Zero Tolerance Policy

775 Words4 Pages

Introduction
There is an ongoing abuse of the zero-tolerance policy that continues to affect the lives of minority girls in schools in the public and private school sector. The current literature supports data that show that minorities are severely impacted by the policies. However, there is a gap in the literature that addresses the magnitude of how minority girls are impacted by these policies. Furthermore, due to the zero-tolerance policies, cultural differences are not even considered. Due to a lack of a universally accepted definition of zero tolerance, there are only estimates of the frequency of enforcement (Daly, Hildenbrand, Haney-Caron, Goldstein, Galloway, and DeMatteo, 2016). The arrest of students results in unintended consequences …show more content…

According to Ward (2014) zero-tolerance policies may have outlived its original intent and are now doing more harm than good. What started out to be a policy intended to provide a safe place for students evolved into an umbrella punishment for any type of misbehavior including those that are not criminal. As a result, minority students have been affected most by these policies, and they often contribute to propelling these students into the juvenile justice system, often for status offenses. Ward (2014) cites the Department of Education as reporting Black students are three times more likely to expelled or suspended nationally. The shooting of Trevon Martin was indirectly related to an extended suspension from school. The teen was not killed during the school hour but he was staying with his father as a result of the suspension (Hoffman, 2014). Many articles and literature address these issues; however, there is a gap in the literature that explains how minority girls are affected which in turn overlook solutions to the problem. Daly et al. (2016) indicate that the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 provided incentives for schools to eliminate specific students so that the school’s standardized test score results will improve. According to Thompson (2016) unintended consequences rose out of federal incentives for students to do well on test scores since the federal bench marks needed to be met to receive funding. When schools use the zero-tolerance policy as a way to eliminate lower scores, minority girls are affected by these