Climate Change: Creating safe, supportive schools for all students

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June 2015 CLIMATE CHANGE CREATING SAFE, SUPPORTIVE SCHOOLS FOR ALL STUDENTS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

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Schools must create welcoming environments in which all students are supported, respected, and engaged in learning. Unfortunately, in too many of our schools this is not always the case. In this executive summary, members of the Educators 4 Excellence-New York Teacher Policy Team on School Climate and Student Discipline are recommending the following policies to encourage positive school culture through a combination of support, innovation, accountability, and transparency.

Transcript of Climate Change: Creating safe, supportive schools for all students

  • June 2015

    CLIMATECHANGECREATING SAFE, SUPPORTIVE SCHOOLS

    FOR ALL STUDENTS

    EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

  • Schools must create welcoming environments in which all students are supported, respected, and engaged in learning. Unfortunately, in too many of our schools this is not always the case. As educators, we know that overly punitive discipline policies that suspend students take learning time away from those who need it the most, while harming school culture. Research and experience demonstrate that safe, welcoming school communities are best equipped to drive students academic success. Many New York City schools offer exactly that, but unfortunately others do not. Last school year, there were 53,504 suspensions in city schools, a number disproportionately composed of black students and students with disabilities. Moreover, our survey of teachers found that many identified student discipline as a significant issue facing their schools; the vast majority also said that they knew of teachers who had left the profession because of issues related to school climate.

    As educators, we recommend the following policies to encourage positive school culture through a combination of support, innovation, accountability, and transparency. We believe that these policieswhich are targeted at the

    district level, but include multiple state recommendations as wellwill strengthen our schools, support our students, reduce reliance on punitive policies, and accelerate academic achievement.

    EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

    Total Student Suspensions by Year in New York City Public Schools

    9900 0102 0304 0506 0708 0910 1112 13140001 0203 0405 0607 0809 1011 1213

    80,000

    20,000

    40,000

    Num

    ber of suspens

    ions

    School year

    60,000

    Total Student Suspensions by Year in New York City Public Schools

    19992000

    201314

    80,000

    20,000

    40,000

    60,000

    Source: http://www.nyclu.org/files/ssa_suspension_factsheet_2013-2014_edit.pdf

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  • Suspensions are pushing our students away, when we need to be pulling them in.

    Chris Baribault, Dean of students, P.S./M.S. 043EXECUTIVE SUMMARYDISTRICT RECOMMENDATIONS

    SUPPORT FOR SCHOOLS

    Establish and study a Restorative Justice pilot program

    in a significant number of schools. This innovative approachwhich emphasizes collaboration, community, and non-punitive methods of disciplineshould be invested in, studied, and, if effective, expanded.

    Expand and disseminate a menu of options and an

    online toolkit for school-wide culture systems that

    include Positive Behavior Intervention and Support

    (PBIS), Restorative Justice, and other non-punitive

    approaches. Teachers in our survey want more support in using systematic approaches to improving school culture. The NYC DOE has already created an excellent PBIS toolkit and should continue to expand this approach by offering support for the use of other school-wide systems.

    Create a school-based tracking system for student

    removals from the classroom broken down by teacher

    and linked to observation reports to support the use

    of school-based climate data. This tool will help teachers and administrators find areas of strength and growth, ensure data is driving improvement, identify students who are persistently struggling, and lead to support for struggling teachers and recognition of successful ones. This system should be used as a tool for continuous support and growth, and not as a formal part of teachers summative evaluations.

    Require schools to include a school culture goal on

    their Comprehensive Educational Plan (CEP). Created by the School Leadership Teams, CEPs not only help leadership set a vision and hold themselves accountable, they also serve as a public declaration of a schools priorities, which should always include school climate-related goals.

    I know teachers who have left the profession because of student discipline issues.

    Student discipline is a challenging issue

    at my school.of E4ENew York teachers agree

    or strongly agree

    65%

    of E4ENew York teachers agree

    or strongly agree

    75%I know teachers who have left the profession because of student discipline issues.

