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Publications

EXCLUSIONARY SCHOOL DISCIPLINE: AN ISSUE BRIEF AND REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE

Each academic year, millions of U.S. public school students are suspended or expelled from school.  Yet, research now demonstrates that when students are removed from school settings for disciplinary reasons, the odds increase dramatically that they will disengage from school, dropout, or become involved in the juvenile justice system.  These negative consequences disproportionally affect boys of color.   As awareness of these trends grows, educators are increasingly looking for alternative strategies to increase student discipline skills in order to support youth engagement in school and improve their health and academic outcomes.  In this brief, lawyer and Warren Institute research associate Danfeng Soto-Vigil Koon reviews data on the major trends in school discipline practices with a focus on out-of-school suspensions and expulsions. Her review then describes the most widely used alternatives to out-of-school (exclusionary) suspension and expulsion in California and assesses the relevant research to gauge the potential of each to improve school and student level outcomes.

To view the brief, click here.

FINAL REPORT AND POLICY PLATFORM FOR STATE ACTION (2012-2018) ASSEMBLY SELECT COMMITTEE ON THE STATUS OF BOYS AND MEN OF COLOR IN CALIFORNIA

The leadership of the California Assembly established the Assembly Select Committee on the Status of Boys and Men of Color (BMoC) in January 2011. The bi-partisan committee’s primary focus over the last year and half has been to seek advice to better understand what is needed to improve the outcomes for boys and men of color in California.

The Warren Institute provided research support to the Select Committee under a grant from The California Endowment. 

Click here to download the Full Report.

Click here to download the Executive Summary.

WHAT THE FORMER CHANCELLOR OF NEW YORK CITY SCHOOLS' SLEIGHT OF HAND TELL US ABOUT EDUCATION REFORM

A new article by Richard Rothstein, “Sleight of Hand,” appears in the November-December issue of The American Prospect.  It describes how federal, state, and local housing policies, including the public housing program, were designed a half-century ago to segregate our major metropolitan areas, and how the residential patterns created by public policy at that time persist to this day.  The article does so by way of describing the childhood of Joel Klein, former New York City schools chancellor and now CEO of a Rupert Murdoch company selling technology and software to public schools. Klein has often used his life story to prove an educational theory—that poor quality teachers are the cause of disadvantaged children’s failures.  “Sleight of Hand” shows that, indeed, in no meaningful sense can Klein be said to have had a deprived background, comparable to that of children from the projects today. It shows that in no sense can Klein accurately attribute his success, not to an advantaged middle-class family, but only to his teachers.

To download this article, click here.

RAISING THE BAR: BUILDING CAPACITY: DRIVING IMPROVEMENTS IN CALIFORNIA'S CONTINUATION HIGH SCHOOLS

This report summary findings and recommendations from a multi-year study of continuation high schools in California.  It is the second in series of reports from the on-going California Alternative Education Research Project, conducted jointly by the John W. Gardner Center at the Stanford University School of Education, and the Chief Justice Earl Warren Institute on Law and Social Policy at the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law.

To download the executive summary, click here.

To download the report, click here.
 

CHANGING PLACES: HOW COMMUNITIES WILL IMPORVE THE HEALTH OF BOYS OF COLOR

The data on nearly every measure of health and well-being make clear that boys and young men of color face a uniquely daunting set of barriers that inhibit their chances of becoming healthy, contributing members of society.  Edited by Dean Christopher Edley Jr. and former Director of Education and Associate Director of the Warren Institute Jorge Ruiz de Velasco, this collected volume details how these racial / ethnic and gender disparities in community health, education, and economic outcomes develop, how they persist over time, and how they come to have profound, long-lasting effects on American families and on national and community life. Using a multidisciplinary lens, the authors hed light on how we might build healthier communities across the nation hrough a focus on young men and boys of color.  If we take the right actions now, the work presented in this volume suggests a promising prognosis---these investments in communities, systems, and institutions will help not just these young men and boys achieve a brighter future, but enable all of us to realize a more just, productive nation. The volume is available for purchase in hardcopy from the UC Press. Individual chapters can be downloaded for free at http://www.boysandmenofcolor.org/about-the-book/.

CIVIL RIGHTS RESEARCH ROUNDTABLE ON EDUCATION INFORMING CHANGE


This October 2010 Roundtable convened national civil rights leaders and their senior education staff with researchers and policy analysts to work on the most pressing issues in education reform.  Roundtable briefs are highlighted below.

From College Access to Completion: State and Federal Policy Levers
This research brief examines the available research and evidence to paint a picture of college completion in America and shed light on both the major causes of and promising policy solutions to the enormous mismatch observed between aspirations and actuality—particularly among low-income students, students of color and non-traditional students.  The brief is available here.

Warren Institute Examines Common Core Standards
This brief examines the available research to better understand how the adoption of the Common Core State Standards Initiative, an effort led by governors and state school leaders to promote universal adoption of "fewer, clearer, higher" academic standards, might affect students of color and English Language Learners (ELL).  The brief is available here.



POLICY AND AMICUS BRIEFS


 

RESEARCH BRIEFS AND REPORTS