Dissertations and Theses @ UNI
Availability
Open Access Thesis
Keywords
Student suspension--Iowa; School discipline--Iowa; School discipline; Student suspension; Iowa;
Abstract
Suspension has increasingly become one of the foremost problems confronting educational administrators in American public schools. The controversy over the advantages and disadvantages of out-of-school suspension has been on stage in the current educational scene. This conflict has evoked public skepticism and some intervention on the part of courts.
Educators have begun to develop in-school suspension programs as an alternative to out-of-school suspension. The major objective of in-school suspension is to have suspended students remain in the educational setting. This change in practice enables the school and community resources to be more readily used in remediating and facilitating the improvement of student behavior problems.
Variation exists in the organization of in-school suspension programs across the country. This result is achieved because programs are designed to meet the particular needs of each school and by the availability of resources. The present study purported to (1) assess in-school suspension programs and (2) identify those criteria or organizational variables which tend to be contributing to the success or lack of success of in-school suspension programs.
The junior high/middle schools and senior high schools located in Area 7 of Iowa served as the population for this investigation. The actual implementation of an in-school suspension program by school officials in Area 7 was the basis upon which schools in this study were selected.
Three questionnaires and an interview form were developed in this study. The first questionnaire was sent to a panel of experts. The experts' responses provided validation and a rank ordered hierarchy of the ten organizational criteria utilized in the assessment of in-school suspension programs. The other two questionnaires were designed to obtain suspension data from schools in Area 7 with and without in-school suspension programs. The interview form was developed to assess the criteria or organizational variables included in the in-school suspension programs of schools in Area 7 of Iowa.
In the final analysis, in-school suspension programs were found to be operating in 27 secondary schools located in Area 7 of Iowa. Twenty-six principals and/or others designated by the principal were interviewed in regard to the in-school suspension program being operated in their own particular school.
Typically the in-school suspension programs in Area 7 of Iowa did not include a majority of the criteria or organizational variables used to assess the programs. The criteria practiced in the in-school suspension programs did not correlate well with the rank ordered hierarchy provided by the panel of experts.
There was no significant difference in the number of suspensions occurring "Before" as compared to "After" the implementation of an in-school suspension program.
The enrollment-suspension ratios improved in six schools after an in-school suspension program had been implemented, however, the enrollment-suspension ratios worsened in five schools after an in-school suspension program had been implemented.
It was found that the trend in the enrollment-suspension ratios of the 40 schools in this study, with and without in-school suspension, had improved over the past three semesters. However, it is not clear why this improvement occurred.
As a group, the in-school suspension programs of schools in Area 7 of Iowa did not possess a majority of the criteria used to assess the programs.
The criteria or organizational variables perceived by experts as being "necessary for inclusion" in an in-school suspension program were not generally reflected as being a major part of the in-school suspension programs of schools in Area 7.
It was concluded that the majority of in-school suspension programs in Area 7 of Iowa appear to be still in the developmental stages. As a result, the majority of administrators have grasped the idea of in-school suspension, but have not yet begun to operate in-school suspension programs that are generally accepted as educationally sound.
Year of Submission
1978
Degree Name
Specialist in Education
Department
Department of Educational Leadership and Postsecondary Education
Department
Department of School Administration and Personnel Services
First Advisor
Robert Brimm
Date Original
1978
Object Description
1 PDF file (134 pages)
Copyright
©1978 Stephen Darryl Glass
Language
en
File Format
application/pdf
Recommended Citation
Glass, Stephen Darryl, "A Study of In-School Suspension Programs in Area 7 of Iowa" (1978). Dissertations and Theses @ UNI. 1532.
https://scholarworks.uni.edu/etd/1532
Comments
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