I came across this article today about zero-tollerance policies in schools and their negative impact on students. It’s an important read as it discusses alternative approaches to disciplinary action in the form of “trauma-informed methods” to improve behavior. This goes back to the idea that kids are coming to school with a lot of issues based on socioeconomic background, and these issues are directly affecting behavior in the classroom. Punishing and suspending isn’t working it’s only adding to the problem. Out-of-the-box alternatives are what we need to focus on.

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/updates/zero-tolerance-fails-schools-teaching-students-cope-trauma/