Table Of ContentAre We Ready to #MeetTheMoment?
Maisie Chin
A community-based organization frames its collaboration with multiple stakeholders around
changing from a “culture of discipline” to a “culture of dignity” within the Los Angeles district.
Michael (all real names have if one is started. Although several of
been changed) is an African his friends are “affiliated,” Michael is
American eighth-grader in not. He has been in a few fights with
South Los Angeles. His mother Diane other students, but has no continuing
is a widow, and he has a twin sister beef with any other kids. In the fall of
and three older brothers. Last year, 2014, during PE class, Michael’s
one of Michael’s brothers was shot teacher asked him to put away a bag of
and killed by the Los Angeles Police chips he was eating. Michael said that
Department. His other brother is he had just bought the chips and
paralyzed from the neck down as a wanted to finish eating them. The PE
result of a drive-by shooting nine years teacher came over to Michael, took the
ago, when he was on the way to a chips, and threw them away himself. In
family party. His third brother is in the frustration, Michael told the PE
detention center Sylmar Juvenile Hall. teacher, “My brother is going to get
you.” The teacher took the matter to
Michael likes school, especially science
administration and asked that Michael
class. But like lots of middle school
be removed from the school because
boys, he doesn’t shy away from a fight
the teacher feared for his safety.
Maisie Chin is the executive director and co-founder of CADRE (Community Asset Development
Re-defining Education) in Los Angeles, California.
VUE 2015, no. 42 19
Michael was given an opportunity Michael has now missed over two
transfer (OT) from his home school in months of school. He has not been
South Los Angeles to a middle school recommended for expulsion but his
in Watts. An OT is when the district or home school will not reenroll him. This
school initiates a student transfer to now jeopardizes Michael’s education
another district school for remedial or – just one suspension, which in LAUSD
corrective reasons, as an alternative is often 1.5 days, doubles a student’s
means to address “problem behavior.” likelihood of dropout, and triples the
All OTs are recorded in a student’s file likelihood of entry into the juvenile
but are not recorded in school disci- justice system. Two months of missed
plinary data as a suspension or an school is equivalent to more than
expulsion – two common indicators thirteen suspensions.
of how well schools are managing
It was hearing stories like this from
discipline and which students are
parents year after year that prompted
being pushed out.
CADRE, the organization I lead, to
When Diane was called to the school to begin our Human Right to Education
sign the OT paperwork, school staff Campaign.
gave her little information about the
chips incident. She thought Michael had
DISCIPLINE DISPARITIES IN
been suspended because he had been in
a few fights and was now being trans- LOS ANGELES
ferred. When school site staff explained
Between 2005 and 2013, CADRE
the transfer to Diane, they did not tell
played a lead role in using grassroots
her she could appeal the decision.
organizing and leadership development
On Michael’s first day at the school in to create a seismic shift in public
Watts, three other students jumped him. policy, debate, and narrative around
On his fifth day, he got into a verbal school discipline, racial disparities, par-
altercation with the principal and ents’ roles, school climate, and closing
cursed at her. His OT was immediately the achievement gap for low-income
canceled. Under Los Angeles Unified students of color. Through our parent
School District (LAUSD) policy, that organizing and coalition and move-
meant he could no longer attend the ment building, we ushered in major
school in Watts and had to return to his new educational policies locally,
home school “for immediate enrollment statewide, and nationally that have
with no instructional days lost in the fundamentally changed the landscape
process.” Diane returned to Michael’s and raised the expectations and
home school to reenroll him. The home standards by which we assess our
school principal explained that Diane responses to student behavior, their
had signed “withdrawal” paperwork, root causes, and the inherent biases
that Michael was no longer her student, that accompanies them. By 2013, an
and that she didn’t have to accept him LAUSD high school in East Los
back into school. After a few weeks the Angeles achieved the unheard of
pupil services and attendance counselor standard of zero suspensions. A South
called Diane and explained that she Los Angeles high school that CADRE
could work on enrolling Michael in a focused on brought suspensions down
continuation school that serves students from 100 to 7 in one year.
at risk of dropping out. Michael
In 2013, in coalition with youth
explained to his mom that he didn’t feel
organizing groups and advocates,
safe going to any other school besides
CADRE ushered in LAUSD’s adoption
his home school because he was
of the School Climate Bill of Rights,
worried about getting jumped again.
