles, used willful defiance of schoolhouse authorities as the reason for 71 percent of its suspensions – the highest among the 30 districts. San Juan Unified near Sacramento was close behind at 69 percent. At the other terminate of the spectrum, Poway Unified, near San Diego, cited willful defiance in merely 11 percent of its suspensions, the everyman among the 30 districts.

The data exercise not explicate why these differences exist. Only some districts, such as Poway, attribute their low rates of intermission for willful defiance to their use for many years of culling approaches to student discipline that favor methods such every bit restorative justice – which require misbehaving students to make amends to the people they accept harmed. Officials at Fontana and San Juan say they are starting to introduce alternative approaches such as conflict arbitration to reduce their reliance on the willful defiance category.

Subjective category

The assay comes equally the use of willful disobedience to suspend students has come nether fire from the Legislature and advocacy groups such as Public Counsel, a public interestpolice firm based in Los Angeles, which contend that the category is too subjective and vague and has led to disproportionate suspensions based on race or ethnicity. Willful disobedience has been used as a reason to suspend for a variety of beliefs issues, from a pupil who sleeps in class to i who screams and cusses a teacher. The department of the law defining willful defiance also includes disruptive behavior.

"If yous accept a roomful of people and ask them what willful defiance means, yous'll have as many answers as there are people in that location," said Isabel Villalobos, coordinator of the Educatee Bailiwick and Expulsion Support Unit for Los Angeles Unified. "It is simply a catch-all to lump all sorts of kids together that is not appropriate."

Los Angeles Unified, the country's largest district, eliminated willful defiance this year every bit a reason to ship students home, and San Francisco Unified is considering a like policy. Los Angeles relied on willful defiance for 31 percent of its suspensions in 2011-12 – at the lower stop for usage amidst the 30 districts, the assay showed.

Schools are as well nether increased pressure level to address the issue because discipline policies – including how many suspensions, for what reasons and to which students – are being spotlighted equally ane of the primary ways to measure out "school climate." Under the state's new school finance and accountability laws, districts must create a Local Control and Accountability Plan that sets goals and priorities in 8 areas, including ways to improve schoolhouse climate, a wide term that includes how frequently students are suspended or expelled. Districts must adopt a three-year accountability plan and update it annually.

Laura Faer, an attorney with Public Counsel, said advocates are hopeful that the new accountability requirements will "requite districts an opportunity to have a real dialogue about school climate," including their approaches to subject area.

Suspending students for minor offenses is a "knee-jerk reaction that is not a solution to the trouble," Faer said. "Now the student is fifty-fifty farther backside in school, is more aroused and more alienated. We tin do improve in California; we can be leaders in making the change."

Racial disparity

EdSource's analysis of statewide willful disobedience suspension data also showed a racial disparity in rates of suspensions, with African American students the most likely to face suspension and Asian students the least. Asian studentsmake up 9 pct of the school population in California but account for but 2 per centum of the willful disobedience suspensions, the assay showed.

will-def-race

African Americans, on the other paw, accounted for 18 percent of willful defiance suspensions statewide even though they made up only seven percent of enrollment.

White students, like their Asian counterparts, also were underrepresented among willful defiance suspensions – 26 percent of the school population simply only 20 percent of willful defiance suspensions. Latinos were slightly overrepresented – 52 per centum of the population merely 55 percent of suspensions for willful defiance.

A district-past-commune analysis past EdSource showed that African American students too were overrepresented in suspensions for willful disobedience in all only two of the 30 largest districts – Montebello Unified and Santa Ana Unified. Latinos were overrepresented in willful disobedience suspensions in nineteen of the largest districts.

Some districts, such as San Francisco Unified and San Jose Unified, had a low number of suspensions for willful defiance, simply African Americans and Latinos were even so overrepresented compared with white and Asian students. For example, in San Jose, white students accounted for 26 percent of enrollment but only ix pct of willful defiance suspensions in 2011-12, compared with Latinos, who made up 52 per centum of enrollment and 79 percent of willful defiance suspensions.

"We've seen this discrepancy for a number of years," said Dane Caldwell-Holden, managing director of Student Services for San Jose Unified. "I wish I could tell you why."

He expects the number of suspensions as well as the disproportionality to get down as more staff are trained in alternative approaches and parents become more involved. The district now offers a 12-week course on parenting for parents of students who are having the near behavior problems.

In 2011-12, African American students made up only xi percent of enrollment just nearly half (47 percentage) of willful defiance suspensions in San Francisco Unified. Thomas Graven, head of Pupil Services, said the 2012-thirteen numbers will show that overall suspensions take plummeted, simply the commune is all the same disproportionally suspending African American, Latino and special education students.

This disproportionality is one of the reasons the district is because eliminating willful defiance as a reason to suspend.

Legislative redress

Disproportionality based on race and ethnicity was cited as 1 of the primary reasons that legislators began focusing on disciplinary issues three years ago. In the 2011/2012 legislative session, lawmakers passed a number of bills regarding field of study, including Assembly Pecker 1729, introduced by Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, D-San Francisco, which emphasized alternative meandue south of correction, such as restorative practices, instead of suspension or expulsion for all offenses. The pecker did not specifically address the use of willful defiance.

In 2014, legislators are expected toconsider AB 420, the 2d effort by Assemblyman Roger Dickinson, D-Sacramento, to eliminate willful defiance as a reason to expel a student and to restrict its apply in suspensions. His first effort, AB 2242 in the 2011/2012 session, was passed by the Legislature simply vetoed by Gov. Jerry Brown, who said disciplinary decisions should be left upwardly to local districts.

