Literature Review Sources

Andrew Grande
Eng 123
McKeon, D. Research Talking Points on Dropout Statistics High School
Attendance,
Graduation, Completion, and Dropout Statistics. National Education
Association. February 2006. Web. Retrieved February 8, 2016.
http://www.nea.org/home/13579.htm.
The National Center for Education Statistics reported that nearly
80 percent of the individuals in prison do not have a high school
diploma. The main predictors that make a student more prone to
dropout of school include: family structure, socioeconomic structure,
family issues (divorce, death, family constantly moving), and mothers
age. If the student is not engaged in school and does not have a strong
or positive rapport with anyone at the school, their school experience
may be a contributing factor to them disliking school and dropping out.
Students who drop out attempt to take the GED test, however few
actually pass it. The number of students who make an effort to obtain a
GED dropped from 1,069,899 in 2001 to 603,019 in 2002, only about 1
percent of adults in the United States passed the GED test.
Holloway, J. Research Link/The Dilemma of Zero Tolerance. ASCD.
December
2001/January 2002. Volume 59:Pages 84-85. Print.
The article written by Holloway, it states that the zero tolerance
is a school policy that mandate predetermined consequences or
punishments for specific offenses. The National School Safety Center
(2001) indicates that 9 of 10 principals who took part of a survey
mentioned that tough discipline policies such as zero tolerance were
essential for keeping schools safe, regardless of the increase in student
suspensions. According to research, it is believed that the zero
tolerance policy holds students to high standards of behavior therefore
improving their conduct overall. These findings suggest that that zero
tolerance policies are good for both students because it holds them
accountable and schools because they set high expectations from their
students. Evidence of the success of the zero tolerance policy is
exhibited in the research conducted by Morris and Wells (2000). They
reported that after the Baltimore (Maryland) school board adopted a
zero tolerance policy, school-related arrests dropped 67 percent and
school crime decreased 31 percent. Barton, Coley, and Wenglinsky
(1998) also found that schools with less strict discipline policies
experienced higher levels of serious offenses.

Taras , H. Out-of-School Suspension and Expulsion. American

Academy of
Pediatrics. November 2003:Vol. 112 No. 5. Print.
The article discusses the fact that suspensions and expulsion are
methods used by school administrators as consequences for
unacceptable behaviors including violence, drug use/distribution,
carrying weapons, truancy, among other serious offences. The idea
was to decrease the number of students to get involved in these types
of acts and be an intervention. According to the article, between 79%
and 94% of schools follow the zero tolerance policy, which
predetermines consequences for various student offenses. This policy
is supported by almost 90% of Americans. The problem that arose from
excessively using this policy is that students were found to be missing
an abundant number of days of school. Approximately thirty-one
percent of students were expelled, had out-of-school suspension
periods up to 4 days in duration, and twenty percent were transferred
out to an alternative school or program. This played a role in having
the students get involved even more in the activities that may have
been the initial cause of their suspension or expulsion.
As stated in
the article, an alternative could be that school administrators establish
relationships with various health and social agencies in their
communities to provide social, emotional, and behavior support to
students and their families. By making connections with agencies that
provide individual, conjoint, and family counseling as well as other
support groups, the students with disciplinary issues can be readily
referred to receive the necessary services.
Daniels, P. "Zero Tolerance Policies Treat Students As Criminals." Zero
Tolerance Policies in Schools. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2009. 86-92.
Issues That Concern You. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 10 Feb.
2016.
The journal, "Zero Tolerance Policies Treat Students As Criminals,"
by Peggy Daniels talks about how schools disciplinary actions are
treating students inappropriate and as predestined criminals. The
actions taken by schools to attempt to teach student proper discipline
is failing, and as well are causing negative long term effects.
Daniels states that there are many schools across our nation those
misuse school disciplinary actions, which lead to some sort of criminal

