Districts Often Lack Resources To Make Discipline Changes.

Nirvi Shah writes at the Education Week (5/1, Shah) "Rules of Engagement" blog that though a survey of the American Association of School Administrators found that many districts are "changing their codes of conduct in a way that limits the use of out-of-school suspension and expulsion and defines the role of law enforcement in school," many of them lack the financial and staffing resources to implement such changes.

Researchers Lament High Suspension Numbers.

Speaking on NPR Tell Me More (4/30), author Daniel Losen discusses the reasons for and consequences of high middle and high school suspension rates, which "have risen dramatically in recent years" and affect male students of color and students with disabilities at a disproportionate rate. The conversation focuses on a study from the Center for Civil Rights Remedies which found that "suspending kids actually leads to more drop-outs."

Researchers Call On Schools To Stop Using Term "Bullying."

USA Today (4/30, Toppo) reports that according to a group of researchers, "schools that want to do a better job fighting bullying" should "stop using the term 'bullying.'" The researchers argue that overuse of the word obscures the problem, and that educators are "often hampered by policies that require mistreatment to be repetitive, for example, part of the classic definition of bullying."