Toolkits
Comprehensive guides to reforming school discipline policies for educators and community members
General
Model Code on Education and Dignity
In 2019, the Dignity in Schools Campaign released a set of recommended school policies that would help end school pushout and build a school system that supports all children and young people in reaching their full potential.
General
Community Not Cops Campaign: Creating Safe, Supportive, Police-free Schools
In 2021, the Dignity in Schools Campaign released a set of policy recommendations for schools, districts, states and federal policy-makers to end the regular presence of law enforcement in schools. Read the policy recommendations and the resource guide
General
Let Her Learn - A Toolkit to Stop Push Out for Girls of Color
In 2016, the National Women's Law Center,produced a toolkit about how to review a school’s discipline policy to ensure it is fair for young girls of color and address practices that may be informed by illegal gender and racial bias. It provides data, information about relevant Civil Rights laws that protect students, a checklist to review a school’s discipline policies, and school policy suggestions to ensure a fairer, safer school.
For Educators
Analyzing Student-Level Disciplinary Data: A Guide for Districts
Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education, March 2017. The report provides information on how to conduct such an examination and explores differences in student academic outcomes across the types of disciplinary actions that students receive.
For Educators
Advancing School Discipline Reform
In 2015, the National Association of School Boards of Education produced a report on how to address students’ behavioral issues while enabling them to succeed. It describes current discipline practice—which is often reactive, punitive, and exclusionary—and its impact on students, achievement, and school climate. The report reviews alternatives and what states can do to advance discipline reform.
For Educators
How Educators Can Eradicate Disparities in School Discipline: A Briefing Paper on School-Based Interventions
The Equity Project at Indiana University, March 2014. This report presents guiding principles and information about programs to reduce disparities in school discipline, an overview of discipline disparities in school, principles of conflict prevention in intervention programs, and info about approaches to intervention.
For Educators
Fix School Discipline: Toolkit for Educators
California-based Public Counsel has produced this step-by-step guide that includes ready-to-use documents, sample discipline policies, information about alternative approaches, information about funding sources, and advice from fellow educators.
For Educators
Addressing the Root Causes of Disparities in School Discipline: An Educator’s Action Planning Guide
In 2015, the American Institutes for Research produced a guide on discriminatory discipline practices, methods to gather data on school discipline disparities, tools for exploring the possible root causes of discipline disparities, and an action plan to address those disparities.
For Educators
Restorative Practices: Fostering Healthy Relationships and Promoting Positive Discipline in Schools
National Opportunity to Learn Campaign, March 2014. This toolkit includes digestible models, frameworks, and action steps for school-wide implementation of restorative practices, accompanied by guiding questions to support reflection for practitioners looking to make restorative methods part of the fabric of daily life in schools.
For Community Members
Parent's Checklist for SROs in Your Children's Schools
Strategies for Youth created this "checklist" to provide parents with a set of questions that will help parents understand the scope of authority of law enforcement is used in their children's schools. The checklist focuses on issues key to children's experience of law enforcement and helps parents anticipate issues that may arise during their child's schooling. En Español.
For Community Members
Telling it Like it is: Resource Written by Youth on the Need for Restorative Practices
Miami-based Power U Center for Social Change produced this comic book which breaks down how the school-to-prison pipeline work in local schools using national statistics and student survey data collected by Power U youth.
For Community Members
How to Make Sure Your School Complies with Student Discipline Laws
(Massachusetts Example) Students, families, educators and community stakeholders can use the information provided in this booklet to advocate for fair disciplinary practices in their school and district. Access a specific school’s disciplinary data, get connected to other families and organizations working on changing school discipline, and get more information about protecting your rights.