conviction; disciplinary cases which should have been handled

internally without law enforcement. Daniels also states that schools
criminalize our student by leaving additional emotional scars by the
way a school carries out discipline. If a student is suspended, expelled,
arrested, jailed in the juvenile detention facilities, or even handcuffed it
will cause emotional trauma, embarrassment, and low self-esteem,
which greatly lead to school drop out.
Boccanfuso, C., and Kuhfeld, M. Multiple Responses, Promising
Results: Evidence
Based, Nonpunitive Alternative to Zero Tolerance. Child Trends, March
2011. Web. Retrieved February 8, 2016. http://www.nea.org/home/altzero-tolerance-policies.html
In the publication by Boccanfuso and Kuhfeld, it states that due
to recent violent events in schools, policies have been implemented in
order to increase the safety of all students and staff. The most
common widely school discipline policy that has been applied is: zero
tolerance. Zero tolerance assigns predetermined punishments for
specific school rule violations and in many severe cases lead to
suspension or expulsion. The thought is that by giving such harsh
consequences it will deter students from violent or illegal behavior. The
outcome has been the opposite, research suggests that suspension
and expulsion reinforce negative behavior and deny students from the
opportunity for positive socialization in school.
As mentioned, an alternative to the zero tolerance policies can be that
schools adopt programs that are targeted for behavioral support for atrisk students. The programs focus on social, behavioral, cognitive skill
building and character education in order to prevent violent or illegal
behavior. Instead of just getting rid of the problem, by following the
zero tolerance policy, we provide support to these students by
implementing a non punitive approach to school discipline, which may
have a more positive impact on student behavior and academic
achievement.
Ending Mass Incarceration: Social Interventions that work. The
Sentencing Project. Web. Retrieved February 11, 2016.
Sentencingproject.org
This journal article states that mass incarceration is a result of
the imbalance of the nations approach to public safety, because we
excessively rely on the criminal justice system. There is too much focus
on punishment versus investing in resources that could strengthen the
capacity of families and communities to address the issues that

contribute to crime. According to research many social interventions

are more cost-effective in producing better public safety outcomes
than expanded incarceration. The three areas mentioned to focus on
include the following: Childhood Education, Juvenile Justice, and the
Community.
Strong programs that contribute to the Early Childhood Education
include: Nurse Family Partnership (NFP), a home visitation program
that trains and supervises registered nurses as home visitors were
young, first-time mothers are identified to assist them for a span of two
years and Head Start/Preschool programs that help parents and their
children learn the importance of parenting styles and education. Both
programs have short-term and long-term benefits. This includes the
reduced engagement with the criminal justice system through the age
of 27, along with positive school outcomes and reduced need for social
services.
The primary focus of the juvenile justice system is protecting youth
and reducing the likelihood of their committing future offenses by
offering social services. The services include: Functional Family
Therapy (FFT) and Multisystemic Therapy (MST) which assists youth
ages 11-18 who have been engaged with delinquency, substance
abuse, or violence. The program focuses on addressing issues that
stem from the interactions between family members, works on
improving the functioning of the family as a whole, teaching problemsolving skills, and enhancing emotional connections among families to
provide structure, guidance, and boundaries for their children. The
article states that research shows that these programs that focus on
addressing family interactions are the most successful, because they
focus on providing skills to the adults who are in the best position to
impact the childs behavior preventing them from ending up in the
system.
The community plays a huge role as research has shown that a
community-level approach can be effective at preventing crime in
urban neighborhoods. When a child feels as a part of a strong
community, they tend to be productive and positive which steers them
away from delinquent behavior. Community participation can help in
supervising and monitoring teenage peer groups through social
networks that facilitate adult and youth interaction.

Kang-Brown, J., Trone, J., Fratello, J, and Daftary-Kapur, T. A Generation

Later: What Weve Learned About Zero Tolerance in Schools.
Issue Brief. December 2013
A Generation Later: What Weve Learned about Zero Tolerance in
Schools by Jacob Kang-Brown was an amazing journal that describes

