Research

Exert: The 2013 National School Climate Survey(pdf) is GLSEN's 8th biennial report on the school experiences of LGBT youth in schools, including the in-school resources that support LGBT students’ well-being, the extent of the challenges that they face ...

Exert from publication: A mid-sized urban district in the Northeast and Islands Region formulated and implemented a new discipline policy using data and research. To do so, the district examined a national report on districtwide suspension rates, co ...

"In considering different strategies for promoting productive and safe school environments, it can be difficult to know what works and what doesn’t. In particular, longstanding debates about zero tolerance policies leave many people confused about the bas ...

There has been a growing interest in placing sworn law enforcement officers in schools as School Resource Officers (SROs) as a means of improving school safety and improving relations between police officers and youth. However, when this project began in ...

Disparities in the use of school discipline by race, gender, and sexual orientation have been well-documented and continue to place large numbers of students at risk for short- and long-term negative outcomes. In order to improve the state of our knowledg ...

While the extent of and reasons for disciplinary disparities have been well documented for at least the last 40 years, a number of inaccurate assumptions and myths remain popular but lack research support. This fact sheet describes many of the most common ...

Dealing with a child’s traumatic experience is confusing and stressful for parents as well as for the child. They wisely seek help, but the search for help can itself be confusing. How do parents know whether a proposed treatment has a good chance of work ...

In the name of public safety, Black children in Oakland are being arrested at vastly disproportionate rates. This derails their opportunities for educational success while failing to ensure our children’s safety. From Report Card to Criminal Record: The I ...

Exert: Published in 2005, TLPI’s landmark report summarizes research from psychology and neurobiology that documents the impact trauma from exposure to violence can have on children’s learning, behavior and relationships in school. The report also introdu ...

Learning is not just a cognitive process. Research shows that powerful social and emotional factors affect learning. Some of these factors involve social relationships. These social factors include the teacher's relationship with the student, the student' ...

Our nation’s schools should be safe havens for teaching and learning free of crime and violence. Any instance of crime or violence at school not only affects the individuals involved but also may disrupt the educational process and affect bystanders, the ...

The zero tolerance policies that were adopted by many local and state education agencies in the 1990s had the unintended effect of unnecessarily introducing low-risk youth to the juvenile justice system for disruptive behaviors that are very typical of ad ...

The most disadvantaged, troubled students in the South and the nation attend schools in the juvenile justice systems. These children, mostly teenagers, usually are behind in school, possess substantial learning disabilities, exhibit recognizable behavior ...

There has been a growing interest in placing sworn police officers in schools as SROs to improve school safety. However, when this project began in May 2000, little was known about SRO programs (appendix A identifies the principal published and selected u ...

Exert: The ED School Climate Surveys (EDSCLS) are a suite of survey instruments being developed for schools, school districts, and states by the U.S. Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). Through the EDSCLS, scho ...

Since first identified by the Children's Defense Fund nearly 40 years ago, researchers have consistently documented African American disproportionality in a range of exclusionary discipline practices including office disciplinary referrals, suspensions, e ...

This chapter will address the excessive use of suspensions and other disciplinary actions against Black males who are disengaged from school. Academically disengaged students often come to school late, miss assignments, have difficulty understanding schoo ...

Many schools across the United States have enacted zero tolerance philosophy in response to perceived increases in violence and drugs in schools. It is believed that aggressive and unwavering punishment of many school infractions, including relatively min ...

Exert from website: "Restorative justice is an approach to offending behavior that focuses on repairing harm and restoring relationships, rather than just punishing the perpetrator. Schools are increasingly adopting restorative justice to address conce ...

Exert from website: "Restorative justice is an approach to offending behavior that focuses on repairing harm and restoring relationships, rather than just punishing the perpetrator. Schools are increasingly adopting restorative justice to address conc ...

Exert from website: "Restorative Justice Practices in U.S. Schools Restorative justice is an approach to offending behavior that focuses on repairing harm and restoring relationships, rather than just punishing the perpetrator. Schools are increasi ...

The Safe Schools/Healthy Students (SS/HS) Initiative, developed as a collaboration of the U.S. Departments of Education (ED), Health and Human Services (HHS), and Justice (DOJ), strengthens the role of schools as healthy environments that support the acad ...

The report that follows has been supported by a grant from the U.S. Department of Defense. While it draws on research and examples from public schools across America, the issues of school connectedness have special salience for children who have one or b ...

For students and educators to achieve their full potential, safe schools are fundamental. Students who report feeling safe in school are more engaged in class, have higher academic achievement, and have lower rates of absenteeism, truancy, and behavioral ...

Youth courts, also called teen courts or student courts, handle cases involving young people referred by schools, parents, law enforcement, and other criminal justice agencies. Schools are increasingly adopting youth courts to use in place of detention a ...

Provides attorneys, judges and other juvenile justice professionals with up to date information on the short term and long term consequences of juvenile adjudications of delinquency.

Examines research and analysis of the dramatic rise of incarceration rates and its affects. Recommends changes in sentencing policy, prison policy, and social policy to reduce the nation's reliance on incarceration.

Exert from publication: School suspension rates have been rising since the early 1970s, especially for children of color. One body of research has demonstrated that suspension from school is harmful to students, as it increases the risk of retention and s ...

School resource officers (SROs) have become a permanent presence in many K-12 schools throughout the country. As a result, an emerging body of research has focused on SROs, particularly on how SROs are viewed by students, teachers, and the general public. ...

Across Colorado and the country, there is more attention on school discipline issues and the "school-to-prison pipeline" than ever before. The overuse of out-of-school suspensions, expulsions, police tickets, and school-based arrests – particularly for St ...

What is Truancy? Truancy is generally considered any unexcused or unverified absence from school. Because states enact their own school attendance laws, the legal definition of truancy may vary from state to state.

The restraint and seclusion of individuals—practices usually associated with highly restrictive environments—are extreme responses to student behavior used in some public schools (see Box 1). This brief aims to answer important questions about the extent ...

Exert from website: "Restorative Justice Practices in U.S. Schools Restorative justice is an approach to offending behavior that focuses on repairing harm and restoring relationships, rather than just punishing the perpetrator. Schools are increasi ...

Columbine High School, Littleton, Colorado. Heath High School, West Paducah, Kentucky.3 Westside Middle School, Jonesboro, Arkansas. Zero tolerance policies5 were adopted in these schools and around the country in response to tragic school shooting eve ...