Date of Award
2003
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Education
Department
Programs for Higher Education
Advisor
Sidi M. Lakhdar
Committee Member
Stanley Hannah
Committee Member
Barbara Packer
Keywords
alternative suspension program, assessment, behavior modification curriculum, conflict resolution, disciplinary reasons, discipline, discipline policy, female students, high schools, Homestead Senior High School, male students, outdoor suspensions, peer mediation, punitive consequences, Saturday School, school administration, school violence, student conflict, student misbehavior, student suspensions, suspension, violent acts
Abstract
During the 2001-2002 school year, Homestead Senior High School suspended 417 students on 772 occasions. Thus, 13.5% of the student body was suspended from school for disciplinary reasons. More significantly, 32.4% of all outdoor suspensions were a result of violence. To further compound the problem, there was no feasible course of action to deal appropriately with student conflict or violence.
An assessment of the problem revealed various causes. Specifically, the school’s out-of-school suspension rate was amongst the highest in the district; male students were suspended 3 times more than their female counterparts; and Homestead Senior High School students committed double the number of violent acts than its 4 neighboring high schools. The reliance on out-of-school suspension by school administration as a punitive consequence for student misbehavior had not solved this dilemma.
The writer implemented a Saturday alternative to the suspension program and a peer mediation conflict resolution program designed to reduce the school’s out-of-school suspension rate, resolve conflicts peacefully, and reduce the total number of violent acts at Homestead Senior High School. The Saturday alternative to the suspension program features a behavior modification curriculum, and requires students to attend the Saturday School to either reduce an existing suspension or to avoid being suspended.