    Student discipline is a challenging issue

    at my school.of E4ENew York teachers agree

    or strongly agree

    65%

    of E4ENew York teachers agree

    or strongly agree

    75%

    Source: E4E-New York internal survey of members; n=212

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  • SUPPORT FOR TEACHERS

    Expand trainings in Restorative Justice and PBIS

    practices, de-escalation, adolescent growth and

    development, and other areas that support positive

    school culture and non-punitive approaches to

    discipline. Teachers need strong professional development that goes beyond traditional classroom management techniques and focuses on authentic culture building and methods for reducing punitive discipline approaches.

    Create, expand, and fund teacher career ladders

    dedicated to establishing non-punitive discipline

    models and positive school cultures. Every school has teachers with knowledge and expertise in building school community. Schools should have the opportunity to formalize a diverse set of positions in which teachers can support colleagues and students in strengthening the communitys climate.

    Prioritize additional training for evaluators and

    mentors on giving specific feedback on positive

    classroom culture building and management

    techniques. It is crucial that teacher evaluation supports educators in improving their practice, particularly in the area of classroom culture and management. To do this, evaluators need targeted training in helping teachers

    improve in creating respectful learning environments and managing student behavior (i.e., Danielson Framework components 2(a) and 2(d)). Such training for evaluators is already happening and there needs to be a continued focus on this, particularly in the Danielson components we have identified.

    Create a classroom management, school climate, and

    de-escalation framework that is shared with teacher

    preparation programs. In our survey of teachers, very few agreed that their teacher preparation program successfully equipped them to manage a classroom. A base framework of skills and knowledge that all New York City teachers should have would help teacher training programs better prepare prospective educators for the rigors of the classroom.

    Provide effective and highly effective teachers

    who work at Alternative Learning Centers (ALCs) a

    differential of $7,500. Students suspended out of school attend ALCs. It is crucial that they receive high-quality instruction, and research suggests that rewarding top-notch educators who work in challenging schools will help improve student achievement.

    SUPPORT FOR STUDENTS

    Establish a minimum school counselor to student ratio

    of 250:1. There are too few counselors in New York City schools. A large body of research shows that this is a worthwhile investmentone that the DOE should make as soon as possible.

    For suspensions lasting more than five days, require

    that students reintegration process include a re-entry

    interview during which an academic and social-

    emotional plan are created. Too often students return from suspensions only to continue with the same behavior that got them suspended in the first place. A formalized re-entry process with input from students and their families will help avoid this problem, while holding the school and student mutually accountable for following the agreed-upon plan.

    Eliminate the principals suspension as a possible

    consequence for a first offense of insubordination

    (referred to as A22 or B21 in the discipline code)

    and require multiple, documented guidance

    interventions, as defined by the discipline code, before

    a suspension for A22/B21 can be issued. Students must be protected from unfair or arbitrary suspensions. In cases where students are disrupting the learning environment a real and important problemsuspensions should be the last resort, as they are generally ineffective. Suspensions for insubordination should not be eliminated altogether, but there should be strong incentives in place to avoid them and focus on methods that keep students in school.

    Create a clear process for removing metal detectors

    in schools by requiring school leadership to actively

    choose to keep metal detectors every two years.

    Students who pass through metal detectors each day face excessive interaction with law enforcement and the process can harm school culture. When there is a genuine threat to safety, metal detectors should be in place, but they should not remain in schools indefinitely, absent a clear reason.

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  • TRANSPARENCY AND ACCOUNTABILITY

    Feature disaggregated suspension and school climate

    data on school report cards. A schools environment is a crucial aspect of its quality, so data on this point should be featured prominently on school report cards. This will help parents make informed choices and help schools grow, as research suggests that report cards can help drive improvement in struggling schools.

    Require schools struggling with climate issues to

    establish and use a school-wide system for improving

    culture. A small number of schools disproportionately struggle with school climate, and it is critical that these

    schools take a more systemic approach, rather than simply leaving teachers on their own. Los Angeles recently required schools to implement PBIS and created a portal for parents to report violations of this policy. This approach appeared to reduce school suspensions in Los Angeles, and we recommend New York City pursue a similar method.

