The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights recently invited an IU School of Education faculty member to speak at a hearing on zero-tolerance approaches to school discipline. The Rev. Jesse Jackson asked the commission to hold the hearing in response to the Decatur, Ill., controversy in which seven black students were expelled for a high school football game brawl. For the past five years, Skiba has conducted research on school discipline that has raised serious concerns about the fairness and effectiveness of zero-tolerance policies such as expulsion. He pointed out that research has consistently shown that black students are over-represented in cases of suspension and expulsion, and that there is little research support for such methods in combating school violence. Skiba noted that the quick-fix approach represented by zero tolerance fails to instruct students properly in appropriate alternatives to violence and disruption.
Punishment decreases behavior.
Hoosier children at hundreds of schools are benefiting from a statewide reading and literacy grant program implemented in 1997, the Indiana Education Policy Center recently confirmed. The center surveyed funded schools as well as a group of schools that had not received funding from the program. These findings are documented in two recent research reports by the center. In addition, the center has completed a pair of resource guides to help schools plan for improving early reading programs. Part of the IU School of Education, the Indiana Education Policy Center is a nonpartisan organization that provides research-based information on education issues to legislators, state board members, Indiana Department of Education officials, district administrators, principals and teachers.