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AdvocacyEducators >> Toolkits

 Toolkits

Comprehensive guides to reforming school discipline policies for educators and community members

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General

General

Model Code on Education and Dignity

In 2019, the Dignity in Schools Campaign released a set of recommended school policies that would help end school pushout and build a school system that supports all children and young people in reaching their full potential.

Dignity in Schools

General

Banning Classroom Removals for Young Children Policy Guide

In 2016, Texas Appleseed  produced  a toolkit on how to reduce the unnecessary removal of young learners from the classroom. .

Texas Appleseed

General

Community Not Cops Campaign: Creating Safe, Supportive, Police-free Schools

In 2021, the Dignity in Schools Campaign released a set of policy recommendations for schools, districts, states and federal policy-makers to end the regular presence of law enforcement in schools. Read the policy recommendations and the resource guide

Community Not Cops

General

Let Her Learn - A Toolkit to Stop Push Out for Girls of Color

In 2016, the National Women's Law Center,produced a toolkit about how to review a school’s discipline policy to ensure it is fair for young girls of color and address practices that may be informed by illegal gender and racial bias. It provides data, information about relevant Civil Rights laws that protect students, a checklist to review a school’s discipline policies, and school policy suggestions to ensure a fairer, safer school.

Let Her Learn
For Educators

For Educators

Online Implicit Bias Module for K-12 Educators

In 2018, the Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race & Ethnicity at the Ohio State University, released an online module about how to identify and reduce implicit biases held by educators.

Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race & Ethnicity, Ohio State University

For Educators

Analyzing Student-Level Disciplinary Data: A Guide for Districts

Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education, March 2017. The report provides information on how to conduct such an examination and explores differences in student academic outcomes across the types of disciplinary actions that students receive.

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For Educators

Advancing School Discipline Reform

In 2015, the National Association of School Boards of Education produced a report on how to address students’ behavioral issues while enabling them to succeed. It describes current discipline practice—which is often reactive, punitive, and exclusionary—and its impact on students, achievement, and school climate. The report reviews alternatives and what states can do to advance discipline reform.

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For Educators

How Educators Can Eradicate Disparities in School Discipline: A Briefing Paper on School-Based Interventions

The Equity Project at Indiana University, March 2014. This report presents guiding principles and information about programs to reduce disparities in school discipline, an overview of discipline disparities in school, principles of conflict prevention in intervention programs, and info about approaches to intervention.  

How Educators Can Eradicate Disparities in School Discipline- A Briefing Paper on School Interv

For Educators

Fix School Discipline: Toolkit for Educators

California-based Public Counsel has produced this step-by-step guide that includes ready-to-use documents, sample discipline policies, information about alternative approaches, information about funding sources, and advice from fellow educators.

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For Educators

School Climate Improvement Package

National Center on Safe Supportive Learning Environments, January 2017. This package includes a broad range of resources to support work at the school and district level to improve school climate

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For Educators

Addressing the Root Causes of Disparities in School Discipline: An Educator’s Action Planning Guide

In 2015, the American Institutes for Research produced a guide on discriminatory discipline practices, methods to gather data on school discipline disparities, tools for exploring the possible root causes of discipline disparities, and an action plan to address those disparities.

Addressing the Root Causes of Disparities in School Discipline- An Educator’s Action Plan

For Educators

Restorative Practices: Fostering Healthy Relationships and Promoting Positive Discipline in Schools

National Opportunity to Learn Campaign, March 2014. This toolkit includes digestible models, frameworks, and action steps for school-wide implementation of restorative practices, accompanied by guiding questions to support reflection for practitioners looking to make restorative methods part of the fabric of daily life in schools. 

Restorative Practices- Fostering Healthy Relationships and Promoting Positive Discipline i
For Community Members

For Community Members

Parent's Checklist for SROs in Your Children's Schools

Strategies for Youth created this "checklist" to provide parents with a set of questions that will help parents understand the scope of authority of law enforcement is used in their children's schools. The checklist focuses on issues key to children's experience of law enforcement and helps parents anticipate issues that may arise during their child's schooling. En Español.

Parent's Checklist for SROs in Your Children's Schools

For Community Members

Telling it Like it is: Resource Written by Youth on the Need for Restorative Practices

Miami-based Power U Center for Social Change produced this comic book which breaks down how the school-to-prison pipeline work in local schools using national statistics and student survey data collected by Power U youth.

Telling it Like it is- Resource Written by Youth on the Need for Restorative Practices

For Community Members

How to Make Sure Your School Complies with Student Discipline Laws 

(Massachusetts Example) Students, families, educators and community stakeholders can use the information provided in this booklet to advocate for fair disciplinary practices in their school and district. Access a specific school’s disciplinary data, get connected to other families and organizations working on changing school discipline, and get more information about protecting your rights.

How to Make Sure Your School Complies with Student Discipline Laws

For Community Members

My School My Rights

(California Example)

The ACLU of California maintains this comprehensive website which provides an overview of students' rights in the state of California with a goal of preventing the push-out of students from California schools. 

My School My Rights

For Community Members

Parent-to-Parent Guide on Restorative Justice

In 2015,  Chicago's Elementary Justice Campaign [produced a guide on how  parents across the city can work together to make sure that improved restorative justice policies and practices are put into place in local schools.

Parent-to-Parent Guide on Restorative Justice

For Community Members

School Discipline and Security Personnel

In 2015, the National Juvenile Justice Network produced a A tip sheet for advocates on maximizing school safety and student success,  involving police only when there is a
genuine threat to school safety.

School Discipline and Security Personnel

For Community Members

Toolkit for Community Members to Fix School Discipline 

California-based Public Counsel produced this comprehensive resource on  learning how to eliminate harsh discipline practices that push students out of school, and instead enact solutions that work for all students.

Toolkit for Community Members to Fix School Discipline

For Community Members

Make My School Safe

(Texas Example)

This web-based toolkit, produced by Texas Appleseed, is for students, parents, caregivers, educators, advocates, and policymakers who want to ensure that all students are kept safe in their schools.

Make My School Safe
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