    Institute school report cards and quality reviews for

    ALCs. There is very little public information about ALCs. Suspended students need and deserve high-quality instruction, and there should be transparency and accountability for their schools.

    STATE RECOMMENDATIONSCreate a competitive grant program to incentivize

    schools and districts to use innovative approaches to

    school climate. There is too little innovation in the area of school climate. We do not think that is because teachers lack ideasbut we do often lack the space, time, and resources to try something novel. A competitive grant program will help solve this by incentivizing the creation of new models, while also drawing attention to what works.

    Require the public release of school-level climate

    data disaggregated by demographics and infractions,

    including rates of suspensions, number of students

    suspended, and frequency of school arrests. Public education must be publicly accountable and transparent. The state should share data from all public schools

    including public charter schoolson suspensions, arrests, discipline incidents, etc. Doing so will help focus attention on schools that are succeeding and those that need additional support.

    Require teacher preparation programs to survey

    graduates on how well they were prepared for the

    classroom and publicly release the results. Too few teachers are prepared from day one, particularly for the challenges of building positive classroom and school culture. Requiring preparation programs to share their graduates perspectives on how well they were trained will help spur needed innovation and improvement in the field, while holding ineffective programs publicly accountable.

    New York City students and teachers deserve schools that are safe, supportive,

    non-exclusionary, and conducive to learning. We know that this is possible with

    a combination of support and resources, transparency and accountability, and

    innovation and study.

    CONCLUSION

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  • This report, graphics, and figures were designed by Kristin Girvin Redman and Tracy Harris at Cricket Design Works in Madison, Wisconsin.

    The text face is Bembo Regular, designed by Stanley Morison in 1929. The typefaces used for headers, subheaders, figures, and pull quotes are Futura Bold, designed by Paul Renner, and Vitesse, designed by Hoefler & Co.

    THE 2015 EDUCATORS 4 EXCELLENCENEW YORK TEACHER POLICY TEAM ON STUDENT DISCIPLINE AND SCHOOL CLIMATEPaul Asjes

    Math teacher, School of Performing Arts

    Chris Baribault

    Dean of students, P.S./M.S. 043

    Caitlin Biello

    Special education and global history teacher,

    Kappa International High School

    Dr. Nancy M. Camacho

    Librarian, Readers Theater instructor, and mentor teacher, P.S. 396

    Mara Dajevskis

    Social studies teacher, P.S. 089 Elmhurst

    Cole Farnum

    Instructional leader and middle school math teacher,

    Williamsburg Collegiate Charter School

    Maura Henry

    ESL teacher, The Young Womens Leadership School of Astoria

    Melissa Kaminski

    Special education teacher, Baychester Middle School

    Jennifer Knizeski

    Second grade teacher, P.S. X176, District 75

    Seth Kritzman

    School counselor, Lower Manhattan Community Middle School

    Cameron Maxwell

    Humanities teacher, Isaac Newton Middle School for Math & Science

    Eufemia A. Nuez

    Language arts teacher and PBIS leader, P.S. K396, District 75

    Rahul Patel

    Living environment teacher, Mott Hall V

    Amber Peterson

    English language arts and social studies teacher,

    Innovate Manhattan Charter School

    Jarod Wunnerburger

    Special education teacher, J.H.S. 054 Booker T. Washington

  • For far too long, education policy has been created without a critical voice at the tablethe voice of classroom teachers.

    Educators 4 Excellence (E4E), a teacher-led organization, is changing this dynamic by placing the voices of teachers at the forefront of the conversations that shape our classrooms and careers.

    E4E has a quickly growing national network of educators united by our Declaration of Teachers Principles and Be liefs. E4E members can learn about education policy and re search, network with like-minded peers and policymakers, and take action by advocating for teacher-created policies that lift student achievement and the teaching profession.

    Learn more at Educators4Excellence.org.

  • June 2015

    CLIMATECHANGECREATING SAFE, SUPPORTIVE SCHOOLS

    FOR ALL STUDENTS