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Zero-Tolerance Experts
Offsetting Racial Divides:
Zero-Tolerance School Suspensions & Restorative Justice Practices
A Scholar's Findings of Discipline Inequities
Dr. Ashley N. Gwathney, MSW, LCSW
Rutgers University New Brunswick, School of Social Work, DSW Program
Examining disparities in adolescent Black males' access to high-quality counseling services in schools, Ashley shares her research on the over-representation of adolescent Black males in zero-tolerance school suspensions and the use of counter-storytelling as a restorative justice practice.
Research also shows sharp racial contrasts among School Counseling Directors and indicates a need to examine how this disparity contributes to gaps in school discipline. Overall, Black students are underrepresented in racially similar teachers, administrators, and school counselors.
Examining gaps in the original ACEs, Ashley discusses the historical inequities of zero-tolerance school suspensions. She highlights a 2015 study conducted by the Schott Foundation.
Filling in gaps of the original ACEs, the Philadelphia ACEs Project includes experiences of racialized trauma and is a tool to guide equity-based trauma-informed discipline.
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