How to Minimize Suspensions and Increase Student Achievement

Lincoln High School in Walla Walla, WA, tries new approach to school discipline — suspensions drop 85%

I applaud the alternative discipline policy principal Jim Sporleder uses at Lincoln High.  According to the article, this is how he handles school discipline issues:

"A student blows up at a teacher, drops the F-bomb. The usual approach at Lincoln – and, safe to say, at most high schools in this country – is automatic suspension. Instead, Sporleder sits the kid down and says quietly:

 'Wow. Are you OK? This doesn’t sound like you. What’s going on?' He gets even more specific: 'You really looked stressed. On a scale of 1-10, where are you with your anger?'"

All too often, principals and teachers make the mistake of giving students a firm lecture when they are sent to the principal's office for misbehavior.  Those conversations, which are often counterproductive, often go something like this:

Principal:  What did you do?
Student:  I told my teacher to F*** off.
Principal:  That is not how you speak to an adult.  What makes you think you can act like that in school?  I'm going to give you a suspension for that inappropriate behavior.  This is unbelievable.  I will not tolerate this nonsense in my school.  Your teachers are here to help you, and in return you treat them like this?  It's shameful.  Get up there an apologize to that teacher right now, do you hear me?

So on and so forth.  Usually, the adult does most of the talking; the student - meanwhile - pretends to listen; the adult administers the punishment; and the student gets sent home having learned nothing, bitter and resentful towards school officials.  I have reacted this way many times myself, and in most cases it does more harm than good.

In contrast, Lincoln High uses techniques documented in Teaching with Love and Logic and Restorative Justice online.  These techniques, in essence, focus on rebuilding broken relationships - whether that be between two students who got in a fight or a student who swore at a teacher - instead of focusing on what punishment to administer.  Although more research needs to be done to determine how effective these practices are, in my own work as a school administrator I have seen a lot of success.

The following video documents these strategies in action: