Public School Policies

A question over equality at a top-rated high school in the Fairfax School District in Virginia has once again raised the question of the equality of public education overall in the United States. Thomas Jefferson High School, frequently ranked as one of the top public schools in the country, has recently come under fire by the Coalition of the Silence and the NAACP. The organizations have raised concerns about the low enrollment of minority students into the school, particularly in light of the much higher rate of diversity in schools just a few miles away. However, as one digs into the question of racial inequality at Thomas Jefferson High School, concerns extend into whether minority students in Fairfax County are given the same academic opportunities as their caucasian counterparts.

This TEDTalk discuss racial discrimination in public schools.

Federal Civil Rights Complaint Filed

A federal civil rights lawsuit has been filed with the U.S. Department of Education regarding Thomas Jefferson High School’s admission policies. The complaint alleges that Fairfax County “…essentially operates a network of separate and unequal schools,” which leaves out Latinos, blacks, and disabled students. The complaint further alleges that “for decades, these students have been grossly and disproportionately underrepresented in admission to the Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology.”

The civil rights complaint was filed by the Coalition of Silence, an advocacy group formed by

Students in the Highland Park School District in Michigan are consistently failing at one of the foundational skills necessary for a productive academic and professional life – the ability to read. With a concerning number of students within the district reading well below grade level, the ACLU has decided to take matters in its own hands. The organization has filed eight lawsuits against the school district and the state of Michigan on behalf of students and their parents. The charge? Failure to teach children to read.

This video explains reading levels.

Obscure Law Fuels Lawsuit Fire

According to the Detroit News, the ACLU has filed a class-action lawsuit in Wayne County Circuit Court. The lawsuit alleges that the school district and the state have failed to do their job in ensuring students within the Highland Park School District can read at grade level. The lawsuit further asserts that although students are supposed to be provided with “special assistance” if they don’t make grade-level proficiency in grades four and seven, these students were not given any additional help to bring their reading skills up to par.

The lawsuit calls on an obscure law on the Michigan books known as the “right to read” provision. This law enacted by the state legislature in 1993 states, “A pupil who does not score satisfactorily on the 4^th or 7^th-grade MEAP reading test shall be

Prompting an investigation into an extensive cheating scandal rocked Atlanta schools, public schools in the nation’s capital first came under fire for allegedly cheating on standardized tests. However, a comprehensive investigation into the Washington D.C. cheating issue has revealed that while cheating did occur in some classrooms, the issue was centralized to a small number of classes, rather than hundreds of schools, as previously thought. Still, evidence of any cheating raises questions about the validity of standardized testing and how those scores are used to determine funding, teacher raises and performance evaluations.

Three District of Columbia Schools Cited in Investigation

A report at USA Today states that just three D.C. schools have been found guilty of cheating on standardized tests known as the DC-CAS in April 2011. The reports were limited to three classrooms within these three schools, which represents a very small number of the 5,089 classrooms that actually took the tests. The findings were announced by the Office of the State Superintendent of Education.

“The confirmed cases of impropriety represent a very small percentage of public schools and classrooms in D.C.,” Hosanna Mahaley, superintendent of D.C. schools, told USA Today.

This video reports on cheating on standardized tests in the D.C. public schools.

The three schools were classified as “critical” as a result of the investigation, which meant there was solid evidence found of fraud or test tampering in

With the alarming rise in violence at public schools across the country, zero-tolerance policies have become the norm. In theory, these policies should lead to safer schools, since they offer school administrators the ability to deal with infractions promptly and decisively. However, the practice of zero-tolerance policies is showing significant flaws in the system, and many are demanding reform in the rules that have proven to hurt students more than they protect them in some cases.

The Purpose of Zero-Tolerance Policies

The establishment of zero-tolerance policies began in the 1980s. At the time, these policies primarily dealt with major offenses involving weapons and drugs. The term was first introduced by the Reagan Administration when the President launched his War on Drugs. When the federal government passed the Drug-Free Schools and Campuses Act of 1989, zero-tolerance policies became the law.

According to the Detroit Free Press, zero-tolerance policies expanded with the federal Gun-Free Schools Act of 1994, which mandated that any student caught bringing a gun to school would be expelled for one year or longer. Students accused of violations were also to be referred to local law enforcement agencies. However, it wasn’t long before that zero-tolerance policy was expanded to encompass a host of infractions, from dress code violations to assaults on another student. At that point, many began to question the effectiveness of zero-tolerance policies, particularly in situations where the policy began to override common sense and the best interests of the

Teachers say students are becoming more unruly and disrespectful. Schools complain that it is getting harder to get parents involved. So what is the solution? Some school districts have turned to handcuffing and police intervention as a way to get students under control. However, that idea is not sitting well with many parents and community members – particularly when it is their own children on the receiving end of the harsh disciplinary measures. After all, what type of message does a school send to students when they are throwing handcuffs on young wrists? In this author's opinion, which is supported by research, it is a message that encourages a vicious cycle of future violence and criminality.

This video demonstrates handcuffing.

Recent Incident in Mississippi Results in Policy Change

Jackson Public Schools in Mississippi have had a policy that allows handcuffing students to stationary objects as a means of discipline. The policy has been particularly prevalent at Capital City Alternative School, where teachers and administrators say discipline problems abound. According to a report in the San Francisco Chronicle, a suit was filed last year in response to this policy, which forced the school district to take another look at their disciplinary measures.

The lawsuit was filed by Jeanette Murry on behalf of her son, who was 16 at the time of the incident and a student at the alternative school. Murry stated