Dive Brief:

• Chicago's Board of Education has approved a new set of discipline guidelines aiming to curb the number of suspensions and expulsions handed out in the city's public schools.  
• Under the revisions, schools are prohibited from expelling students below the sixth grade unless a weapon was involved; students will not be suspended for being caught with a cell phone, unless there is evidence of misbehavior; persistent defiance (like a student throwing an eraser multiple times) is no longer a reason for suspension; and the police are only required to be called in cases involving drugs and/or firearms.   
• The board also urges Chicago charter schools to adopt the district's disciplinary code, and 10 have signed on so far.    

Dive Insight:

The changes that Chicago Public Schools is trying to implement reflect a national conversation surrounding overuse of punishment, especially amongst minority youth. This year, a number of studies have highlighted these students' disproportionately higher rates of suspension and expulsion compared to their white counterparts. In response, CPS is moving from a zero-tolerance approach to a more restorative method.  

Getting charter schools to shift their discipline policies is now at the forefront of the Board of Education's agenda. While they can't control the decisions of these decentralized schools, they are aware that, at the end of the day, the population is the same. In fact, according to a new infographic by the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools and Noodle, minorities make up over half of charter school populations.