Beyond Suspension Decline: Transforming School Discipline in California

  • by Lawrence T Winn

Transformative Justice in Education Center partners with USF, UCLA, and UC Davis Law School

An interdisciplinary research team of diverse educators, researchers, and lawyers interviewed 553 administrators, teachers, staff, parents, students and community-based organization leaders to learn about school climate, culture, and suspensions. The team observed 291 classrooms over 191 researcher-days and shadowed a diverse spectrum of students with varying degrees of interactions with school discipline systems. We expanded our observations beyond instructional time to staff meetings, school activities, school suspension rooms, community centers, and restorative justice spaces.  The team explored three questions: (1) How have school disciplinary cultures (i.e., narratives, norms, and practices) changed in California? (2) What strategies and conditions support efforts to move away from punitive or exclusionary school discipline practices? What obstacles remain?  (3) What role has an ecosystem of community-based and advocacy organizations in California, and a core funder, The California Endowment, played in these efforts? 

Beyond Suspension Decline-Transforming School Discipline in California_10_01_21_EV.pdf