OUSD continues to fail Black students in special education. A low-income Black student with an IEP is 29 times more likely to be suspended than a non low-income, non-Black student without an IEP. Our students with the highest needs are summarily dismissed from the classroom on the regular. Twenty-nine times more likely—think about that. The students who have…
suspensions
Good News on “Willful Defiance” Suspensions in Oakland and What We Need Next
Usually a letter signed by the ACLU to your school or district is not a good thing. This one was a pleasant surprise sent to our principal, Leo Fuchs, at Learning Without Limits, recognizing the success in eliminating “willful defiance” suspensions. This mirrors some broader statewide efforts, that are starting to gain traction and that we should…
What Did We Learn from the UCLA Charter School Discipline Study?
Charter-run schools need to address head on disproportionate discipline—situations where subgroups of students consistently suffer higher rates of punishment—and so do district-run schools. Those were my big takeaways from the data in the recent UCLA study which drew on data from 2012. The summary data table is here: The headlines I saw covering the study were…