the timeline of why we had to begin using zero tolerance policies, as

well as when it started being abused and used incorrectly by our school
system. In the late 1980s and early 90s there was a raise in juvenile
arrests for violent crimes, feeling pressure to act on the matter
congress passed a Gun-Free Schools Act in 1994. It stated that in order
for a school to receive federal education funds, they must expel a
student for at least a period of a year if they brought a gun to school.
As early as 1996, two years after congress passed the Gun-Free School
Act; about 79% of schools had adopted a zero tolerance policies for
violence, which went beyond federal mandates. Schools began to
receive extra funding for security guards, school based law
enforcement officers, and later the installation of metal detectors. By
2008 the numbers of public schools with full-time law enforcement and
security guards had tripled. Brown states that this shift in school
disciplinary policy and practice had duplicated changes that made it
closely to resemble the adult justice system, even though juvenile
crime rate was on the decline.
The Council of State Governments and the Public Policy Research
Institute at Texas A&M University had a study where researchers
tracked every student who entered seventh grade in 2000, 2001, and
2002 for six years. They found that more than half (60 percent) were
suspended or expelled at some point in middle or high school for
offenses that did not follow the parameters of the zero tolerance policy.
A great proportion of students who were suspended or expelled from
school were for simple violations of school conduct, such as using
tobacco or acting out in ways that teachers find to be disruptive and
disrespectful. School administrators were abusing zero tolerance policy
and choose to use harsh unjust punishments, even when they had the
judgment to choose other forms of discipline. Research shows that over
the past two decades, youth crime has become less serious and less
violent to a point where they are now the lowest theyve been in
decades. The situation in California among juveniles committing crime
has decreased 61 percent lower than it was in 1991 and the overall
number of youth arrested is at an all-time low.
Wilson, Harry. Turning off the School-to-Prison Pipeline.
Reclaiming Children & Youth. 2014, Vol. 23 Issue 1 p49-53. Academic
Journal
In the journal, turning off the School-to-Prison Pipeline by Harry
Wilson, it talked about the byproduct of zero tolerance at schools.
How school failure are outcomes of mass incarceration for boys and
young men of color. School policies that are being used as
consequences are a significant contributor to the current prison crisis
with more than half of incarcerated individuals entering prison without
a high school diploma. In 1994, congress passed a Gun Free School

Act, which required schools to enforce zero tolerance on guns and

weapons. This Gun Free School Act, eventually developed into
schools suspension and expulsion for students who violated policies
about alcohol, tobacco, drugs, fighting, insubordination, dress code,
and "disruptive behavior." Schools had adopted a strategy to remove
students who had problematic behavior in order to avoid them from
getting in the way of other students learning, school exclusion as a
punishment had became a common practice in classrooms. Zero
tolerance policies caused an imbalance, as minority students were
more likely to be "disciplined out" of schools and into the juvenile
justice system.
Wilson also talked about how studies found that students with one
suspension event were five times more likely to drop out. Students who
were suspended as a disciplinary action were nearly three times more
likely to have a juvenile justice contact in the following year. Wilsons
plan to stop the School-to-Prison Pipeline was composed of four steps.
First step was to eliminate the zero tolerance policies placed in schools.
Second, was to help school administrators with alternative solutions to
suspension and expulsion, and providing proper training for teachers to
assist in classroom management skills. Third step was to provide
community support between the school and its neighborhood. Fourth
step was to encourage youth engagement in afterschool programs or
extracurricular activities in order to engage our student in positive
alternatives to the streets.
Ending the Schoolhouse to Jailhouse Track. Advancement Project. Web.
Retrieved February 8, 2016. http:// www.advancementproject.org
/issues/stopping-the-school-to-prison-pipeline
Ending the Schoolhouse to Jailhouse Track is a web article by
Advancement Project. The article talks about the combination of overly
harsh school policies and an increase role of law enforcement in
schools have created a pipeline from school to prison. Schools are
suspending, expelling, and arresting students for misbehavior
misconduct, which lead to huge numbers of students pushed out of
schools into the streets and eventually jails. Many communities of low
economic status suffer from this injustice of school discipline, which
transforms schools from places of learning to dangerous gateways into
juvenile court. The Advancement Project goal solution of ending the
school to prison pipeline is to document and expose schools that abuse
the use of zero tolerance, other harsh disciplinary policies, and unjust
school discipline. To develop and implement school discipline reforms
on a local level that will represent as models for other communities.
To strengthen the youth and parent involvement to become engaged
citizens for a positive change and to impact the country by a national

conversation about this enormous issue in order to facilitate a greater

change.
James Polk, Brinson. Assessing The Effectiveness Of A Behavior
Intervention Model On Fifth Grade In-School Suspension Rates.
Cambridge College, ProQuest Dissertations Publishing, 2013. Retrieved
February 8, 2016.
Assessing The Effectiveness of a Behavior Intervention Model on
Fifth Grade In-School Suspension Rates by James Polk Brinson III
discussed the importance of elementary school being more effective
with their resources, school counselor, and teachers to instill better
decision-making skills upon students. He states that an early
intervention could give these students a better chance of succeeding
in school and in life, so they will not move from the school system to
the prison system.
Behavior problems in school are generally classified to one of these
three groups: aggressive, insubordinate, or being disrespectful. Brinson
points out that children do not automatically know how to behave
appropriately or naturally have self-control, and that they develop a
level of aggression early in life that remain stable, until a situation
occurs where they do not know how to act or respond. Brinson also
states that these types of children with behavior problems are often
labeled as underachievers, have consistent physical aggression,
limited learning skills, excessive misbehavior issues, and are most
likely in dropping out of school. According to Brinson, in order to assist
the prevention of students dropping out of school we must provide
students at an early age (Elementary-5 /6 Grade) with a proper model
on how to act and respond to certain situations. Improving our school
resources and school counselors to be dedicated in instructing and
guiding these students with the proper behavior skills needed to
survive in a school setting. Addressing these behavior issues at an
early age with help and guidance, instead of disciplinary actions, is a
possible solution to our dropout crisis that feed our prison systems.
th

th

Literature Review on Zero Tolerance/Mass Incarceration.

