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November 22, 2016

Dear Governors and Chief State School Officers:

As Governors and Chief State School Officers, you know that public schools are  crucial places for nurturing the unique gifts of all children and developing  the knowledge and skills they need to grow and thrive in our democracy, and I appreciate the work you are doing — from early learning to postsecondary education — to support our schools in this mission. To fulfill this mission of promoting the  positive development of our youth, a school must first ensure that no harm occurs  to the children and young people entrusted into its care. It is for this reason that I write to you, to  call your attention to a practice in some schools — the use of corporal  punishment**[ 1 ]** — which is harmful, ineffective, and often disproportionately applied to  students of color and students with disabilities, and which states have the  power to change.

If  you have not already, I urge you to eliminate this practice from your schools,  and instead promote supportive, effective disciplinary measures.**[ 2 ]** Many of you, and your districts and  educators, are leading the way in terms of rethinking how to create positive  school climates and improve discipline practices in your schools, and eliminating  corporal punishment is a critical piece of that work.**[ 3 ]**The use of corporal punishment can  hinder the creation of a positive school climate by focusing on punitive  measures to address student misbehavior rather than positive behavioral  interventions and supports. Corporal  punishment also teaches students that physical force is an acceptable means of solving problems, undermining efforts to promote nonviolent techniques for conflict  resolution.

In-school  corporal punishment generally entails school personnel intentionally inflicting  pain on a child as a punishment or in an attempt to change the child's behavior.**[ 4 ]**As the accompanying map shows,**[ 5 ]**today, 22 states**[ 6 ]** allow the use of corporal punishment in their schools as a means to punish  students or to otherwise influence student behavior.**[ 7 ]** Notably, the very acts of corporal  punishment that are permissible when applied to children in schools under some  state laws would be prohibited as criminal assault or battery when applied to  adults in the community in those very same states.

States  should also be aware that in-school corporal punishment is often not applied  equally to all students. Rather, the use  of in-school corporal punishment tends to be associated with characteristics such  as a child’s race, national origin, sex, and/or disability status. Significantly, such disparities can raise  concerns of unlawful race, national origin, sex, or disability discrimination  under federal law, although statistics alone would not end an inquiry. According to the Department’s Civil Rights  Data Collection (CRDC), over 110,000 students were subject to corporal  punishment in school during the 2013-2014 academic year.**[ 8 ]** Yet in-school corporal punishment and  its related harm disproportionately impact students of color. Based on the 2013-2014 CRDC, approximately  40,000 — or more than one-third — of those students who were subjected to  corporal punishment are black; black students, by comparison, make up only 16 percent  of the total public school student population.**[ 9 ]**Similarly, in states where students were subjected to corporal punishment, black boys were 1.8 times as likely as white boys  to be subject to corporal punishment, and black girls were 2.9 times as likely as white girls to be subject to corporal punishment.**[ 10 ]**Disparities in the use of in-school corporal punishment  are not limited to race; boys and students with disabilities experience higher  rates of corporal punishment.  Based on  the 2013-2014 CRDC, boys represented about 80 percent of all students  experiencing corporal punishment.**[ 11 ]**Similarly, in nearly all of the states  where the practice is permitted, students with disabilities were subjected to  corporal punishment at higher rates than students without disabilities.**[ 12 ]** These data and disparities shock the  conscience.

The  use of corporal punishment is also ineffective as a strategy to address  inappropriate behavior. When used in an  attempt to compel behavioral change, corporal punishment often has antithetical  results; for example, physical punishment may make a child more aggressive,  defiant, and oppositional.**[ 13 ]** Moreover, it can be detrimental to a  child's health and well-being and may have lifelong repercussions.  Research shows, for example, that children who  experience physical punishment are more likely to develop mental health issues,  including alcohol and drug abuse or dependence, mood disorders, anxiety  disorders, and other personality disorders.**[ 14 ]** The excessive use of corporal punishment  has been shown to be associated with antisocial behavior in children and later when  they reach adulthood.**[ 15 ]**

Beyond  its alarming health implications, corporal punishment in school is also associated  with negative academic outcomes. Research  shows, for example, that corporal punishment can impact children's cognitive  functioning,**[ 16 ]**potentially affecting verbal capacity,**[ 17 ]**brain development,**[ 18 ]**and the ability to solve problems effectively.**[ 19 ]**Studies also indicate that students as  young as those in preschool who experience corporal punishment tend to perform  at lower levels, when compared to peers who have not been subjected to such  practices, on measures of both academic achievement and social competence.**[ 20 ]**

While  some may argue that corporal punishment is a tradition in some school  communities, past practice alone cannot be a sufficient rationalization for  continuing to engage in actions that have been proven to have short- and long-term  detrimental effects. Indeed, there are  many practices which were previously legal in the United States but which we  would not tolerate today. There is a  growing consensus that we simply cannot condone state-sanctioned violence  against children in school.

