[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 1777 Introduced in House (IH)]

111th CONGRESS
  2d Session
H. RES. 1777

 Raising awareness of school pushout and promoting dignity in schools.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           December 17, 2010

  Mr. Murphy of Connecticut (for himself, Mr. Scott of Virginia, Mr. 
 Davis of Illinois, Mr. Cohen, Mr. Serrano, Ms. Wasserman Schultz, Ms. 
 Shea-Porter, Mr. Yarmuth, Mrs. Maloney, Mr. Hinojosa, Ms. Clarke, Mr. 
 Hastings of Florida, Mr. Grijalva, Mr. Payne, Ms. Moore of Wisconsin, 
  Mr. Himes, Mr. Thompson of Mississippi, Ms. Lee of California, Mr. 
Ortiz, Mr. Filner, Ms. Chu, Mr. Fattah, and Mrs. McCarthy of New York) 
submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee 
                         on Education and Labor

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
 Raising awareness of school pushout and promoting dignity in schools.

Whereas 1,300,000 students leave high school prior to graduating each year in 
        the United States, depriving such students of reaching their full 
        potential and rendering them without meaningful access or opportunity to 
        thrive socially, politically, or economically;
Whereas millions of students attend public schools characterized by conditions 
        that harm education, including corporal punishment, low academic 
        expectations, overcrowded and unwelcoming school environments, 
        overemphasis on high stakes testing without appropriate academic or 
        fiscal support and that limits the ability to focus on the whole child, 
        lack of parent, student, and community participation in school 
        decisionmaking, poor or limited teacher training and support, inadequate 
        screening and instruction of students with disabilities, and racial and 
        socioeconomic isolation;
Whereas these practices disengage students from learning and remove them from 
        the classroom, furthering a national crisis that is more accurately 
        described as ``push out'', as opposed to ``drop out'', as children and 
        youth are effectively pushed out of school;
Whereas school pushout impacts all students, but disproportionately impacts 
        historically disenfranchised youth, including students of color, 
        students from low-income families, students with developmental, 
        physical, emotional, and mental disabilities, students who are lesbian, 
        gay, bisexual, and transgendered, English language learners, youth in 
        State facilities and foster care, pregnant and parenting teens, and 
        students in the juvenile justice system and alternative schools;
Whereas school pushout is dangerously evident in the quickly growing rates of 
        suspension, expulsion, and school arrests under ``zero tolerance'' 
        discipline policies employed in many of our Nation's schools;
Whereas rather than improve school safety, the American Psychological 
        Association has found that suspension and expulsion negatively impact 
        school-wide achievement and increase the risk that excluded students 
        fall behind academically, become alienated from school, drop out, and 
        become involved in the juvenile and criminal justice systems;
Whereas according to the Secretary of Education, over 3,300,000 students are 
        suspended and over 100,000 students are expelled at least once each 
        school year, often for actions that do not merit exclusion;
Whereas a first-time arrest doubles the odds of dropout, and hundreds of 
        thousands of students are being arrested in schools, often for incidents 
        once considered youthful misbehavior to be handled by school 
        disciplinarians;
Whereas thousands of public schools are adopting proven and promising approaches 
        to preventive and positive classroom behavior management and school 
        discipline such as school-wide positive behavioral interventions and 
        supports (PBIS) and restorative practices, and are witnessing positive 
        results, including a reduction of disciplinary incidents, for students 
        and teachers alike;
Whereas local educational agencies in the Southeast are collaborating with 
        juvenile courts, law enforcement, mental health agencies, and community 
        organizations to reduce unnecessary school-based arrests through 
        ``school offense protocols'', and the graduation rate of one local 
        educational agency in Georgia climbed by 20 percent after adopting its 
        protocol; and
Whereas there are proven approaches to improving parent engagement with schools, 
        and the positive impact that school-based efforts to engage parents can 
        have is most profound for students from low-income families and is 
        critical for closing the achievement gap: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
            (1) promotes a heightened awareness on the part of 
        educators and the general public about the spectrum of policies 
        and practices that lead to school pushout;
            (2) commits to working to reduce or eliminate school 
        suspensions (especially out-of-school suspensions), expulsions, 
        arrests, corporal punishment, and placements in disciplinary 
        alternative schools by partnering with States, local education 
        agencies, and schools to adopt and implement evidence-based and 
        promising approaches to improve student engagement and school 
        safety, and recognizes the need for effective technical 
        assistance as well as flexibility in supporting the accurate 
        and durable implementation of these practices;
            (3) understands that proper behavior is not implicit but 
        should be taught explicitly starting from an early age and 
        practiced, supervised, and recognized throughout the pre-
        kindergarten through graduation school experience;
            (4) acknowledges that educators and school leaders need 
        effective, efficient, and relevant continuous professional 
        development, training, and support to effectively teach, 
        encourage, and sustain those social skills and behaviors that 
        characterize effective teaching and learning environments for 
        students of all backgrounds;
            (5) recognizes--
                    (A) the need to streamline and enhance school 
                climate and disciplinary data collection; and
                    (B) that such data should be used in analyzing and 
                revising school discipline policies, behavioral 
                practices, and systems to produce better outcomes for 
                students and teachers; and
            (6) supports community collaborations and meaningful 
        parental involvement to ensure that schools are safe, 
        respectful, responsible, and effective teaching and learning 
        environments that reduce--
                    (A) the likelihood of violent school behavior; and
                    (B) the use of reactive, compliance, and 
                punishment-oriented school policies and practices.
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