The following originally appeared in the Washington Post.
At a time when the underachievement of black boys in the United States can only be described as a national crisis, there is finally some good news. This fall, Baltimore City Schools chief executive Andres Alonso proudly reported that black male teens in his district are staying in school and graduating in higher numbers. The announcement made headlines, and for good reason: It proves that there are successful strategies in approaching this seemingly intractable problem. We urge other cities across the country to learn from Baltimore's creative approach.
So how did they do it? School systems, local philanthropies, not-for-profit groups, government officials and others worked together with the singular goal of improving the academic lives of those who need it most.
With help from community partners such as Open Society Institute-Baltimore, the city's schools adopted a graduated system of consequences and interventions for student misconduct that takes into account the student's age, the type of misbehavior and other factors. It makes suspension a consequence of last resort. Increased funding from the state of Maryland also played an important role, along with the closure of big, failing middle schools and a concerted effort by school leaders to woo dropouts back to the classroom.
We have long known that excessive use of suspension and expulsion results in higher rates of school absence, academic failure and, eventually, quitting school altogether. Evidence also points to suspensions leading to higher incidence of arrests and juvenile detention. Once the commitment was made to address disruptive behavior in school, suspensions in the district were cut in half.
Consider: In the 2003-04 school year, fewer than one out of two black male students graduated. Baltimore schools handed out nearly 26,000 suspensions to a student body of just over 88,000 kids. Two-thirds were to boys and, reflecting the city's population, nearly all were to black students.
Fast forward to the 2009-10 school year: Two out of three black male students graduated, while the District handed out fewer than 10,000 suspensions. Importantly, far fewer were longer than five days. You would be hard pressed to find other urban districts with that kind of progress.
Research has shown that out-of-school suspensions hurt academic progress; are a major factor in students' dropping out; and because they don't teach new behaviors, fail to improve school climates. These findings don't mean that schools should ignore bad behavior. And dangerous behavior by students shouldn't be tolerated. But the data show that most incidents do not fall into that "dangerous" category and that alternatives such as in-school suspension and mediation are much more effective.
Keeping more young people in school means more time for learning. When more learning happens, more students graduate. Black males are no exception to this simple fact.
Judge: D.C. gay-marriage vote would violate Human Rights Act; A Washington, D.C., judge ruled Thursday that the District can ban any referendums on gay marriage under the terms of the District's Human Rights Act. The decision, which will be appealed, is a victory for gay-rights groups.(USA)
The Christian Science Monitor January 14, 2010 | Farrell, Michael B.
Byline: Michael B. Farrell Staff writer Thirty-one states have held referendums on whether or not to ban gay marriage, but a Washington, D.C., judge ruled Thursday that such a vote would violate the Districtaos Human Rights Act.
The ruling upholds a decision by the city's board of elections, which has twice rejected plans by an anti-gay marriage group to hold a referendum on the subject. City council passed an ordinance in December that allowed gay marriage in the District.
Opponents of gay marriage say they will appeal the decision to the D.C. Court of Appeals. The decision fits a pattern of judicial activism, which has interfered with the peopleaos will to ban gay marriage, they say.
For gay-marriage advocates, however, the decision is a significant victory. In all 31 states where gay marriage has been put before voters in a referendum, it has lost. If the judgeaos decision stands, it removes this hurdle for the District.
What's in a Human rights Act?The question of whether voters can overturn gay-marriage laws is central to the federal trial underway in San Francisco. Two same-sex couples are challenging Proposition 8, a voter initiative that trumped the state Supreme Court's ruling that same-sex marriages were legal in the state. The trial, regardless of the final ruling, is expected to be appealed to the US Supreme Court. this web site gay marriage facts
Had gay-marriage opponents been able to hold a Prop. 8-style referendum in D.C., Washington would likely have followed the national trend and banned same-sex marriage, says Brian Brown, executive director of the National Organization for Marriage, an anti-gay marriage group.
Washington is a majority African-American city, and only 26 percent of blacks nationwide support legalized gay marriage, according to an August Pew Research Center survey.
Thursday's ruling centers on Washington's Human Rights Act. The law forbids discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. But many states, including California, Maine, and Wisconsin, have had referendums banning same-sex marriage - despite the fact that they also have laws similar to Washington's. go to web site gay marriage facts
Indeed, in the 1995 case, Dean v. the District of Columbia, the D.C.
Court of Appeals decided that the cityaos Human Rights Act did not protect same-sex marriages. "We cannot conclude that the council ever intended to change the ordinary meaning of the word 'marriage' simply by enacting the Human Rights Act," the court ruled.
The judge's decisionBut in Thursday's ruling, Judge Judith Macaluso said the ground has shifted.
"Since 1995, the [Washington City Council] has changed the landscape Dean surveyed. Indeed, all of the statutory provisions upon which Dean relied have been repealed or amended...," she wrote in her decision.
What's more, wrote Judge Macaluso, the city can prevent a referendum from going forward.
"The fact that the proposed initiative, if passed, would violate the Human Rights Act provides an independent basis for upholding the Boardaos decision: the initiative runs afoul of an implied exclusion barring provisions that violates the stateaos law," she ruled.
Mr. Brown of the National Organization for Marriage says there is growing support in Congress to invalidate the councilaos vote to allow same-sex marriage. But others doubt that enough Democrats will join the effort to overturn the District's gay marriage law.
Without action, the District could begin issuing same-sex marriage licenses in March.
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Farrell, Michael B.
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I am a clinical psychologist and college teacher, now retired and engaged in writing. I am working on a book and have read dozens of articles on value added, merit pay, teacher evaluation, etc. There are important issues never mention: 1) The tremendous sense of entitlement that characterizes students now, 2) grade inlfation, 3) indoctrination by the media of hero worship celebrities which preoccupied students with people irrelevant to their lives, 4) teachers colleges with no standards,5)educ. boards of head of financial corporations instead of educators, the anti-intellectual attitude in America and contempt for teachers. There are more.
Thanks, Harold, for your sharing your insights. Transforming educational outcomes for our children is a complex challenge that requires a multi-level strategy which includes increased teacher support & training, fair and equitable disipline policies, along with community partnerships that support the whole family in the learning process - just to name a few!
Glad to see the emphasis changing from an overly punitive system that does not work in school, or out of it either. Wanted you to know about an evaluation involving 4400 students in discipline settings in 41 schools in the South. In addition to being assigned a software-based behavior training intervention to address specific infractions (talking back, fighting etc), they had the option to privately look up what they thought might be underlying their behavior. More than a third looked up trauma related topics, especially alcoholic parent and beaten, behavior changed and repeat referrals to in school suspension went way down, despite most ever addressing these issues with a counselor. You can see more at www. rippleeffects.com/summary
Thanks so much for responding to the article and alerting us about this report. Will certainly take a look at it.
Even thought the article doesn't go in more detail about the alternative measures from punishment, I think that restorative approaches (based in restorative justice) is where we need to go not only to find out the underlining problems that cause acting up in students, but also to promote a culture of peace in which dis-empowered students find their voice and develop the art of listening. No human being can develop intellectually without a balanced attention to all the aspects of their lives. Circle process is a restorative approach that allows awareness to these aspects.