20 Annenberg Institute for School Reform
making it the first district in California We then found ourselves with
to ban suspensions for “willful the opportunity to co-anchor the
defiance.” This victory was just after PASSAGE project in Los Angeles
the state of California passed six major through the Annenberg Institute of
pieces of legislation that Governor School Reform at Brown University.
Brown then signed into law, changing We would bring together district and
the state’s school discipline landscape school representatives and community
fundamentally by, among other things, partners and stakeholders to partici-
making suspensions the last resort. In pate in a year-long collaboration that
2014, California also legislatively put a would highlight the success of LAUSD
three-and-a-half-year moratorium on discipline interventions and identify
suspending students out of school for additional opportunities to continue
willful defiance in grades K–3 and on to reduce and eliminate disparities.
expulsions for the same reason for all (For more on the PASSAGE initiative,
grades. please see the preface of this issue.)
But despite these victories, Michael’s This was a complex opportunity for
story was still all too common. The CADRE, as a community-based
hard truth was that despite these organizing institution, particularly as
dramatic declines in the number of one that organizes parents. Would we
suspensions overall, CADRE and our have to roll back our focus on race,
allies continued to see that African and specifically on the persistent
American students were still the ones disparities experienced by African
most frequently being expelled and sus- American children? Our work over
pended in LAUSD. Of the seven fourteen years had already shown us
suspensions logged by the South Los the extreme political discomfort and
Angeles high school in 2014, three of recalcitrance within LAUSD in matters
them, or nearly 43 percent, were of affecting African American students.
African American students, who only Would parents – African American
made up 9.5 percent of the students at parents in particular – be respected at
the school that year. This pattern held the table as equal partners, when they
true for school after school, regardless are often the first to be blamed, and
of the number of suspensions. And often demonized, for the community’s
CADRE’s African American parents challenges at large? Would our orga-
still had stories of their children being nizing allies join us at the table? Many
pushed out in multiple ways, including of them were demanding additional
OTs and having the police called on reforms, and many might not have the
their children. These practices kept capacity or have made the political
suspension off the rolls, but it still choice to monitor implementation of
removed a child from school, perhaps our shared policy victories. Would
permanently. LAUSD refuse to work with us because
of our track record of persistent
Organizing parents and youth to take
monitoring and holding its feet to the
on the school-to-prison pipeline had
fire? Would our community organizing
seemed like a winning strategy for
values be compromised in working
policy change. But improving condi-
with the district, school sites, teachers,
tions for African American students in
and even service nonprofits that
actual practice, so that they truly
provide valuable student supports yet
benefited from each policy victory,
depend on service contracts from
proved to be elusive. We saw the need
school administrators? Would the
to fundamentally transform school
truths that we learned make everyone
climate.
too uncomfortable?
Maisie Chin VUE 2015, no. 42 21
THE APPRECIATIVE INQUIRY re-frame how we see situations and our
FRAMEWORK response to them, often leading to
recognition of strengths and humanity
We realized in the planning stages of
versus deficits and judgment. AI has
PASSAGE that we would need a
been used to train educators to shift
sophisticated new capacity – to
classroom culture and set and teach to
convene multiple stakeholder groups
high expectations. Exploring the
and generate the conditions for
complex and provocative topics that lie
courageous collaboration to end racial
at the heart of discipline disparities
discipline disparities. This meant trying
clearly needs this kind of rigor and
to replicate how we built bold, shared
persistent practice.
interests among our South Los Angeles
parent leaders over many years, In five sessions from February to May
adapting our model to build shared 2015, we convened nearly forty
interests between a much broader community- and school-based stake-
range of stakeholders and power holders, including parents, students,
holders. It also meant that we had organizers, advocates, educators,
to let go of a few things and identify school operators, and a district
new ideas and strategies for addressing administrator in a dynamic, ground-
a persistent problem. breaking process of self-exploration,
discovery, and dreaming to ensure
We also understood that we had to
more racially just, culturally respectful,
build a movement grounded in the
and healthy schools for all students.
School Climate Bill of Rights and other
We sought to identify bold and
previous campaigns that would go
courageous actions and strategies for
beyond compliance and numbers to
fundamentally transforming school
create new experiences, new stories,
climate in South Los Angeles.
and new possibilities for students.
