The Georgia Appleseed Center for Law and Justice is pushing for some major changes in how discipline is doled out in Georgia’s public schools. The recommendations come on the heels of the Atlanta-based non-profit organization’s release last month of its final student discipline report titled Effective School Discipline: Keeping Kids in Class. The first phase of the report featured an analysis of discipline reports from a cross-section of school districts. The final report features a more in-depth data analysis and interviews with representatives from the Georgia Department of Education (GaDOE) district and school personnel and other stakeholders. Surveys were also distributed to parents, students and teachers at Parent Teacher Associations and other community organizations statewide.
An interim first phase of the report released in June 2010 found that students of color, poor students and students with learning disabilities were given out-of-school suspensions (OSS) at a higher rate than other students. The latest findings suggest that there is great room for improvement. JJIE.org’s Chandra R. Thomas spoke to Rob Rhodes, the organization’s director of legal affairs who is overseeing the study, for more insight into the results.
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