By Brenna Angel
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wuky/local-wuky-961358.mp3
RICHMOND, Ky. – A new analysis on school safety in Kentucky shows students of color are disciplined at a higher rate than white public school students.
Each year, the Kentucky Center for School Safety looks at two areas of disciplinary action: violations of school board policy and violations of criminal law.
The number of law violations - such as theft, assault, drug abuse, and bringing a weapon to school -- has remained relatively stable over the past five years (5,028 incidents in 2009-2010 school year). But disciplinary actions in that category among black males has increased nearly 25% over the same time period and 122% for other non-white male students.
Center for School Safety Director Jon Akers says more research is needed to explain the findings, but says there are things schools can do to make sure all students understand what it means to follow the rules.
"Usually the first day of school the principal or the teacher will give the kids a handbook on instructions on what they need to do as far as behavior is concerned. And they might talk about it a little bit about it and that's it for the rest of the school year."
Akers says an organization called the Kentucky Center for Instructional Discipline is working with educators on teaching continual reminders of good behavior.
He adds that next year's report will be able to differentiate repeat offenders, but Akers expects minority students will still receive disciplinary action at a disproportionately higher rate than white students.
There are some bright spots to this year's data. The Kentucky Center for School Safety says the number of disciplinary actions for code of conduct violations is down nearly 21% over five years.
"I see the disturbing class [category] going down; I'm seeing the failure to attend detention going down, defiance of authority going down. So I think that's good news. And I'm seeing downward trends in all grades K through 11 as far as disciplinary actions are concerned," says Akers.
Akers says the goal of the study is to get teachers, administrators, and parents looking at how their school district compares to others around the state. He says the Center for School Safety report should not be used as any kind of indicator or explanation for test scores.
CLICK HERE for a link to the complete report [PDF].