Expulsion refers to a permanent removal of a student from his or her regular educational setting due to a violation of serious schools rules or policies. The length and reason for expulsion vary by state and school district. Before a student can be expelled, a school board will hold a hearing to decide whether a student should be expelled for their violation. Each school board can decide its own process, but must provide the student and their family with a copy of the procedures and information on the process.
The U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights defines two types of expulsions:
Expulsion with educational services:
“An action taken by the local educational agency removing a child from his/her regular school for disciplinary purposes, with the continuation of educational services, for the remainder of the school year or longer in accordance with local educational agency policy. Expulsion with educational services also includes removals resulting from violations of the Gun Free Schools Act that are modified to less than 365 days.”
Expulsion without educational services:
“An action taken by the local educational agency removing a child from his/her regular school for disciplinary purposes, with the cessation of educational services, for the remainder of the school year or longer in accordance with local educational agency policy. Expulsion without services also includes removals resulting from violations of the Gun Free Schools Act that are modified to less than 365 days.”
The March 2014 issue brief highlights school discipline, restraint and seclusion data from school districts across the country.
The paper examines how factors such as infractions and school characteristics contribute to racial disparities in out-of-school suspension and expulsion. The research suggest that school-level variables, appear to be among the strongest predictors to suspension or expulsion; and that schools and districts looking to reduce these racial and ethnic disparities in discipline should focus on school-and classroom-based interventions.
Drawing upon one year of middle-school disciplinary data for an urban school district, researchers explored three of the most commonly offered hypotheses for disproportionate discipline: gender, race, and socioeconomic status.
This NASSP Principal’s Research Review, looks at strategies for improving educational equity. With racial and economic disparities still an everyday reality throughout our education system, this brief suggests steps educational leaders can take to authentically and successfully confront the situations in schools that cause inequities.
Produced for the Departments of Education and Justice, and vetted by the White House and 26 National Associations, this Action Guide provides practical steps schools can take to design and implement school safety plans to reduce violence in our schools and help children get access to services they need. This guide stresses the importance of a three-stage, comprehensive model that includes prevention, early intervention and intensive services to address school safety issues.
In this report, EDC conducted a review and analysis of California schools’ current approaches to and promising practices for reducing suspensions and expulsions. Using the findings of the year-long review and analysis, EDC developed a set of eight recommendations for policymakers and practitioners.
This guidance document has been created to support schools towards identifying more effective, evidence-based methods of behavior management and school discipline for all students.
This Toolkit is a step-by-step guide that includes ready-to-use documents, sample discipline policies, and information about alternative approaches to school discipline that have proved effect in reducing suspension and expulsion rates in California.
Wisconsin school districts are implementing strategies to address student discipline in ways that are achieving positive results. The document highlights examples of school districts that are providing a safe and supportive learning environment for all students, and at the same time minimizing the number of expulsions.
This summary of state policies highlights legislation that promotes student growth through positive school discipline reform models. The state strategies are organized into four categories to identify thematic policy trends to address the out-of-school suspension crisis: stopping suspensions & promoting alternatives, improving data collection & reporting, building the capacity of students, teachers & principals, and pushing comprehensive approaches.
The paper highlights the Los Angeles Unified School District who began requiring schools to implement schoolwide positive behavior interventions and support programs in 2007 as an alternative to the existing disciplinary framework of suspensions and expulsions. Two years later, in the 2010–2011 school year, suspensions had reduced to a single one.
Do We Need to Use Seclusion and Restraint in Our Schools?
Exclusionary School Discipline