A  long list of education, medical, civil rights, disabilities, and child advocacy  groups, including the National Education Association, American Federation of  Teachers, American Psychological Association, American Academy of Pediatrics,  and many others, have also been calling for  a ban on this practice and citing the harmful long-term effects on children and  the need to keep physical violence out of the educational environment.**[ 21 ]**Corporal punishment has also been banned in  Head Start Programs,**[ 22 ]**Department of Defense-run schools,**[ 23 ]** U.S. prisons and U.S. military training facilities,**[ 24 ]** and most juvenile detention facilities.**[ 25 ]** As the evidence against corporal  punishment mounts, so does our moral responsibility to eliminate this practice.

A  safe, supportive school environment is critical to support effective teaching  and learning. I applaud the many states,  districts, and educators that are leading the way in fostering positive school  climates and improving discipline practices through proven strategies, such as the  successful implementation of positive behavioral interventions and supports,**[ 26 ]** as well as better training and professional development for educators, to equip  them to administer supportive school discipline approaches in nondiscriminatory  and effective ways.**[ 27 ]** Still others are exploring promising  avenues, such as the greater involvement of mental health specialists and the  use of restorative justice practices.**[ 28 ]**

I  am glad to recognize and support these states and districts through our "Rethink Discipline" initiative **[ 29 ]** But there is more that we can do to  support the use of school discipline practices that foster safe, supportive,  and productive learning environments.  One  critical step would be to cease the use of corporal punishment in all of our  public schools. It is difficult for a  school to be considered safe or supportive if its students are fearful of being  physically punished by the adults who are charged with supporting their  learning and their future.

School-sponsored  corporal punishment is not only ineffective, it is a harmful practice, and one that  disproportionally impacts students of color and students with disabilities. This practice has no place in the public  schools of a modern nation that plays such an essential role in the advancement  and protection of civil and human rights. Thank you for your leadership in reconsidering  the use of this practice and working toward ensuring that schools are safe and  supportive places where all students can thrive.

| | Sincerely,       
| | -----------------
| | /s/              
| | John B. King, Jr.

