Momentum Grows Against Zero Tolerance Discipline and High-Stakes Testing
Guest post by Judith Browne Dianis, Rhonda Brownstein, Jessica Feierman, and Monty Neill.
Across the country, resistance is growing against public education's increased dependence on high-stakes standardized testing and on exclusionary discipline, such as suspensions, expulsions, and school-based arrests. Whether from grassroots demonstrations, test boycott and opt-out campaigns, school board resolutions, or Congressional hearings on discipline, the message is the same: "Enough is enough!"
Parents, students, teachers and communities increasingly recognize what the research community has already established: overreliance on exclusionary discipline and high-stakes testing does not improve achievement or make schools safer. Instead, these practices damage opportunities to learn, particularly for our most vulnerable youth. The two policies are intertwined, with both havingdramatically intensified in the NCLB era. State and federal governments must overhaul both to ensure that all children can succeed in a high-quality learning environment.
Truly outrageous cases related to discipline and testing often garner public attention. Six-year-old Christian, permanently expelled for "inappropriately touching" his kindergarten teacher; fifteen year-old Damien, expelled for a first offense of possessing a cell phone; sixteen-year-old Roger,