By: Andrew Grande

The zero tolerance policy assigns predetermined punishments for specific school
rule violations and in many severe cases lead to suspension or expulsion. This is an
important issue because as we begin to investigate the problem of mass incarceration and
dig into the underlying problem, it all seems to point to our schools systems that could
have taken alternative options for disciplinary actions and provide resources as a
preventative measure to assist our students and their families. The National Center for
Education Statistics reported that nearly 80 percent of the individuals in prison do not
have a high school diploma which leads to question if in fact the zero tolerance policy has
been effective in our school systems throughout its existence or if it feeding into mass
incarceration. The main predictors that make a student more prone to
dropout of school include: family structure, socioeconomic structure,
family issues (divorce, death, family constantly moving), and mothers
age. If the student is not engaged in school and does not have a strong
or positive rapport with anyone at the school, their school experience
may be a contributing factor to them disliking school and dropping out.
Students who drop out attempt to take the GED test, however few
actually pass it. The number of students who make an effort to obtain a
GED dropped from 1,069,899 in 2001 to 603,019 in 2002; only about
one percent of adults in the United States passed the GED test. This
extreme percentage of one percent passing the GED is an outrage and
a disadvantage to suspended or expelled students.
In the article written by Holloway, it states that the zero
tolerance is the school policy that mandate predetermined
consequences or punishments for specific offenses. The National
School Safety Center (2001) indicates that 9 of 10 principals who took
part of a survey mentioned that tough discipline policies such as zero
tolerance were essential for keeping schools safe regardless of the
increase in student suspensions. According to research, it is believed
that the zero tolerance policy holds students to high standards of
behavior therefore improving their conduct overall. These findings
suggest that zero tolerance policies are good for both students
because it holds them accountable and schools because they set high
expectations from their students. Evidence of the success of the zero
tolerance policy is exhibited in the research conducted by Morris and
Wells (2000). They report that after the Baltimore (Maryland) school
board adopted a zero tolerance policy, school-related arrests dropped
67 percent and school crime decreased 31 percent.
The article discusses the fact that suspensions and expulsion are
methods used by school administrators as consequences for
unacceptable behaviors including violence, drug use/distribution,
carrying weapons, truancy, among other serious offences. The idea
was to decrease the number of students to get involved in these types
of acts and be an intervention. According to the article, between 79%
and 94% of schools follow the zero tolerance policy, which
predetermines consequences for various student offenses. This policy

is supported by almost 90% of Americans. The problem that arose from

excessively using this policy is that students were found to be missing
an abundant number of days of school. Approximately thirty-one
percent of students were expelled, had out-of-school suspension
periods up to 4 days in duration, and twenty percent were transferred
out to an alternative school or program. This played a role in having
the students get involved even more in the activities that may have
been the initial cause of their suspension or expulsion and in a way
setting up a student for failure.
An alternative could be that school administrators establish
relationships with various health and social agencies in their
communities to provide social, emotional, and behavior support to
students and their families. By making connections with agencies that
provide individual, conjoint, and family counseling as well as other
support groups, the students with disciplinary issues can be readily
referred to receive the necessary services.
The journal, "Zero Tolerance Policies Treat Students As Criminals,"
by Peggy Daniels talks about how schools disciplinary actions are
treating students inappropriate and as predestined criminals. The
actions taken by schools to attempt to teach student proper discipline
is failing, and as well are causing negative long term effects.
Daniels states that there are many schools across our nation those
misuse school disciplinary actions, which lead to some sort of criminal
conviction; disciplinary cases which should have been handled
internally without law enforcement. Daniels also states that schools
criminalize our student by leaving additional emotional scars by the
way a school carries out discipline. If a student is suspended, expelled,
arrested, jailed in the juvenile detention facilities, or even handcuffed it
will cause emotional trauma, embarrassment, and low self-esteem,
which greatly lead to school drop out.
In the publication by Boccanfuso and Kuhfeld, it states that due
to recent violent events in schools, policies have been implemented in
order to increase the safety of all students and staff. The most
common widely school discipline policy that has been applied is: zero
tolerance. Zero tolerance assigns predetermined punishments for
specific school rule violations and in many severe cases lead to
suspension or expulsion. The thought is that by giving such harsh
consequences it will deter students from violent or illegal behavior. The
outcome has been the opposite, research suggests that suspension
and expulsion reinforce negative behavior and deny students from the
opportunity for positive socialization in school. As mentioned, an
alternative to the zero tolerance policies can be that schools adopt
programs that are targeted for behavioral support for at-risk students.
The programs focus on social, behavioral, cognitive skill building and

