EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

C L IM ATE

CHANGE
CREATING SAFE, SUPPORTIVE SCHOOLS
FOR ALL STUDENTS

June 2015

E X E CUT IVE S U M M A RY
Schools must create welcoming environments in which all students are supported,
respected, and engaged in learning. Unfortunately, in too many of our schools this is
not always the case. As educators, we know that overly punitive discipline policies
that suspend students take learning time away from those who need it the most, while

Total Student
Suspensions
byexperience
Year in New
York City
Public
Schools
harming
school culture.
Research and
demonstrate
that safe,
welcoming
school communities are best equipped to drive students academic success. Many New
80,000

York City schools offer exactly that, but unfortunately others do not. Last school year,
there
were 53,504 suspensions in city schools, a number disproportionately composed
60,000
of black students and students with disabilities. Moreover, our survey of teachers found
that
many identified student discipline as a significant issue facing their schools; the
40,000
vast majority also said that they knew of teachers who had left the profession because
20,000
of
issues related to school climate.
1999
As educators,
we recommend the following policies to
2000
encourage positive school culture through a combination
of support, innovation, accountability, and transparency.
We believe that these policieswhich are targeted at the

201314
district level, but include multiple state recommendations
as wellwill strengthen our schools, support our students,
reduce reliance on punitive policies, and accelerate
academic achievement.

Number of suspensions

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Total Student Suspensions by Year in New York City Public Schools

80,000

60,000

40,000

20,000
9900 0001 0102 0203 0304 0405 0506 0607 0708 0809 0910

School year

Source: http://www.nyclu.org/files/ssa_suspension_factsheet_2013-2014_edit.pdf
2

1011

1112

1213

1314

Suspensions are pushing our students away, when we need to be pulling them in.
Chris Baribault,

Dean of students, P.S./M.S. 043

DISTRICT RECOMMENDATIONS
SUPPORT FOR SCHOOLS

Establish and study a Restorative Justice pilot program

in a significant number of schools. This innovative
approachwhich emphasizes collaboration, community,
and non-punitive methods of disciplineshould be
invested in, studied, and, if effective, expanded.
Expand and disseminate a menu of options and an
online toolkit for school-wide culture systems that
include Positive Behavior Intervention and Support
(PBIS), Restorative Justice, and other non-punitive
approaches. Teachers in our survey want more support in
using systematic approaches to improving school culture.
The NYC DOE has already created an excellent PBIS
toolkit and should continue to expand this approach by
offering support for the use of other school-wide systems.
Create a school-based tracking system for student
removals from the classroom broken down by teacher

and linked to observation reports to support the use

of school-based climate data. This tool will help teachers
and administrators find areas of strength and growth,
ensure data is driving improvement, identify students
who are persistently struggling, and lead to support for
struggling teachers and recognition of successful ones.
This system should be used as a tool for continuous
support and growth, and not as a formal part of teachers
summative evaluations.
Require schools to include a school culture goal on
their Comprehensive Educational Plan (CEP). Created
by the School Leadership Teams, CEPs not only help
leadership set a vision and hold themselves accountable,
they also serve as a public declaration of a schools
priorities, which should always include school climaterelated goals.

65%
65%

or strongly agree

75%
75%

I know teachers who have

left the profession because
of E4ENew York
teachers agree
of student
issues.
I knowdiscipline
teachers who
have
or strongly agree
left the profession because
of E4ENew York
teachers agree
of student discipline issues.
or strongly agree

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Student discipline
is a challenging issue
of E4ENew York
at
my school.
teachers agree
Student
discipline
agree
is a challenging issue or strongly
of E4ENew York
at my school.
teachers agree

Source: E4E-New York internal survey of members; n=212

SUPPORT FOR TEACHERS

Expand trainings in Restorative Justice and PBIS

practices, de-escalation, adolescent growth and
development, and other areas that support positive
school culture and non-punitive approaches to
discipline. Teachers need strong professional development
that goes beyond traditional classroom management
techniques and focuses on authentic culture building
and methods for reducing punitive discipline approaches.
Create, expand, and fund teacher career ladders
dedicated to establishing non-punitive discipline
models and positive school cultures. Every school
has teachers with knowledge and expertise in building
school community. Schools should have the opportunity
to formalize a diverse set of positions in which teachers
can support colleagues and students in strengthening the
communitys climate.
Prioritize additional training for evaluators and
mentors on giving specific feedback on positive
classroom culture building and management
techniques. It is crucial that teacher evaluation supports
educators in improving their practice, particularly in the
area of classroom culture and management. To do this,
evaluators need targeted training in helping teachers

improve in creating respectful learning environments and

managing student behavior (i.e., Danielson Framework
components 2(a) and 2(d)). Such training for evaluators is
already happening and there needs to be a continued focus
on this, particularly in the Danielson components we
have identified.
Create a classroom management, school climate, and
de-escalation framework that is shared with teacher
preparation programs. In our survey of teachers, very few
agreed that their teacher preparation program successfully
equipped them to manage a classroom. A base framework
of skills and knowledge that all New York City teachers
should have would help teacher training programs
better prepare prospective educators for the rigors of
the classroom.
Provide effective and highly effective teachers
who work at Alternative Learning Centers (ALCs) a
differential of $7,500. Students suspended out of school
attend ALCs. It is crucial that they receive high-quality
instruction, and research suggests that rewarding top-notch
educators who work in challenging schools will help
improve student achievement.

SUPPORT FOR STUDENTS

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Establish a minimum school counselor to student ratio

of 250:1. There are too few counselors in New York
City schools. A large body of research shows that this is a
worthwhile investmentone that the DOE should make
as soon as possible.