Laura Preston, a legislative advocate for the Association of California Schoolhouse Administrators, or ACSA, has lobbied in the past confronting laws that would restrict administrators' ability to discipline students. Just she said her organization realizes that alternative disciplinary approaches can assist districts achieve a positive school climate, equally required under the new funding police, and is working with advocates about how to implement change.

"We are also looking into restructuring our professional academies with information and training on alternative school bailiwick," she said, also as incorporating workshops on this issue in all of ACSA's major conferences.

Differences among districts

EdSource did follow-up interviews with districts at each end of the spectrum well-nigh their field of study policies. Some districts that did not rely as much on willful defiance said they had been implementing alternative disciplinary policies for a number of years. Others who used willful defiance often, such as Fontana Unified and San Juan Unified, were merely beginning to do and so, district officials told EdSource.

"Nosotros don't retrieve it's (use of willful disobedience) a expert thing; we are working difficult to alter," said Linda Bessire, director of Pupil Personnel Services at San Juan Unified. "We are well aware of the legislation and discussions. We are trying to look at prevention and intervention before we go to the suspension."

The passage of AB 1729 spurred Fontana Unified into reviewing its approach to subject field, said Dawn Marmo, coordinator for Kid Welfare and Omnipresence in the commune.

"Nosotros're working with the student and family unit to go on the student in school," she said, using strategies such as parents shadowing their educatee to help keep behavior problems in cheque, conflict mediation and referrals to counseling.

"Ever since we heard about the new law, we've had a mindset change," Marmo said. "It is absolutely a culture change."

However, others defend the employ of willful defiance, maxim it gives teachers a classroom management tool for handling misbehaving students. Others say that having strict rules regarding defiant behavior, including the use of break, helps create a more respectful and positive schoolhouse culture.

For example, Clovis Unified suspends nigh two-thirds of its students for willful disobedience, merely its manager of Education Services, Scott Steele, defends his commune'southward reliance on that category.

"We feel very strongly that if a student is willfully defiant, nosotros hold them answerable for that," Steele said. "Nosotros create a structure that is very articulate on the consequences."

Steele acknowledged that "you have to exist careful virtually (using) willful defiance – you can take it too far." For example, he said, not doing homework or doodling in course is a classroom direction effect, not a reason for suspension. On the other hand, if a teacher asks a student to do something and the educatee refuses, that behavior could pb to a suspension for willful defiance if it happens more than once, he said.

Almost two-thirds of Anaheim Matrimony Loftier School district's suspensions were for willful defiance, though the district's overall suspension charge per unit was low. Rick Martens, director of Pupil Back up Services, partially attributed the high rates revealed in the EdSource analysis to the commune's new data collection system. When a student was suspended for another, more serious issue, such equally a drug offense, willful defiance was also listed as a reason, he said, thereby distorting the data. Martens is working to correct the problem and hopes to have more accurate data for 2012-xiii.

Positive disciplinary approaches

Poway Unified, Montebello Unified, San Francisco Unified and San Jose Unified – which the EdSource analysis found were the 4 districts amongst the state's largest with the lowest rates of suspensions for willful defiance– take been implementing alternatives to suspensions and expulsions for a number of years.

Of the 30 largest districts, Poway with 11 percent had by far the everyman rate of suspensions for willful defiance and disruptive behavior in 2011-12. The next closest was San Francisco Unified with 25 pct.

Poway has been using a restorative justice arroyo for a number of years, said district spokesperson Jessica Wakefield. Under restorative practices, students must take responsibility for their actions and brand amends to the school community. For example, if a student disrupts a grade, he can write an apology to the teacher and peradventure stay subsequently school to assistance the instructor set up for the adjacent twenty-four hours. Teachers and administrators work with students and their families to get at the root cause of the misbehavior.

Todd Cassen, master of Westview High Schoolhouse in Poway, said he has e'er refrained from using suspension for minor disciplinary bug.

"Our time is better spent attempting to connect students to their campus," he said.

Teaching practiced behavior

Art Revueltas, deputy superintendent at Montebello Unified, where less than a 3rd of suspensions are for willful defiance, said he believes today'due south students need to be taught how to bear and teachers need to larn how to subject field students.

For the past 10 to 15 years, the district has been revising its arroyo to subject area, focusing on the smaller things that affect schoolhouse climate, such as cussing on campus.

"You have to set expectations and exist consequent," he said. "Suspending for willful defiance is the lazy man's fashion."

Graven from San Francisco Unified worked as a principal and vice principal before taking over Educatee Services. Edifice a relationship with each educatee prevents defiant behavior such as mouthing off in form, he said. "Teachers greet kids at the door and know all the students past name."

Managing routines well, such as where students should sit, also prevents disruptive behavior like fighting over seats. "I didn't get into this job to be a policeman," he said. "I got into this job to teach and support kids."

San Jose Unified – which has slightly more a quarter of suspensions for willful disobedience – has also focused some of its instructor trainings on culling approaches to discipline.

Sheri Holt, an instructional motorbus at San Jose Unified, says she experienced an "aha" moment during a professional person evolution workshop when the trainer said: "If students are having problem reading, you teach them to read. If they're having problem with math, you aid them. If they are having problem with behavior, you lot punish them. What's wrong with this film?"

Research analysis for this written report was conducted by Lisa Chavez. Contact Susan Frey, who covers school discipline.Sign up here for a no-toll online subscription to EdSource Today for reports from the largest teaching reporting team in California.

To go more than reports like this one, click here to sign up for EdSource'due south no-cost daily email on latest developments in education.