Competency 11: Student Personnel

Related Task:
11.2 Knowledge of principles of discipline, student control, etc.
Specific Task:
11.2.2 Analyze discipline referral and suspension data for a school year to identify the nature and
frequency of student misbehavior. Based on findings, recommend a plan to reduce the most
common form of misconduct.
Narrative Description:
Out-of-school suspension has recently become a highly criticized form of disciplinary
action at the public school level. I plan on obtaining suspension data that has been collected
throughout the course of the 2014-2015 school year thus far and identifying trends in student
discipline related to specific reoccurring behaviors. I will also analyze the frequency of
suspensions and research alternative forms of disciplinary action to suspension to bring student
awareness to the behavior and how it can be remedied through different mediums of formal
reprimands. This approach will also require thorough research of laws regarding student
discipline and accountability.
Description and Analysis of Administrative Task
Clio High School is frequently subject to student discipline, as is any school, but there are
an abundant number of suspensions occurring on a regular basis. To gain further insight to the
disciplinary affairs within the building, I spent two hours with one of the Assistant Principals at
Clio High School to scrutinize disciplinary data reports from the beginning of the 2013 school
year to the current month of the 2015 school year. This included a fairly straightforward chart of
discipline organized by behavior and gender (these charts are represented in the attached
artifact). The current school year has already yielded 167 out-of-school suspensions as a result of
misbehavior. Our process included evaluating the suspension data and trying to determine
solutions to out-of-school suspension as a disciplinary action for specific student behaviors.

Primary Issues
Qualitative data collection regarding student discipline can become rather overwhelming
because of the extensive options available for categorizing and presenting the data. There are a
number of charts and options using the pivot table feature in Microsoft Excel. As a matter of
fact, when I was sitting with my administrator, we were able to categorize and present the data in
multiple ways that led to an unnecessary representation of some of the data, which seemed to be
extraneous. Furthermore, the addition of these tables as an artifact would have proved excessive
because it was over 50 pages long. Even my administrator admitted that trying to sort data and
construct solutions would be difficult because of how specific the list of student behaviors can be
and the repercussions that accompany these misbehaviors. Another impediment to determining
valid solutions to this issue is bypassing district policy regarding actions and consequences.
Reflections
Administration at Clio High School already utilizes a system in attempt to cut down on
suspensions by increasing the use of detentions and community service initiatives. Last year,
administrators issued 507 detentions and only 17 students received community service. I spoke
openly with my administrator about increasing community service as a repercussion, and the
major issue is that administrators will only assign community service to students who
demonstrate good character. The primary rationale behind this is due to the janitors having to
monitor these students after school during the service hours. These community service hours
usually consist of washing lockers, desks, sweeping floors, and picking up trash around the
grounds outside. Throughout our discussion, it was evident that administrators attempt to cut
down on out-of-school suspension already because of trying to avoid students missing out on
quality instructional time. However, it is impossible to bypass some district policies.