Last week I posted a link to a new report issued by the Civil Rights Project at University of California, Los Angeles, ”Out of School & Off Track: The Overuse of Suspensions in American Middle and High Schools.” Below, you'll find a 10-minute video from Huffington Post with co-author of the report Daniel Losen, Director of the Center for Civil Rights Remedies.
Losen discusses the report and the fact that suspensions for minority students have been on the rise over the past three decades. He notes that suspensions are "not a good way to address typical adolescent behavior," though as many as 25% of certain group of students got suspended in 2009-10 in some schools.
The report takes a close look at why some schools that did not display this pattern of high suspensions. Lower suspension rates correlated with more teacher training that provides alternative ways to address misbehavior and help teachers get at the root of the problem. Losen said methods which improve student-teacher relationships and student-parent relationships also make schools feel safer and result in improved academic performance.
This video can also be viewed here.
