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Zeroing out Zero Tolerance

Berwick, Carly
http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2015/03/zeroing-out-zero-tolerance/388003

Publisher:  The Atlantic
Date Written:  17/03/2015
Year Published:  2015  
Resource Type:  Article

Urban districts are increasingly doing away with harsh, no-excuses discipline -- a tactic that was once seen as the only way to address misconduct at big, high-poverty schools.

Abstract: 
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Excerpt:

Last month, New York City's Department of Education, under Chancellor Carmen Farina, called for an end to principal-led school suspensions without prior approval--a practice that grew in popularity during the Bloomberg years as part of a focus on "broken windows," or small crimes that herald disorder. And the Los Angeles Unified School District made a similar move two years ago, when it banned suspensions for "willful defiance," punishment that had a disproportionate impact on students of color. These large cities are at the vanguard of a shift away from zero-tolerance school discipline toward less punitive strategies that emphasize talking it out and resolving disputes among students to keep them in school.

To some extent, these massive districts are rejuvenating the "whole-child" approach integral to what's known as "progressive educaticon"-a model that was once viewed as incompatible with urban school systems. The contours of this model, which is often vaguely defined as schooling that is "child-centered" and focused on "active learning," are outlined by the educator Tom Little and writer Katherine Ellison in Loving Learning: How Progressive Education Can Save America's Schools. Little (who died last year) toured 45 so-called progressive schools in 2013 and found several consistent features: attention to relationships; the students’ freedom, within limits, to follow their interests; and hands-on, creative projects.
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