national Dignity in Schools Campaign (DSC)

NESRI is a founding, core group member of the Dignity in Schools Campaign (DSC) a coalition of advocates, educators, organizers, and lawyers from across the country united to reframe the debate around school discipline from one that aims to punish and exclude children from school, to a human rights perspective that respects the child’s right to an education, and advocates for child-centered, dignified reform to keep children in school.  Our aim is to expose systemic problems in our nation’s school systems and provide human rights-based solutions solutions to end pushout and improve responses to school discipline. 

National Conference Articulates “A Collective Voice for Dignity in Schools”
On June 5 and 6, 150 advocates, organizers, youth, parents and educators from 20 states around the country came together in Chicago for the first ever Dignity In Schools Campaign (DSC) National Conference. There they discussed positive alternatives to zero-tolerance discipline and school pushout. Amongst the core conference organizers and participants were NESRI and its partners CADRE and FFLIC (pictured here). The goal of the conference was to reframe the national dialogue on school climate and discipline within a human rights framework and to affirm that the human right to an education includes:

• the full development of the child;
• the protection of human dignity;
• freedom from discrimination; and
• the right to participation of parents, students, and educators.

The DSC is now working to finalize a National Resolution on Ending School Pushout. For more information on the DSC and the conference >>> To view a conference photo gallery >>> To participate in the ongoing work to finalize the National Resolution email the DSC >>> 

Recent Publications

"Positive Behavior Supports: A Wise Investment of Economic Stimulus Funds"
An April 2009 publication from the DSC and the Southern Poverty Law Center. >>>

DSC Report to UN Special Rapporteur: The Right to Education in the Juvenile and Criminal Justice Systems in the United States
On December 31, 2008 the DSC and six organizations submitted a report on the right to education in U.S. juvenile and criminal justice facilities to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Education, Mr. Vernor Muñoz. The report documents the: school to prison pipeline, demographic and educational characteristics of the juvenile and adult incarcerated population, lack of adequate access to quality education programs in juvenile facilities and state and federal prisons, and examples of youth detention facilities in New York, Texas, and Louisiana that violate the rights of youth to education and to be treated with dignity. The report was submitted to the Special Rapporteur, who is currently preparing a report to the United Nations Human Rights Council about prisoner education worldwide to be released in June 2009. Read the DSC report and contact the DSC to help prepare additional recommendations to the Special Rapporteur. >>>

Tele-Conference Call Series
The DSC campaign organizes quarterly tele-conference calls for advocates educators, activists and lawyers from around the country to engage in discussion and debate about pushout and discipline policies and to develop strategies for working together.

• Information on our most recent conference call :
  April 7, 2009 – The Impact of Corporal Punishment, Restraint and Seclusion, and How Education Stimulus Dollars Can Be Used to Solve Part of the Pushout Problem
• Recordings and notes of past conference calls are available. 
• Past tele-conference calls have resulted in the creation of new Working Groups and publications such as the research guide, Alternative Schools and Pushout: A Research and Advocacy Guide, Fall 2007

Alternatives to Zero-Tolerance Working Group
NESRI and the DSC have recently formed the Alternatives to Zero-Tolerance Working Group to promote successful models for positive school discipline, including Positive Behavior Support (PBS) and restorative practices. The DSC is currently developing educational materials for advocates, and researching federal and state-level legislative proposals for alternatives to zero-tolerance. Links about PBS and restorative practices.

Research Project
NESRI worked with the DSC to create www.dignityinschools.org - a website to share information and research about human rights and the pushout problem, and to build alliances for combating pushout among advocates, educators, activists and lawyers across the country.

“Pushouts” are children who have been removed (or have removed themselves) from a regular school setting as a result of a school policy that discourages them from remaining in classrooms and on track to receive a regular diploma.  Examples of such school policies include zero tolerance and other exclusionary discipline policies which push students out (ie. repeated and excessive suspension and expulsion; referrals to the juvenile justice system); as well as unwelcoming school environments and lack of relevant and engaging curricula that serve to disengage students from learning and discourage them from attending school.

We are working on three projects to gather information for the website:

• Research on Pushout – we are compiling summaries of research studies, news articles and advocacy reports to better understand how and why students are being pushed out of school and to explore the link between discipline and pushout.
• Research on Effective Alternatives – we are compiling summaries of data-based studies and guides on effective school and district models that prevent pushout and take positive approaches to discipline, and developing analysis for how the frameworks of human rights and restorative justice can inform positive alternatives for schools.
• Research on Legal and Advocacy Strategies – we are gathering information at the local level from advocates, organizers, educators and lawyers about effective policy, legislative and organizing strategies for how to combat pushout.

To contribute to this research project or participate in the Alternatives to Zero-Tolerance Working Group or the tele-conference series contact Liz Sullivan.