Behavioral education specialists discuss how school disciplinary measures can have a negative impact on a child’s life as part of the Department of Education's Office of Safe and Healthy Students 2012 national conference.
Research shows that punishment-oriented discipline systems are not effective in "preventing problem behavior, improving school climate, supporting academic achievement, and addressing student disproportionality or equity outcomes."
Additionally, suspension and expulsion have been found to increase a student's chance of entering the juvenile justice system, repeating a grade and dropping out of school.
Experts discussed other effective ways to manage student behavior and examine barriers to implementation.
Participants included: George Sugai, who oversees the University of Connecticut Center for Behavioral Education and Research; and Christopher Chatmon of the Oakland, California school district, who oversees the African American Male Achievement Project there.
The Office of Safe and Healthy Students works to reduce drug, alcohol and tobacco use, and violence in schools.