character education in order to prevent violent or illegal behavior.

Instead of just getting rid of the problem, by following the zero
tolerance policy, we provide support to these students by
implementing a non punitive approach to school discipline, which may
have a more positive impact on student behavior and academic
achievement.
Mass incarceration is a result of the imbalance of the nations
approach to public safety, because we excessively rely on the criminal
justice system as stated in the web article by the Sentencing Project.
There is too much focus on punishment versus investing in resources
that could strengthen the capacity of families and communities to
address the issues that contribute to crime. According to research
many social interventions are more cost-effective in producing better
public safety outcomes than expanded incarceration. The three areas
mentioned to focus on include the following: Childhood Education,
Juvenile Justice, and the Community. Strong programs that contribute
to the Early Childhood Education include: Nurse Family Partnership
(NFP), a home visitation program that trains and supervises registered
nurses as home visitors were young, first-time mothers are identified
to assist them for a span of two years and Head Start/Preschool
programs that help parents and their children learn the importance of
parenting styles and education. Both programs have short-term and
long-term benefits. This includes the reduced engagement with the
criminal justice system through the age of 27, along with positive
school outcomes and reduced need for social services.
The primary focus of the juvenile justice system is protecting youth
and reducing the likelihood of their committing future offenses by
offering social services. The services include: Functional Family
Therapy (FFT) and Multisystemic Therapy (MST) which assists youth
ages 11-18 who have been engaged with delinquency, substance
abuse, or violence. The program focuses on addressing issues that
stem from the interactions between family members, works on
improving the functioning of the family as a whole, teaching problemsolving skills, and enhancing emotional connections among families to
provide structure, guidance, and boundaries for their children. The
article states that research shows that these programs that focus on
addressing family interactions are the most successful, because they
focus on providing skills to the adults who are in the best position to
impact the childs behavior preventing them from ending up in the
system.
The community plays a huge role as research has shown that a community-level approach
can be effective at preventing crime in urban neighborhoods. When a child feels as a part
of a strong community, they tend to be productive and positive which steers them away
from delinquent behavior. Community participation can help in supervising and

monitoring teenage peer groups through social networks that facilitate adult and youth
interaction.
A Generation Later: What Weve Learned about Zero Tolerance in
Schools by Jacob Kang-Brown was an amazing journal that describes
the timeline of why we had to begin using zero tolerance policies, as
well as when it started being abused and used incorrectly by our school
system. In the late 1980s and early 90s there was a raise in juvenile
arrests for violent crimes, feeling pressure to act on the matter
congress passed a Gun-Free Schools Act in 1994. It stated that in order
for a school to receive federal education funds, they must expel a
student for at least a period of a year if they brought a gun to school.
As early as 1996, two years after congress passed the Gun-Free School
Act; about 79% of schools had adopted a zero tolerance policies for
violence, which went beyond federal mandates. Schools began to
receive extra funding for security guards, school based law
enforcement officers, and later the installation of metal detectors. By
2008 the numbers of public schools with full-time law enforcement and
security guards had tripled. Brown states that this shift in school
disciplinary policy and practice had duplicated changes that made it
closely to resemble the adult justice system, even though juvenile
crime rate was on the decline.
The Council of State Governments and the Public Policy Research Institute at Texas
A&M University had a study where researchers tracked every student who entered
seventh grade in 2000, 2001, and 2002 for six years. They found that more than half (60
percent) were suspended or expelled at some point in middle or high school for offenses
that did not follow the parameters of the zero tolerance policy. A great proportion of
students who were suspended or expelled from school were for simple violations of
school conduct, such as using tobacco or acting out in ways that teachers find to be
disruptive and disrespectful. School administrators were abusing zero tolerance policy
and choose to use harsh unjust punishments, even when they had the judgment to choose
other forms of discipline. Research shows that over the past two decades, youth crime has
become less serious and less violent to a point where they are now the lowest theyve
been in decades. The situation in California among juveniles committing crime has
decreased 61 percent lower than it was in 1991 and the overall number of youth arrested
is at an all-time low.
One of the solutions I read about was the turning off the School-to-Prison Pipeline
by Harry Wilson, it talked about the byproduct of zero tolerance at schools. How
school failure are outcomes of mass incarceration for boys and young men of color.
School policies that are being used as consequences are a significant contributor to the
current prison crisis with more than half of incarcerated individuals entering prison
without a high school diploma. In 1994, congress passed a Gun Free School Act, which
required schools to enforce zero tolerance on guns and weapons. This Gun Free School
Act, eventually developed into schools suspension and expulsion for students who
violated policies about alcohol, tobacco, drugs, fighting, insubordination, dress code, and
"disruptive behavior." Schools had adopted a strategy to remove students who had
problematic behavior in order to avoid them from getting in the way of other students

