Impact of
Discipline Changes on Minority Students
Minority Children With Disabilities Will Be
Harmed In Disproportionate Numbers if IDEA's Discipline
Safeguards Are Reduced or Eliminated.
by the Harvard Civil Rights Project
For more articles like this
visit
https://www.bridges4kids.org.
Fueled by the "Zero Tolerance" movement's embrace of harsh and
swift punishment for even minor misbehavior, some in Congress
have called for amending the Individuals with Disabilities
Education Act (IDEA) (likely this spring) to reduce or eliminate
critical due process requirements. Under current law - in
response to unwarranted removals from school, and a general
pattern of denying access to educational opportunity - students
with disabilities have protection from unjust disciplinary
removal and denial of educational opportunities. The evidence on
school discipline, school violence and racial disproportionality
suggests that these protections are especially important for
children of color who are disciplined at much higher rates than
non-minority children. There are areas where we should be
discussing how IDEA can be strengthened and improved upon, but
taking away the due process rights of children with disabilities
should not be part of that discussion.
Among children with disabilities, Latino, Native American, and
African American children are substantially more likely than
whites to be suspended, removed by school personnel, or removed
by a hearing officer. For example, according to national OSEP
data from the 1999-2000 academic year, African American students
with disabilities are more than three times as likely as Whites
to be given short-term suspensions. Racial disparities are
nearly as great for long-term suspensions with both American
Indians (2.72 times) and African Americans (2.6 times) more
likely to be removed for more than ten days. Moreover, African
American, Latino, and American Indian children with disabilities
are each 67% more likely than Whites to be removed on grounds of
dangerousness by a hearing officer.
There is currently a hole in the safety net - not a double
standard. Many advocates have sought, unsuccessfully, to provide
greater due process protections to all students regardless of
disability status. The failure to extend this safety net to all
children represents a political compromise, not a double
standard.
Removing services will exacerbate the already high drop out rate
for students with disabilities. Research indicates that students
who are suspended or expelled are at greater risk of dropping
out, regardless of disability status. Minority students with
disabilities already have higher dropout rates than non-minority
students. Disruptions in academic programs and relationships
with caring adults are often more problematic for students with
disabilities than for their non-disabled peers. Therefore school
removal, which would likely increase if due process protections
are diminished, will likely have severe long-term repercussions
and disproportionately harm children of color with disabilities.
We need more teacher training in classroom management, not
reduced safeguards for children with disabilities. We know from
research that many teachers are not adequately trained in
managing a classroom, and even less likely to be trained to work
with students with emotional or behavioral disorders. Providing
teachers with the training and support they need would go much
further toward creating a safe and productive learning
environment than laying down a fast track for removing students
with disabilities.
For more information, go to
www.civilrightsproject.harvard.edu.
|