Discipline in Schools

by Thomas J. Billitteri
Are zero-tolerance policies fair?

More than a decade after a string of deadly school shootings focused attention on student discipline, the search continues for effective methods to curb classroom misconduct. Zero-tolerance policies, widely adopted during the 1990s, have led to skyrocketing suspension and expulsion rates in many school districts, sparking criticism that get-tough conduct codes are ineffective at stopping misbehavior and harmful to the education process. Civil-rights and child-advocacy groups say such codes have led to too many cases of harsh punishment for relatively minor violations, sometimes sending youngsters out on the street where they get into worse trouble. Critics also charge that black students are far more likely to be punished for similar misconduct than whites under the zero-tolerance approach. Meanwhile, a provision in the federal No Child Left Behind law, which requires states to identify "persistently dangerous schools," is the subject of sharp debate as the law moves toward possible reauthorization this year.

At Issue:

  • Have zero-tolerance policies made schools safer?
  • Is racism responsible for high suspension rates among minorities?
  • Should students have more legal rights in discipline cases?

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CQ Researcher Authors

Managing Editor: Thomas J. Colin
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Authors

Thomas J. Billitteri s a CQ Researcher writer and editor with more than 30 years' experience covering business, nonprofit institutions and public policy for the St. Petersburg Times, The Chronicle of Philanthropy and other publications. His recent CQ Researcher reports include “Youth Violence,” “Afghanistan's Future” and “Financial Literacy.” He holds a BA in English and an MA in journalism from Indiana University.


Marcia Clemmitt is a veteran social-policy reporter who recently joined the CQ Researcher after serving as editor in chief of Medicine and Health, a Washington-based industry newsletter, and staff writer for The Scientist. She has also been a high school math and physics teacher. She holds a bachelor's degree in arts and sciences from St. John’s College, Annapolis, and a master’s degree in English from Georgetown University.

Sarah Glazer a London-based freelancer, is a regular contributor to the CQ Researcher. Her articles on health, education and social-policy issues have appeared in The New York TimesThe Washington Post,The Public Interest and Gender and Work, a book of essays. Her recent CQ Researcher reports include "Increase in Autism" and "Gender and Learning". She graduated from the University of Chicago with a B.A. in American history.

Kenneth Jost Associate Editor Kenneth Jost graduated from Harvard College and Georgetown University Law Center, where he is an adjunct professor. He is the author of The Supreme Court Yearbook and editor of The Supreme Court from A to Z (both CQ Press). He was a member of The CQ Researcher team that won the 2002 American Bar Association Silver Gavel Award.



Peter Katel is a veteran journalist who previously served as Latin America bureau chief for Time magazine, in Mexico City, and as a Miami-based correspondent for Newsweek and The Miami Herald's El Nuevo Herald. He also worked as a reporter in New Mexico for 11 years and wrote for several non-governmental organizations, including International Social Service and The World Bank. He has won several awards, including the Interamerican Press Association's Bartolome Mitre Award. He is a graduate of the University of New Mexico in University Studies.


Kathy Koch
Kathy Koch, assistant managing editor, specializes in education and social-policy issues. She has freelanced in Asia and Africa for various U.S. newspapers, including the Christian Science Monitor and USA Today. She also covered environmental legislation for the CQ Weekly and reported for newspapers in South Florida. She graduated in journalism from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Barbara Mantel is a freelance writer in New York City whose work has appeared in The New York Times, the Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychopharmacology and Mamm Magazine. She is a former correspondent and senior producer for National Public Radio and has won several journalism awards, including the National Press Club's Best Consumer Journalism Award and Lincoln University's Unity Award. She holds a B.A. in history and economics from the University of Virginia and an M.A. in economics from Northwestern University.


Tom Price, a contributing writer for CQ Researcher, is a Washington-based freelance journalist. Previously he was a correspondent in the Cox Newspapers Washington Bureau, and chief politics writer for the Dayton Daily News and The Journal Herald. He is author, with Tony Hall, of Changing the Face of Hunger: One Man's Story of How Liberals, Convervatives, Democrats, Republicans and People of Faith are Joining Forces to Help the Hungry, the Poor, and the Oppressed. He also writes two Washington guidebooks, Washington, D.C., for Dummies, and the Irreverant Guide to Washington, D.C. His work has appeared in The New York Times, Time, Rolling Stone and other periodicals. He earned a bachelor of science in journalism at Ohio University.


Jennifer Weeks is a CQ Researcher contributing writer in Watertown, Mass., who specialized in energy and environmental issues. She has written for The Washington Post, The Boston Globe Magazine and other publications, and has 15 years' experience as a public-policy analyst, lobbyist and congressional staffer. She has an A.B. degree from Williams College and master's degrees from the University of Noth Carolina and Harvard.



Steve Weinberg is a freelance magazine writer and book author in Columbia, Mo., who has been writing about wrongful convictions for nearly two decades. After turns as a newspaper staff reporter and a magazine staff writer, Weinberg began freelancing full time in 1978. He is the author of eight nonfiction books. Amidst his reporting and writing, he served as executive director of Investigative Reporters and Editors, an international membership organization, from 1983-1990. Weinberg also teaches a course about the criminal justice system at the University of Missouri Journalism School, where he earned BJ and MJ degrees.