Demanding change would have to be The first session offered a data-based
nimble enough to both hold ground orientation to the historical roots of
and model the courageous reflection discipline disparities and an introduc-
and dialogue from CADRE staff and tion to AI. The second addressed the
parent leaders, which we now expected inescapable but difficult-to-discuss role
from educators and administrators. of implicit bias, which led to a deep-
We framed this project and our role in ened inquiry of the root causes and
it as an opportunity to “meet the community impact of race- and
moment” – to confront persistent racial gender-based discipline disparities.
disparities, inspiring the project name
The third session focused on storytell-
#MeetTheMoment.
ing – a vital part of the AI process that
An approach to taking collaborative illuminates what participants experi-
action known as Appreciative Inquiry ence when the system is not working
(AI) provided a framework for moving well and when it is working at its best.
forward.1 AI uses data, stories, case We heard from a student who had been
studies, and different levels of partici-
pant dialogue to prompt questions that
1 Appreciative Inquiry “is a method for
bring out analysis of root causes, studying and changing social systems
diverse perspectives, and self-reflection (groups, organizations, communities) that
advocates collective inquiry into the best of
in order to uncover biases, assump-
what is in order to imagine what could be,
tions, beliefs we may be holding onto,
followed by collective design of a desired
and responsibility we may not be future state that is compelling and thus,
taking. Most importantly, this inquiry does not require the use of incentives,
coercion or persuasion for planned change
is intended to create opportunity to
to occur” (Bushe 2013).
22 Annenberg Institute for School Reform
pushed out of school and miraculously can this stakeholder make that
found an alternative, supportive would serve as a best practice
learning environment; a Latina mother moving forward?
who had taken a stand and requested
The most pivotal question, the one
that a school not suspend an African
that led to the most pause and intro-
American boy who allegedly had
spection, was:
gotten into an altercation with her son;
and two teachers at schools committed What would this stakeholder need to
to restorative practices who shared the let go of in order to embody those
highs and lows of modeling that values and beliefs?
commitment in the face of peer
It seemed difficult for everyone to
resistance, isolation, and lack of
answer, and the subtle habits of
resources. We also used stories to
questioning the story’s details and
document the revelations, lessons
blaming or defending another stake-
learned, and appreciation for when
holder still happened. Despite the three
the system of discipline is working at
previous sessions of inquiry and
its best.
re-framing, a high-stakes situation or
Perhaps the most revealing moment in example still tested the best of our
our process was in the fourth conven- intentions. Students in the process
ing, when we practiced applying these identified with Michael’s story and
new lenses and considered the real-life realized that they had similar experi-
story of Michael. It was an example of ences with different outcomes. Parents
the human experience behind the data struggled with each other about
– what the numbers do not tell – and whether or not the parent was to blame
of how the way we frame a situation and Michael was wrong. Educators and
alters a life, often irreparably. administrators felt they needed more
information and did not want to make
We were in small groups organized by
presumptions about the PE teacher’s
stakeholder – parents, educators, and
access to support or training.
administrators. All three groups
quickly realized that re-framing any But this is exactly why AI is valuable.
number of details could have meant all It presents an opportunity, especially
the difference in a school’s disciplinary for parent- and student-led organizing
decision and its huge impact on a groups, to level a playing field that
student’s life. Each group considered often does not even let us in. We are
powerful questions: often resigned to collecting story after
story like that of Michael and his
Where are there pivotal opportuni-
mother from our parent and youth
ties to reframe the actions taken by
members, when it is too late to ask
this stakeholder?
questions or re-frame or see the root
What actions could this stakeholder cause of Michael’s reaction to his
take to exhibit a shift from a teacher. We often have little recourse
“culture of discipline” to a but a legal one, which does not
“culture of dignity”? guarantee resolution or reparation in
the least bit, given the power differen-
What values and beliefs would be
tial between school staff and students
present in this school climate if there
and parents.
were a culture of dignity versus a
culture of discipline? AI builds our capacity to link these
stories to data and aggregate them to
In shifting towards a culture of
a collective problem that requires a col-
dignity and striving towards the
lective solution. It equips parents and
most ideal outcome, what decisions
Maisie Chin VUE 2015, no. 42 23
students, especially, with the practice of feedback towards students of color.
