Does in-school suspension help the students in any way? The whole point of in-school suspension is to teach kids a lesson while remaining in school and keeping up with their school work, but what lesson is it teaching them if they are actively missing class?

What do Students have to say?

Many students have stated that they purposely get in trouble, so all they get is a slap on the wrist; otherwise known as ACP, you’re in a separate classroom all day, doing your school work and not dealing with teachers, as these students would say. Although strict, it’s a much lesser consequence than dealing with actual out-of-school suspensions or expulsion. Others have noted that it was nice having the day to catch up on all the late work they would have instead not done at home. However, recent studies have shown that in-school suspension, or any suspension, does more harm than good. 

Does it work?

The American Institute of Research released a study that shows suspension, in or out of school, is an ineffective way to discipline students. The scores show that it does little to nothing to reduce misbehavior in the future or even improve their academic performance. How does missing more school improve their academic performance if they have to make up the work outside of class when they could have been learning? 

Many school officials use this archaic form of discipline to show authority over kids, but is power worth it when disciplining kids and teaching them a lesson? Maybe for some, but this does not work for all students, and it tends to look bad on their records. Instead, there are proven to be better ways to discipline students without in or out-of-school suspensions. 

Alternatives to suspension

That begs the question, what are forms of discipline or punishment other than words? The restorative chat is a fantastic alternative that helps students understand what they did wrong and where to go and lets teachers and staff members disciplining the student(s) know where they were coming from. It doesn’t have to be a slap on the wrist conversation, but a disciplinary one that has been proven to work in numerous cases. 

Community service hours are a good alternative; they give them community service hours and teach them that there are always consequences to every action, whether big or small, and the administrators can determine how many hours they have to serve.  I’m pretty sure physical labor as a “punishment” violated ed code, but there’s got to be various workarounds or other types of volunteer opportunities – maybe reading to the elderly, etc., that would be emotionally fulfilling for the student.

Social-emotional learning is another proven way to help students figure out what they did wrong. Students in high school are still relatively young and still learning; their brains have not been fully developed, and they often struggle to figure out what they did. It’s a good, simple, and effective way for all parties to understand what happened, where everyone went wrong, and how to move forward.

Although these are just a few alternatives for any suspension, they are effective, unlike regular suspension. Suspension is an easy way out, but it doesn’t help in the long run; there are other ways to discipline students without it.

Do you have any suggestions?