For suspensions lasting more than five days, require

that students reintegration process include a re-entry
interview during which an academic and socialemotional plan are created. Too often students return
from suspensions only to continue with the same behavior
that got them suspended in the first place. A formalized
re-entry process with input from students and their
families will help avoid this problem, while holding the
school and student mutually accountable for following
the agreed-upon plan.
Eliminate the principals suspension as a possible
consequence for a first offense of insubordination
(referred to as A22 or B21 in the discipline code)

and require multiple, documented guidance

interventions, as defined by the discipline code, before
a suspension for A22/B21 can be issued. Students must
be protected from unfair or arbitrary suspensions. In cases
where students are disrupting the learning environment
a real and important problemsuspensions should be the
last resort, as they are generally ineffective. Suspensions for
insubordination should not be eliminated altogether, but
there should be strong incentives in place to avoid them
and focus on methods that keep students in school.
Create a clear process for removing metal detectors
in schools by requiring school leadership to actively
choose to keep metal detectors every two years.
Students who pass through metal detectors each day face
excessive interaction with law enforcement and the process
can harm school culture. When there is a genuine threat to
safety, metal detectors should be in place, but they should
not remain in schools indefinitely, absent a clear reason.

TRANSPARENCY AND ACCOUNTABILITY

Feature disaggregated suspension and school climate

data on school report cards. A schools environment is
a crucial aspect of its quality, so data on this point should
be featured prominently on school report cards. This will
help parents make informed choices and help schools
grow, as research suggests that report cards can help drive
improvement in struggling schools.
Require schools struggling with climate issues to
establish and use a school-wide system for improving
culture. A small number of schools disproportionately
struggle with school climate, and it is critical that these

schools take a more systemic approach, rather than simply

leaving teachers on their own. Los Angeles recently
required schools to implement PBIS and created a portal
for parents to report violations of this policy. This approach
appeared to reduce school suspensions in Los Angeles, and
we recommend New York City pursue a similar method.
Institute school report cards and quality reviews for
ALCs. There is very little public information about
ALCs. Suspended students need and deserve high-quality
instruction, and there should be transparency
and accountability for their schools.

STATE RECOMMENDATIONS
Create a competitive grant program to incentivize
schools and districts to use innovative approaches to
school climate. There is too little innovation in the area
of school climate. We do not think that is because teachers
lack ideasbut we do often lack the space, time, and
resources to try something novel. A competitive
grant program will help solve this by incentivizing the
creation of new models, while also drawing attention to
what works.
Require the public release of school-level climate
data disaggregated by demographics and infractions,
including rates of suspensions, number of students
suspended, and frequency of school arrests. Public
education must be publicly accountable and transparent.
The state should share data from all public schools

including public charter schoolson suspensions, arrests,

discipline incidents, etc. Doing so will help focus attention
on schools that are succeeding and those that need
additional support.
Require teacher preparation programs to survey
graduates on how well they were prepared for the
classroom and publicly release the results. Too few
teachers are prepared from day one, particularly for the
challenges of building positive classroom and school
culture. Requiring preparation programs to share their
graduates perspectives on how well they were trained will
help spur needed innovation and improvement in the field,
while holding ineffective programs publicly accountable.

C ONC LUS ION

New York City students and teachers deserve schools that are safe, supportive,
non-exclusionary, and conducive to learning. We know that this is possible with
a combination of support and resources, transparency and accountability, and
innovation and study.

THE 2015 EDUCATORS 4 EXCELLENCENEW YORK

TEACHER POLICY TEAM ON STUDENT DISCIPLINE
AND SCHOOL CLIMATE
Paul Asjes
Math teacher, School of Performing Arts

Jennifer Knizeski
Second grade teacher, P.S. X176, District 75

Chris Baribault
Dean of students, P.S./M.S. 043

Seth Kritzman
School counselor, Lower Manhattan Community Middle School

Caitlin Biello
Special education and global history teacher,
Kappa International High School

Cameron Maxwell
Humanities teacher, Isaac Newton Middle School for Math & Science

Dr. Nancy M. Camacho

Librarian, Readers Theater instructor, and mentor teacher, P.S. 396
Mara Dajevskis
Social studies teacher, P.S. 089 Elmhurst
Cole Farnum
Instructional leader and middle school math teacher,
Williamsburg Collegiate Charter School
Maura Henry
ESL teacher, The Young Womens Leadership School of Astoria

Eufemia A. Nuez
Language arts teacher and PBIS leader, P.S. K396, District 75
Rahul Patel
Living environment teacher, Mott Hall V
Amber Peterson
English language arts and social studies teacher,
Innovate Manhattan Charter School
Jarod Wunnerburger
Special education teacher, J.H.S. 054 Booker T. Washington

Melissa Kaminski
Special education teacher, Baychester Middle School

This report, graphics, and figures were designed by Kristin Girvin Redman and Tracy Harris at Cricket Design Works in
Madison,Wisconsin.
The text face is Bembo Regular, designed by Stanley Morison in 1929.The typefaces used for headers, subheaders, figures, and pull quotes
are Futura Bold, designed by Paul Renner, and Vitesse, designed by Hoefler & Co.

For far too long, education policy has been created

without a critical voice at the tablethe voice of classroom teachers.

Educators 4 Excellence (E4E), a teacher-led organization, is
changing this dynamic by placing the voices of teachers at the
forefront of the conversations that shape our classrooms and careers.
E4E has a quickly growing national network of educators united by
our Declaration of Teachers Principles and Beliefs. E4E members
can learn about education policy and research, network with likeminded peers and policymakers, and take action by advocating
for teacher-created policies that lift student achievement and the
teaching profession.
Learn more at Educators4Excellence.org.