learning, school exclusion as a punishment had became a common practice in classrooms.

Zero tolerance policies caused an imbalance, as minority students were more likely to be
"disciplined out" of schools and into the juvenile justice system. Wilson also talked about
how studies found that students with one suspension event were five times more likely to
drop out. Students who were suspended as a disciplinary action were nearly three times
more likely to have a juvenile justice contact in the following year. Wilsons plan to stop
the School-to-Prison Pipeline was composed of four steps. First step was to eliminate the
zero tolerance policies placed in schools. Second, was to help school administrators with
alternative solutions to suspension and expulsion, and providing proper training for
teachers to assist in classroom management skills. Third step was to provide community
support between the school and its neighborhood. Fourth step was to encourage youth
engagement in after-school programs or extracurricular activities in order to engage our
student in positive alternatives to the streets.
The second solution I enjoyed reading was the Ending the Schoolhouse to
Jailhouse Track a web article by Advancement Project. The article talks about the
combination of overly harsh school policies and an increase role of law enforcement in
schools have created a pipeline from school to prison. Schools are suspending, expelling,
and arresting students for misbehavior misconduct, which lead to huge numbers of
students pushed out of schools into the streets and eventually jails. Many communities of
low economic status suffer from this injustice of school discipline, which transforms
schools from places of learning to dangerous gateways into juvenile court. The
Advancement Project goal solution of ending the school to prison pipeline is to document
and expose schools that abuse the use of zero tolerance, other harsh disciplinary policies,
and unjust school discipline. To develop and implement school discipline reforms on a
local level that will represent as models for other communities. To strengthen the youth
and parent involvement to become engaged citizens for a positive change and to impact
the country by a national conversation about this enormous issue in order to facilitate a
greater change.
An extra solution that I agreed with was Assessing The
Effectiveness of a Behavior Intervention Model on Fifth Grade In-School
Suspension Rates by James Polk Brinson III. It discussed the importance
of elementary school being more effective with their resources, school
counselor, and teachers to instill better decision-making skills upon
students. He states that an early intervention could give these
students a better chance of succeeding in school and in life, so they
will not move from the school system to the prison system.
Behavior problems in school are generally classified to one of these
three groups: aggressive, insubordinate, or being disrespectful. Brinson
points out that children do not automatically know how to behave
appropriately or naturally have self-control, and that they develop a
level of aggression early in life that remain stable, until a situation
occurs where they do not know how to act or respond. Brinson also
states that these types of children with behavior problems are often
labeled as underachievers, have consistent physical aggression,
limited learning skills, excessive misbehavior issues, and are most
likely in dropping out of school. According to Brinson, in order to assist

the prevention of students dropping out of school we must provide

students at an early age (Elementary-5 /6 Grade) with a proper model
on how to act and respond to certain situations. Improving our school
resources and school counselors to be dedicated in instructing and
guiding these students with the proper behavior skills needed to
survive in a school setting. Addressing these behavior issues at an
early age with help and guidance, instead of disciplinary actions, is a
possible solution to our dropout crisis that feed our prison systems.
After reading all my sources I have come to the conclusion that zero tolerance has
not been effective in the purpose it was created for. The evidence shows that most of the
people feeding mass incarceration are high school drop outs, and those who were
suspended and expelled. Zero tolerance must be abolished in order to give students a
chance in not obtaining a juvenile record. We must help the students with alternatives to
their behavior issues in order to create civilized human beings.
th

th