When school systems across the country adopted zero tolerance policies in the 1990s, "willful defiance" became the
No. 1 reason for suspensions, and launched students, especially minority students, into the school-to-prison pipeline. California is one of several states that is addressing this issue.
EdSource, a news site that covers education in California, did this great analysis of how this state is progressing on reducing the use of "willful defiance".
An EdSource analysis has found dramatic differences among the state’s largest school districts in their reliance on the controversial category of “willful defiance” of school authorities as a reason to suspend students.
In a review of 2011-12 data of in-school and out-of-school suspensions for the 30 largest districts in the state, EdSource found that four districts used the category of willful defiance as a reason to suspend students about two-thirds of the time, while nine districts relied on it a third or less of the time. Overall, almost half – 48 percent – of the suspensions in the state were for willful defiance in 2011-12, the most recent data available from the California Department of Education.
...The data do not explain why these differences exist. But some districts, such as Poway, attribute their low rates of suspension for willful defiance to their use for many years of alternative approaches to student discipline that favor methods such as restorative justice – which require misbehaving students to make amends to the people they have harmed. Officials at Fontana and San Juan say they are starting to introduce alternative approaches such as conflict mediation to reduce their reliance on the willful defiance category.
FYI, I've been doing a series of stories about trauma-informed schools that are using trauma-informed practices, PBIS, Safe & Civil Schools and restorative practices to reduce suspensions and expulsions.
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