### Footnotes

1. The American Academy of Child  & Adolescent Psychiatry describes “corporal punishment” as “a discipline  method in which a supervising adult deliberately inflicts pain upon a child in  response to a child’s unacceptable behavior and/or inappropriate language.”  American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, position statement on  corporal punishment in schools (updated September 2014), available at https://www.aacap.org/aacap/policy_statements/1988/Corporal_Punishment_in_Schools.aspx.**[ Return to text ]**
2. See, for example, “Supporting  and Responding to Behavior: Evidence-Based Classroom Strategies for Teachers,” available  at https://www.osepideasthatwork.org/evidencebasedclassroomstrategies/. In addition, materials are  available on the Department’s website, including guidance, technical assistance  information, and other resources, that can assist schools and educators seeking  to replace corporal punishment with other, more effective discipline practices  in schools. Links to those materials can be found at: http://www2.ed.gov/policy/gen/guid/school-discipline/support.html#tools.**[ Return to text ]**
3. Twenty-eight states and the District of Columbia  have banned corporal punishment. For more information on the individual state  laws governing the use of corporal punishment in schools, please visit http://www.edweek.org/ew/section/multimedia/states-ban-corporal-punishment.html.  Statewide bans on corporal  punishment were most recently enacted in Ohio in 2009 and New Mexico in 2011; additionally, many large urban school districts, like Atlanta,  Houston, and Memphis, have banned corporal punishment even though the practice  is still allowed in these districts' states. See Anderson, Melinda D., "Where  Teachers Are Still Allowed to Spank Students," The Atlantic (December 15, 2015)  at http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2015/12/corporal-punishment/420420/.**[ Return to text ]**
4. National Association of School  Psychologists, Position Statement on Corporal Punishment (2014), available at http://www.nasponline.org/assets/documents/Research%20and%20Policy/Position%20Statements/CorporalPunishment.pdf (defining “corporal punishment”  as “the intentional infliction of pain or discomfort and/or the use of physical  force upon a student with the intention of causing the student to experience  bodily pain so as to correct or punish the student’s behavior.”).**[ Return to text ]**
5. http://www2.ed.gov/policy/gen/guid/school-discipline/images/2013-14-crdc-corporal-punishment-map-1200.png.**[ Return to text ]**
6. There are 22 states that either  expressly permit in-school corporal punishment or where no state law  prohibits it (as of March 2016). The 15 states that expressly permit corporal  punishment are Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky,  Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina,  Tennessee, Texas, and Wyoming. The seven states where no state law prohibits  corporal punishment are Colorado, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Maine, New Hampshire,  and South Dakota.  The Department’s *Compendium of School Discipline Laws and  Regulations* provides access to an online catalogue of the laws and  regulations related to school discipline in each of the 50 states, the District  of Columbia, and Puerto Rico and compares laws across states and jurisdictions.  The tool is available at https://safesupportivelearning.ed.gov/school-discipline-compendium.**[ Return to text ]**
7. Gershoff, E.T., Kelly M.  Purtell, and Igor Holas, “Corporal Punishment in U.S. Public Schools: Legal  Precedents, Current Practices, and Future Policy,” SpringerBriefs in Psychology  (2015).**[ Return to text ]**
8. U.S. Department of Education,  Office for Civil Rights, Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC), 2013-14,  available at ocrdata.ed.gov.**[ Return to text ]**
9. U.S. Department of Education,  National Center for Education Statistics, Common Core of Data (CCD), “State  Nonfiscal Public Elementary/Secondary Education Survey,” 2013-14 v.1a.**[ Return to text ]**
10. U.S. Department of Education,  Office for Civil Rights, Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC), 2013-14,  available at ocrdata.ed.gov.**[ Return to text ]**
11. *Id.***[ Return to text ]**
12. *Id.***[ Return to text ]**
13. Gershoff, et al (2015) note that “Although a  substantial literature has shown that corporal punishment by parents is linked  with increased behavior problems, increased mental health problems, and  decreased school performance, corporal punishment by school personnel has been  almost entirely unstudied.” This letter concerns only in-school use of corporal  punishment. For examples of the substantial literature on corporal punishment  by parents, see Human Rights Watch, et al. (2009); Gershoff, E.T., “Spanking and Child Development: We Know Enough Now to  Stop Hitting Our Children,” Child Dev Perspect (2013), 7: 133–137; Sheehan, M.J. & Watson, M.W., “Reciprocal influences between maternal  discipline techniques and aggression in children and adolescents,” *Aggressive Behavior*(2008), 34, 245–255.**[ Return to text ]**
14. Afifi, T.O., et al., “Physical  Punishment and Mental Disorders: Results from a Nationally Representative U.S.  Sample,” Pediatrics, Volume 130, Number 2 (August 2012), available at http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/early/2012/06/27/peds.2011-2947.**[ Return to text ]**
