A number of states are pursuing legislation that would allow instructors to expel misbehaving children from the classroom more forcefully, but some experts in education warn that this could have unfavorable effects on the pupils.
Following a pandemic-era spike in student misconduct, the Alabama state house enacted legislation last month creating new guidelines for removing pupils from classrooms, joining a number of other states that have gone toward more severe tactics.
The Teachers Bill of Rights, or SB157, is currently awaiting Governor Kay Ivey’s signature after passing the Alabama legislature. It will become operative this next school year after it is signed.
Before the Act, administrators handled suspensions and other removals rather than the instructors themselves.
Several states, including West Virginia and Virginia, have approved or introduced laws permitting teachers to remove pupils from the classroom who they believe to be disruptive throughout the past year. These laws are comparable to the one that Alabama has.
According to data conducted by Arizona State University’s Children’s Equity Project, at least 40 states permitted exclusion for rebellious or disruptive behavior in 2023.
Concerns about the fact that removing pupils from class as a form of discipline fails to address the underlying causes of disruptive conduct, fuels the school-to-prison pipeline, and has historically disproportionately affected Black students have been expressed by a number of education experts.
Richard Welsh, an associate professor of education and public policy at Vanderbilt University, told NewsNation that “what’s going on in Alabama is really par for the course with what a lot of states have been doing in the aftermath of the pandemic in terms of getting more punitive in their policies and providing more discretion to teachers in the name of protecting teachers.”
Teachers at a ‘breaking point’
The largest teacher’s organization in the state, the Alabama Education Association, had a major role in pushing the law. Similar to other states, the union claimed that insufficient action by school administrators had resulted in students abusing both verbally and physically in the classroom due to disruptions.
According to the Alabama Reflector, member instructors informed lawmakers that they were “at a breaking point” and that disruptive pupils had “lost valuable instructional time.”
The outlet claims that a student who resigned because of authorities’ inaction violently hurt one teacher in the classroom.
A instructor told lawmakers, “I could give you dozens of stories just like this one.”
NewsNation made several requests for comment from the Alabama Education Association, but they never responded.
The landscape of exclusionary policies
The analysis discovered that 41 states passed 151 discipline-related measures between 2019 and 2022.
According to many education experts who spoke with NewsNation, several states have tried to repeal or pull back restorative justice laws in favor of harsher punitive legislation.
Schools around the country have reported an increase in disruptive behavior in the classroom since the outbreak, leaving them unsure of how to handle the pupils.
According to Rachel M. Perera, a fellow at the Brown Center on Education Policy at Brookings Institute, “students struggled coming back to schools and they missed a lot of key in-person time where they learned socializing aspects of school, how to be in school, how to sit still in seats, and how to tolerate frustration.”
Teachers faced a “perfect storm” at the same time since they had little resources, insufficient training, and no assistance to deal with these new difficulties, according to her.
However, several states have made the opposite decision.
Brittney Alexander, an assistant professor at Arizona State University and co-author of the report, added that more states have permitted or suggested more restorative approaches, like counseling, positive behavioral interventions, and social and emotional learning interventions.
What are the implications of these punitive policies?
Although it might seem like a quick fix for a teacher to get rid of a disruptive kid, extensive research has revealed that using exclusionary discipline repeatedly has a number of detrimental effects.
According to Perera, exclusionary discipline raises the possibility of academic failure, lowers graduation rates, and lower attendance—all of which can contribute to the school-to-prison pipeline.
“I think that many of the behavioral problems are caused by children falling behind in their academic work, and this will only exacerbate those problems,” she continued.
According to Welsh, another significant consideration is that these judgments may be wholly subjective, meaning that a teacher’s subjectivity will influence who they consider to be disruptive.
According to the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights’ most recent data, which looked at the 2017–18 school year, students with disabilities made up roughly 13% of all K–12 enrolled students, but they also accounted for roughly 25% of all in-school suspensions and 23% of all expulsions.
Similar inequalities have also been repeatedly confirmed by the federal data; in 2017–18, Black kids made up 15% of the enrolled pupils in public schools, but they received roughly 40% of the suspensions and expulsions. According to other studies, Black pupils receive worse punishment for the same transgressions than their counterparts.
Experts contend that harsher laws, which have historically been imposed unfairly based on a person’s ethnicity and aptitude, will only serve to exacerbate these tendencies.
“More safeguards and support for teachers are needed rather than giving them more freedom to kick students out of the classroom, as the research indicates that this kind of one-way discretion is a pathway for bias in disciplinary decisions,” Welsh stated.
According to Perera, giving teachers harsh punishment won’t address the underlying problem even though they do need more tools, resources, and support.
“Those children won’t stop being disruptive until someone—a school counselor, parent, or leader—addresses the underlying problem.”
Joeal Bright is a committed journalist at WVPrepBB.com, focusing on USA and crime news. With a knack for in-depth reporting and a dedication to delivering accurate and timely information, Joeal keeps readers informed about crucial national events and crime stories. His work on WVPrepBB.com is essential for those seeking comprehensive coverage and insightful analysis of current events in the United States.
