The UCLA Civil Rights Project faulted many charter schools for harsh disciplinary policies towards black students and students with disabilities. These practices, the study concluded, contribute to the school-to-prison pipeline. The new study is called Charter Schools, Civil Rights, and School Discipline: A Comprehensive Review.
The comprehensive analysis by the Center for Civil Rights Remedies at the UCLA Civil Rights Project identified 374 charter schools across the country that had suspended 25% or more of their entire student body during the course of the 2011-12 academic year. The comprehensive review also revealed:
Nearly half of all black secondary charter school students attended one of the 270 charter schools that was hyper-segregated (80% black) and where the aggregate black suspension rate was 25%.
More than 500 charter schools suspended black charter students at a rate that was at least 10 percentage points higher than that of white charter students.
Even more disconcerting, 1,093 charter schools suspended students with disabilities at a rate that was 10 or more percentage points higher than that of students without disabilities.
Perhaps most alarming, 235 charter schools suspended more than 50% of their enrolled students with disabilities.* (*This count includes schools with at least 50 students enrolled and excludes alternative schools, schools identified as part of the juvenile justice system, virtual schools and schools that enrolled fewer than 10 students with disabilities. Any school where rounding of the data or another error produced a suspension rate of more than 100% for a subgroup also was excluded.)
“It’s disturbing to see so many of these schools still reporting such high suspension rates because that indicates charter leaders continue to pursue ‘broken windows,’ ‘no excuses’ and other forms of ‘zero tolerance’ discipline,” said Daniel Losen, the Center’s director and the study’s lead author. “And we know from decades of research that frequently suspending children from school is counter-productive.”
Diane Ravitch's blog 
It’s obvious that these corporate charter schools are using harsh discipline and fear tactics to control these students with the goal that this will overcome whatever the resistance is to learning — even if it is a severe learning disability — through the use of military style boot camp discipline and fear. After all, it works in the U.S. Marines and for Special Forces, right?
One thing these corporate frauds and fools haven’t taken into consideration is that in the U.S. military everyone is a volunteer and joining up to serve the country is not mandatory. In addition, the odds are against any young volunteers age 18 or over who want to volunteer for the U.S. military if they show up with a severe learnign disability that can’t be easily overcome with that boot camp discipline. And just like these gulag style corporate Charter schools that are out to make profits no matter what they have to do to cut corners, want-to-be military recruits will be rejected and sent home.
I don’t see much difference between corporate charters and military boot camps. The only difference is the military boot camps don’t make profits from those recruits until after the troops have been trained and sent off to fight in one of America’s endless wars that profits the largest weapons industry in the world.
I find it interesting that the U.S. is #1 in these three industries:
1. weapons industry
2. pornography production
3. the number of Americans locked up in prisons
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The good old American way, guns, sex and blame the black guy for everything.
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I wish we could stop using euphemisms and say what we mean. This study finds that charter schools *punish* black kids and kids with disabilities, not “discipline”. “Discipline” means teaching. All these schools teach black kids and kids with disabilities is that you’d better act “normal” (“white”) or you’re going to be punished.
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So the Dept of Education and the Justice Dept has known for years that this type of disparate treatment is done to blacks in public schools and that blacks and disabled students are discriminated against in charters. What are they doing about it? Nothing. Why aren’t they sueing charters or public school districts for these violations of civil rights? Obama ignored it, what about you Hilary, Bernie?
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With all due respect, Obama and the Justice Dept have perpetuated this. Welcome to neoliberalism – and you’ll get more of the same from all “centrists” that call themselves progressives.
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I agree. Teaching styles must incorporate differences to reach differing groups of students.
This becomes tricky when teaching multicultural groups. You incorporate many strategies of educating, not disciplining, so everyone is engaged. One must also recognize that just because you seem to have “control” does not mean learning is happening.
In addition, systems must be in place on campus to handle students who are disrupting the education of others (deans, counseling, alternative settings, special classes).
One caveat: I feel looking at numbers is silly. Why are suspensions taking place? Are the suspensions for uniform behaviors among all students? Why wouldn’t so called discipline numbers be different between groups when one group is treated differently in every setting and students react to issues in their lives?