15. Gershoff, E.T. (2002). “Corporal  Punishment by Parents and Associated Child Behaviors and Experiences: A  Meta-Analytic and Theoretical Review.” Psychological Bulletin, Vol. 128, No. 4,  539–579.**[ Return to text ]**
16. Straus, M.A., and Mallie J.  Paschall. “Corporal punishment by mothers and development of children’s  cognitive ability: a longitudinal study of two nationally representative age  cohorts.” Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment & Trauma (2009); 18: 459-483.**[ Return to text ]**
17. MacKenzie, M.J., Eric Nicklas,  Jane Waldfogel, and Jeanne Brooks-Gunn. “Corporal punishment and child  behavioral and cognitive outcomes through 5 years-of-age: Evidence from a  contemporary urban birth cohort study.” Infant Child Dev. (2012  January/February); 21(1): 3–33.**[ Return to text ]**
18. Tomoda, A., Hanako Suzuki, Keren  Rabi, Yi-Shin Sheu, Ann Polcari, and Martin H. Teicher, “Reduced Prefrontal  Cortical Gray Matter Volume in Young Adults Exposed to Harsh Corporal  Punishment,” Neuroimage (2009 Aug.), 47 (Suppl 2): T66–T71.**[ Return to text ]**
19. Talwar V., Carlson S.M. and Lee  K. (2011), “Effects of a Punitive Environment on Children's Executive  Functioning: A Natural Experiment,” Social Development, 26 July 2011; *see also* Hyman, I.A., “Corporal  punishment, psychological maltreatment, violence, and punitiveness in America:  Research, advocacy, and public policy.” Applied and Preventive Psychology  (1995), 4, 113–130.**[ Return to text ]**
20. Hyman 1995; *see also* Dupper, David R., and Amy E. Montgomery Dingus, “Corporal  punishment in US public schools: A continuing challenge for school social  workers,” Children & Schools 30(4) (2008): 243-250, available at http://ewasteschools.pbworks.com/f/Corporal_punishment_2009.pdf.**[ Return to text ]**
21. Groups that have publicly taken  positions against the use of corporal punishment in school include but are not  limited to: American Psychological Association, American Academy of Pediatrics,  National Education Association, American Federation of Teachers, National  Association of Secondary School Principals, National Association of Elementary  School Principals, American Civil Liberties Union, National Parent Teacher  Association, Dignity in Schools, Human Rights Watch, NAACP, National Disability  Rights Network, National Council of La Raza, Council for Exceptional Children,  Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law, American Academy of Child & Adolescent  Psychiatry, American Academy of Family Physicians, American Academy of  Pediatrics, American School Counselor Association, Center for Effective  Discipline, National Association for the Education of Young Children, National  Association of School Nurses, National Association of School Psychologists,  National Association of State Boards of Education, and Society for Adolescent  Medicine.**[ Return to text ]**
22. Head Start Program Performance  Standards, 45 CFR Chapter XIII, RIN 0970-AC63 (§1302.90), https://eclkc.ohs.acf.hhs.gov/hslc/hs/docs/hspss-final.pdf.**[ Return to text ]**
23. Department of Defense Education  Activity, Regulation Number 2051.1 (March 23, 2012), available at http://www.dodea.edu/Offices/Regulations/upload/DoDEA-Regulation-2051_1a.pdf; Center for Effective  Discipline, “Organizations Against Corporal Punishment,” http://www.gundersenhealth.org/ncptc/center-for-effective-discipline/resources/organizations-against-corporal-punishment.**[ Return to text ]**
24. Block, N., “Would you hit  Grandma?” Children’s Legal Rights Journal (1997), 17, 3-4; Jackson v. Bishop,  404 F.2d 571 (1968); Society for Research in Child Development: “Social Policy  Report, Corporal Punishment in U.S. Public Schools: Prevalence, Disparities in  Use, and Status in State and Federal Policy,” volume 30, number 1 (September  2016).**[ Return to text ]**
25. Bitensky, S.H., “Corporal  punishment of children: A human rights violation,” Ardsley, NY: Transnational  Publishers (2006); Society for Research in Child Development: “Social Policy  Report, Corporal Punishment in U.S. Public Schools: Prevalence, Disparities in  Use, and Status in State and Federal Policy,” volume 30, number 1, (September  2016).**[ Return to text ]**
26. Florida's Positive Behavioral  Interventions and Supports (PBIS) State Project, based on 2014-2015 school year  data, is an example of the benefit of PBIS efforts in reducing incidences of  corporal punishment. Non-PBIS implementation districts used corporal punishment  26 times more often than active implementation PBIS districts. For more  information, please visit http://flpbs.fmhi.usf.edu/.**[ Return to text ]**
27. For more information on positive  behavioral interventions and supports, please visit www.pbis.org.**[ Return to text ]**
28. Fronius, T., et al., “Restorative  Justice in U.S. Schools: A Research Review,” (2016), available at: http://jprc.wested.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/RJ_Literature-Review_20160217.pdf.**[ Return to text ]**
29. The Department’s “Rethink  Discipline” page is an online tool that contains data, graphics, and other  information on the prevalence, impact, and legal implications of suspensions  and expulsions; resources on effective alternatives; and ways to effectively  create positive school climates. For more information on this and the  Department’s school discipline guidance package, please visit www.ed.gov/school-discipline.**[ Return to text ]**