Youth United for Change and Advancement Project Release Report on Shocking Effects of Zero Tolerance School Discipline in Philadelphia Schools
Report Reveals Alarming Data and Vivid Student Testimonials Describing the Effects of These Harsh Disciplinary Practices
January 13, 2011
Anand Jahi, Youth United for Change, 267-970-3608, anand@yucyouth.org
Youth United for Change, a Philadelphia-based youth organization, and Advancement Project, a national civil rights organization, released a report at City Hall today criticizing zero tolerance in Philadelphia schools as a failed policy that makes city schools less safe, criminalizes or pushes out of school tens of thousands of students every year, and creates a School-to-Prison Pipeline.
“Every day students are being unnecessarily suspended out-of-school, transferred to disciplinary schools, expelled, and arrested,” said Tone Elliott, Youth United for Change member. “Most of the time it is for minor things that do not require such harsh responses.”
According to the report, Zero Tolerance in Philadelphia: Denying Educational Opportunities and Creating a Pathway to Prison, the School District of Philadelphia has become an outlier nationally, as it utilizes more severe disciplinary practices while similar districts have recognized the devastating impact of these practices and moved away from them. “Philadelphia is moving in the exact opposite direction that it should be,” said Jim Freeman, Senior Attorney at Advancement Project. “Instead of implementing practices that address student needs and create safe and effective schools, Philadelphia’s approach to school discipline is driving down graduation rates and academic achievement while depriving students of their educational opportunities.”
The report gives numerous examples of students who have been negatively affected by zero tolerance, including a six-year-old expelled for innocently patting his teacher’s leg. Student testimonials also describe the impact of Philadelphia’s extremely large school police and security force, which has fundamentally changed the student experience within many schools, contributing to a culture of violence and aggression. Numerous students described incidents of brutality against students, and female students are quoted describing their experiences with intrusive and degrading pat-downs and searches from police and security officers, including male officers.
“Students feel like they are constantly being watched and harassed by police and security, which turns schools into hostile environments where it is very difficult to learn,” said Brittney White, Youth United for Change member. “We are being treated like criminals in our own schools.” To demonstrate the effects of these policies and practices on students, Youth United for Change members dressed as security officers and adults at City Hall pass through replica metal detectors.
The report exposes the enormous effect zero tolerance is having not just on the lives of students and their families, but on the community overall. It also describes the economic impact of zero tolerance, which costs the city tens of millions of dollars a year while student support services go relatively under-funded. “This report tells a disturbing story about what is happening in Philadelphia schools,” said State Representative Tony Payton. “We must take this seriously, because it has major implications for what our neighborhoods look like, where our tax dollars go, and how safe and prosperous Philadelphia will be in the future.”
The report urges local and federal policymakers to implement alternatives to zero tolerance that have been proven effective in improving both school safety and academic performance. It recommends that stakeholders be brought together to develop policies and strategies that will limit the use of severe punishments to conduct that poses a serious threat to school safety, implement alternatives to zero tolerance and referrals to law enforcement, and eliminate racial disparities in discipline.
Among the most startling findings in the report are the following:
- Philadelphia’s arrest rate was up to 25 times higher than some of the other large districts in the state. In fact, one single high school in Philadelphia had more arrests in 2008-09 than 17 of the other 19 largest school districts in the state.
- According to the data, Philadelphia schools are punishing the same behavior far more harshly than it did just a few years ago, and also appear to be criminalizing its students far more often than other Pennsylvania school districts for the same behaviors.
- Philadelphia’s school security force is almost three times larger than that of the 19 other districts combined, despite a far lower student enrollment.
- The number of expulsions has skyrocketed in recent years, and nearly all of the students expelled in 2008-09 were between the ages of 8 and 14, with the most common ages of the expelled students being 11 and 12.
- Black and Latino students are far more likely to be suspended, transferred to alternative schools, and arrested than White students, and the data suggests that students of color are being punished more harshly than their peers for the same behavior.
- There are strong negative relationships between the use of exclusionary discipline and both graduation rates and academic achievement rates, meaning that schools with high suspension and arrest rates are far more likely to have low graduation rates and low achievement levels.
- Charter schools in Philadelphia appear to have disciplinary practices that are as harsh, or even harsher, than traditional public schools.
The report can be accessed at www.youthunitedforchange.com and www.advancementproject.org.
Associated Publication
- Zero Tolerance in Philadelphia: Denying Educational Opportunities and Creating a Pathway to Prison January 13, 2011
Filed under Quality Education, Schoolhouse to Jailhouse
