Building a National Consensus on Effective School Discipline Policies and Practices

OJJDP's Demonstration Programs Continuation Grants program was established to provide grants and cooperative agreements to organizations that OJJDP has selected for funds in prior years. This program will be authorized by an Act appropriating funds for the Department of Justice.

Through this consensus building project, the Council of State Governments Justice Center will generate a national, bipartisan consensus about the strategies policymakers, experts, and people on the front lines of the education, justice, health, and child welfare systems agree would improve outcomes for students who engage in misconduct in schools. This consensus will be reflected in a comprehensive, dynamic report that has policy recommendations, recommendations for implementation, summaries of relevant research, and examples of promising programs and practices. To achieve this goal, the CSG Justice Center will: 1) identify and assemble key stakeholders and national opinion leaders in the area of school discipline; 2) summarize relevant research; 3) determine what practitioners, system administrators, and advocates believe, based on their experience, would improve outcomes for youth misbehaving in school; 4) identify examples where communities, local and state governments have implemented programs, practices, or policies that are consistent with what the research demonstrates and/or practitioners believe is effective; and 5) prepare and disseminate a report that captures policy and practice recommendations that reflect a bipartisan consensus. CA/NCF

OJJDP's State and Community Development Awards program was established to provide grants and cooperative agreements to organizations that OJJDP has selected for funds in prior years. This program has been authorized by an Act appropriating funds for the Department of Justice.

With support from public and private funders, the Council of State Governments' Justice Center has been managing a consensus project that brings together leading experts from education, behavioral health, courts, law enforcement, students, parents, advocates and other stakeholders who are developing policy and practice recommendations that, consistent with OJJDP's goals, reduce reliance on out-of-school suspensions and expulsions, address disparities in discipline practices, promote safe and productive learning environments, and minimize students' juvenile justice involvement. The project will culminate in a comprehensive report providing guidance on minimizing the use of suspension and expulsion, reducing student's involvement in the juvenile justice system and promoting safe and productive learning environments.

This supplemental grant will help ensure the report's guidance and recommendations are fully vetted and reflect the best thinking among national experts and on-the-ground professionals, then broadly promoted to policymakers and practitioners including policymakers at all levels of government, school system leaders and practitioners, juvenile justice officials, and law enforcement leaders. Funds will also support creation of supplementary materials for the field, such as FAQs, an executive summary, and website resources on school discipline and juvenile justice issues. Staff will develop an outreach plan to ensure that the findings reach all stakeholders and media outlets; create talking points for various speaking engagements; and draft press releases and op-eds to assist in generating a national dialogue on these issues.

Following report launch and dissemination, staff will work with partners and funders to track and respond to media coverage and the Justice Center will also work to help jurisdictions and practitioners translate recommendations into policy and practice, to encourage state policymakers to implement key recommendations of the report such as identification and collection of data to evaluate their approach to school discipline and development and implementation of strategic plans specific to stakeholder constituencies. NCA/NCF