January 20, 2010
“Test, Punish, and Push Out” provides an overview of
zero-tolerance school discipline and high-stakes testing, how they
relate to each other, how laws and policies such as the
No Child Left
Behind Act (NCLB) have made school discipline even more punitive, and
the risk faced if these devastating policies are not reformed. The
report explores:
- The common origins and ideological roots of zero tolerance and high-stakes testing;
- The current state of zero-tolerance school discipline across the country, including local, state, and national data;
- How high-stakes testing affects students, educators, and schools;
- How zero tolerance and high-stakes testing have become mutually
reinforcing, combining to push huge numbers of students out of school;
and
- Successful grassroots efforts to eliminate harmful discipline and testing practices.
Attached files
- Download Report (9.91KB PDF)"
In the 1980’s a new movement began implementing policies, such as
“zero tolerance” and “high-stakes testing,” that were more punitive and
penalizing in both the criminal justice and public education school
systems. Recent studies show the U.S. graduates fewer than seven out of
every 10 high school students. Have these two disciplinary policies
produced a threat to the educational opportunities of America’s youth
and consequently created a dropout crisis?
"In President Obama’s first address to Congress, he cited America’s
school dropout rate as one of the three most pressing issues facing our
country. Researchers believe policymakers are looking in the wrong
places for their answers to the cause of this “crisis."
According to the report from the Advancement Project, low graduation
rates aren’t the problem. Instead they are simply a symptom of the
problem. The current education system is not designed for every child to
succeed, they assert. Instead, the educational opportunities of young
people are threatened by policies that set them up to fail.
Both “zero tolerance” and “high-stakes testing” have been pinpointed
as the two policies that pose the most direct threat to American youth’s
educational opportunities. Together they turn schools into hostile and
alienating environments and as a result, huge numbers of students are
treated as if they are disposable, routinely being pushed out of school
and toward the juvenile and criminal justice systems.
The Journalism Center on Children & Families (JCCF)
The Center is a nonprofit program of the Philip Merrill College of Journalism at the University of Maryland, College Park"