The real question is what and how do you teach to breach the gap between student need and social expectation?
In 44 years I met only one student who was frightening and probably unreachable. Many were obnoxious, uncooperative, and disruptive. I wasn’t always successful; however, when I wasn’t some other teacher was and vise versa.
You can not fill every position with Superman (Batman, Spiderman, Ironman, Cat Woman, Wonder Woman, etc.). There are not that many.
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Isn’t this standard operating procedure for all US schools?
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No, not at all.
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FYI
Click to access CRDC%20School%20Discipline%20Snapshot.pdf
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I still think they’re going to have to address the parents who want this done. There are a large group of parents where I live who want kids removed for bad behavior. It is a constant balancing act. Some of the people who send their kids to the Catholic school here specifically say they choose the school because they expel certain children and send them back to public school. It is promoted as a plus. If no one is honestly looking at the appeal of “exclusivity” and the battle between the rights of “my child” and the rights of “your child” they are not facing reality. Once again we are laying an entire set of community issues on public schools and saying “good luck solving that!”
You know who else wants expulsions besides certain schools? Certain parents. That’s the truth.
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Hi . Chiara .
Sound ease and I really apriciate your sugestion , but believe me is not easy fight thouse companies , my son was abused fisical and emotionally in harsh way as my daughter , and others girls are victim of sex-arrasment and I spend my last penny in Lawyers , private detective . I have the prove of all this crimes , doctors letters , my son tryed to hurt him self . I have letter. More prove as they have employees with criminal records as one of the coaches who atack my son . 2 persons , 2 coach/ 1 teachers and the principal intimidated my son and they have to much CONECTION with political figures very corrupts .
What else I can do ?
The Chater Shool clouse an Pubkic park , I mean they kick out parents from Pubkic parks , taxpayer trespas warning to a Pubkic park?
They do that and FDLE , intake , city police they are under side .
My son was interrogated with the principal and a ladie send from children investigate crimes at that Chater School and they never inform us a such incident is complete ilegal interrogated my son with mental disability and minor with parents concern and they did they ignored our petition to provide records of that interrogation as the principal ldid not provide trachers qualifications to us .
This is very frustrated . To many Evil enemy and I firing by my self. I won’t quit but ether guarantee I die hart . What else I can do ? Die fitting .
Thanks
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The NAACP and Obama should get a copy of this report. Both have been on the charter bandwagon in the misguided belief that charters provide superior opportunity to children of color. Perhaps this notion would fade if they considered the facts. Many public urban public schools that have such a bad reputation have suffered from chronic under funding because we mostly fund schools through real estate taxes. The unfair allocation of resources is the civil rights issue of our times rather than the schools themselves.
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Obama has never been open to facts. He’s on the charter bandwagon because of the billionaires and corporations who are going to feather his next about 10 months from now.
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As someone who works in a school like this you are missing a LOT. Get in the classroom sometime and you’ll see “disparate” behaviors between different sets of students. This apparently isn’t the “politically correct” feel good thing to hear but it’s the truth.
The subgroups you mentioned also have increasingly broken homes and those students come to schools lacking many of the fundamentals of getting along in society. They can be not only disruptive but rob their peers of the education THEY deserve. Instead of wringing your hands that educators are doling out unequal punishment maybe look a bit deeper into the issue than .000001 millimeters and try to understand it.
The teachers want to help these kids for the most part and allowing bad behaviors (swearing, fighting, tardies, etc.) and bad habits invites a chaotic school and a child that isn’t ready for the real world. Society isn’t going to seek to understand them, it’s up to these kids to make their way in the world and for teachers to not only be struggling to do this but called racist over it is absolutely lazy and disgusting.
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Some one should tell comrade Stalin.
Workers of the world unite!!!
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How to avoid responsibility.
Unless a state law explicitly exempts charter schools, ESSA makes it clear that charters are expected to comply fully with the requirements of the new law.
I have not read the full report, but this may be another study worth doing:
Which states, if any, exempt charter schools from the new law.
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