The Disproportionate Enrollment of Minority Students in Disciplinary Alternative Education Programs: The Parents' Perception

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2011-05

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Abstract

According to education philosopher John Dewey, public schools give their students “an opportunity to escape from the limitations of the social group in which [they were] born, and to come into living contact with a broader environment . . . different races, differing religions, and unlike customs” (Frug, 1998). Public education was intended to give students a broad perspective to prepare them for living in a diverse, complex society; however, exclusionary discipline policies have been developed for students who disrupt the educational environment (Institute for the study of Student at Risk {ISSR}, 2001; Harvard Civil Rights Project, 2000; Kliener, Porch, & Farris, 2002; Texas Education Code, 37.008; Zweig, 2003). In 1994 the Gun-Free-School Act of 1994 required that each state receiving federal funds under the Elementary and Secondary Education of 1965 have a state law modeled with a zero tolerance for drugs, guns, and other weapons (GFSA). In 1995 Senate Bill 7 was adopted by the 73rd Texas Legislature as the Texas “Law and Order” school discipline policy (Joint Select Committee to Review the Central Education Agency, 1994). The Texas legislature developed a state policy requiring disciplinary alternative education programs (DAEP) for students who violated state and locally-mandated rules of conduct (Institute for the study of Student at Risk {ISSR}, 2001; Kliener, Porch, & Farris, 2002; Texas Education Code, 37.008; Zweig, 2003). The purpose of the proposed study was to determine the effects of disciplinary alternative education programs on the educational experience of students who spend six months or more time in the DAEP as perceived by parents. The significance of this study is that it will provide data on the affects of DAEPs on the educational experience of minority, low-income, and low performing students. The data will provide new knowledge of how to reduce the school-to–prison pipeline for African American males and other minority students. It will also provide new knowledge on various forms of alternatives that are available to replace zero-tolerance based discipline systems. The new knowledge from this study will increase the knowledge of the family and community life of students placed in DAEPs. An exploratory, qualitative case study research design will be used to determine the affects of DAEP placement for elementary school students in a large urban school district. Qualitative research was used to, “study things in their natural settings, attempting to make sense of, or to interpret, phenomena in terms of the meanings people bring to them” (Denzin & Lincoln, 2000, p.3). The qualitative case study research design was used to explore the perceptions of parents or guardians of a sample of ten elementary students who were removed from their home campus and placed in a DAEP in 2006-2007. The overall purpose of the study was to understand how the parents of the students removed to the DAEP made sense of the school discipline policies (Merriam, 2002). “A good case study brings a phenomenon to life for the readers and helps them understand its meaning” (Gall, Borg, & Gall, 1996, p. 543). Qualitative research methods of surveys and the analysis of secondary student archival data, district documents and school documents will be used to collect data. The experiences and previously developed relationships of the researcher as a former school teacher of the students at the DAEP served as a source of bias. Participants in this study may have altered their responses to interview questions to present a favorable perspective of the DAEP experience, themselves or the school (Daniels, 1995). By using confidential interviews and triangulation of data, participant bias should have been minimized.
The findings of this study show parents’ perceptions of a purposive sample of ten case students who spent six months or more of their school time in the past six (2010-2004) years in a DAEP. This findings discussed the following: 1.The perceptions of parents as analyzed by the parent survey including definitions and clarifications for each question and responses; 2. The demographic similarities among the DAEP families and parent expectations for students’ education; 3. The student academic and discipline background using archival data and other documents; and the summary of findings. The survey findings showed that while the sending school adhered to all federal (Gun Free School Zones, 1995), state (Texas Education Code, Chapter 37, 2009), and local (District 2009-2010 Code of Student Conduct, 2011) policies, parents perceived teachers and administrators did not understand their child’s academic and behavioral needs. Teachers were not able to offer recommendations to parents for the correction of Level I misbehavior. Demographically the data show that 90 percent of the sample was low-income and only 20 percent lived in a traditional family. The test data and student retention data show that a majority of the sample were academically at-risk. A majority of the sample were identified for special education services. Thirty percent of the parents expected their children to go to college. The majority of the sample was returned to the DAEP from one to four times during the five-year period studied. Almost all the referrals to the DAEP were for discretionary removals (TEC, Chapter 37).

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Keywords

DAEP, Disciplinary Alternative Education Programs, Zero Tolerance, Minority students, Minorities, Suspension Rate, School to prison pipeline, Recidivism, Parent perceptions, Alternative Education, Elementary discipline, School programs, Student Drop Out, Student Removal, Dis

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