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Study Finds Suspension Not Positive for Students

A new report reveals harsh discipline in Virginia schools raises a student's risk of dropping out. These findings will be presented to the Virginia Board of Education in Richmond Thursday.

The new report is called "Educate Every Child." It comes from the JustChildren Program of the Legal Aid Justice Center in Charlottesville. The report emphasizes that suspending or expelling a student does not improve the way they act or make schools safer.

The study found in 2010 to 2011 there were about 160,000 suspensions or expulsions in Virginia schools. When students aren't in the classroom, it leads to high teacher turnover and high drop out rates.

The study explains how there are better ways to manage students with behavior problems including expanding the Effective Schoolwide Discipline program or ESD.

JustChildren Legal Director Angela Ciolfi says the ESD program rewards positive behavior in schools, the classroom and among students individually.

"Here locally several of the schools have been implementing innovative approaches to reduce out of school suspensions and have seen substantial reduction in disciplinary referrals while graduation rates have gone up," Ciolfi said.

The JustChildren Program hopes the General Assembly and the Virginia Board of Education will give incentives to schools that adopt alternative methods for handling behavior problems in the classroom.