Dive Brief:

•  A new tactic called “reverse suspension,” in which a student's parent is required to come and spend a day by their child's side after he or she misbehaves, in lieu of an out-of-school suspension, is being tested inHuntington East Middle School in West Virginia.
• According to the school’s principal, Frank Barnett, the stragety has already proven effective and reduced student suspensions by 66%.
• The experiment relies on theories related to restorative justices and positive motivations, and parents have said reverse suspensions are effective since students don't want to be embarassed in front of their peers. 

Dive Insight:

Recent studies have shown more compassionate approaches to student discipline work well. Last week, a Stanford University research study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences proved a correlation existed between the levels of empathy and compassion from teachers and a reduction in harsh disciplinary tactics like suspensions.

That outlook, and new strategies like reverse suspensions, could play an important role in dismantling the school-to-prison pipeline, which  disproportionately targets students of color and those with disabilities.

In some locales, lawsuits have been filed over harsh punishment. The Oklahoma City Public Schools district recently reached a settlement with the U.S. Department of Education in order to resolve a suit that alleged disproportionate disciplinary actions against black students, who accounted for 42% of in-school suspensions, despite making up just 26% of the student population in 2014-15.

Recommended Reading

Fox News Cleveland : Reverse suspension? School brings parents to class when students mi...