asking questions in order to identify
In bringing #MeetTheMoment to a
beliefs and assumptions that cause the
close, we focused on fostering that
reactions and decisions which might
intrinsic motivation that sometimes
decide a child’s life. It gives parents
only rigorous self-inquiry can generate.
ways to enter into difficult conversa-
As we reflected on what we had
tions with other adults on campus and
learned or believe to be true about
position themselves as change agents
discipline disparities, we asked our-
and leaders, where everyone’s perspec-
selves the following questions:
tive can add rigor to the analysis of the
problem and the solution. What contribution can you make
towards the elimination of discipline
Our fifth and final session featured the
disparities in South Los Angeles
personal story of a high school dean-
schools?
turned-principal who transformed from
a die-hard believer in punitive school Where do you have the discretion
discipline to an inspired champion of and freedom to act without more
positive behavior support and restor- resources or authority, and what can
ative practices, an administrator who you do?
now does whatever it takes to prevent
What do you need to let go of in
a student from going into the juvenile
order to face the obstacles and act
justice system, even in situations that
anyway?
lead most to overreact. He described
how he had to let go of his guilt over
the instances in which his punitive
NOW WHAT?
approach did not work, because this
guilt often manifests itself as justifica- In truth, there is no real end to
tion to continue doing the same thing #MeetTheMoment. No matter what
regardless of the results. In fact, a key the suspension numbers say, discipline
part of his transformation was no disparities run deep, especially those
longer seeing school-wide positive based on race and gender. Faithful,
behavior support as a central office respectful, courageous implementation
mandate that he had to implement, but of the policies we have won, along with
rather as part of his core practice as an a culture of dignity in our schools, will
assistant principal and then a first-time only be possible if we find yet another
principal. The result? In his first year new north star – the elimination of
as a first-time principal at a racially race-based discipline disparities and
diverse school of 1,400 students, the biased practices that drive them.
suspensions plummeted from 89 to 3.
Appreciative Inquiry and the habits of
For many of us, this principal’s self-reflection and collective spirit help
personal transformation story was AI us liberate our minds and hearts from
in practice, whether he called it AI or thinking in the status quo, translate
not. And while his suspension numbers personal stories into systemic change
are certainly impressive, what are more possibilities, and take responsibility for
so are the practices that generate those creating transformative alternatives. AI
low numbers. His story demonstrated has provided a broader framework that
how discipline disparities are best encompasses and embraces the prac-
addressed in schools through intrinsic tices that CADRE has always used to
motivation, recognition that relation- carve out a groundbreaking political
ships matter, paying attention to role for grassroots parents in this
student connectedness and belonging, struggle: storytelling, truth seeking,
and interrupting cycles of negative and using our values to discern what
24 Annenberg Institute for School Reform
is strategic, possible, and purposeful are opportunities to develop new
in the long term. The struggle remains movement allies.
open-ended and generated by those
To quote our colleagues in the
who participate in it.
Research to Practice Collaborative,
We leave you with our key takeaways “you can’t fix what you don’t look at”
as we move forward: (Carter et al. 2014). We can compel
compliance and forced implementation
Unearth the deeper barriers to
of positive behavior support, restor-
eradicating discipline disparities.
ative practices, school police training,
Pressing social conditions coincide
or diversion programs at schools. We
with and impact spikes in school
can even celebrate major changes in the
discipline. Mental representations of
data. But unless we dig deep and look
stigmatized groups often contribute to
underneath the surface, our myriad
contemporary racial bias, inequality,
policies, trainings, and public declara-
and disparities in discipline practices.
tions of ending the school-to-prison
Race-based biases impact increased
pipeline will be, in the words of Angela
levels of irritation and resulting punish-
Davis, “the difference that makes no
ments. Authority and power dynamics
difference, the change that makes no
impede relationship-building with
change” (Younge 2015).
students.
For more on CADRE’s work in South
Surface imperatives and look for new
Los Angeles, see http://www.cadre-la.
opportunities to reduce discipline
org/.
disparities.
Disparities in suspension rates by race,
English learner status, and disability
REFERENCES
start as early as pre-school and increase
exponentially in secondary school.
Bushe, G. R. 2013. “Appreciative Inquiry.”
Across all educational levels, African
In Encyclopedia of Management Theory,
American boys and girls experience the
edited by E. H. Kessler. Thousand Oaks,
highest rates of discipline disparities
CA: Sage Publications.
– the rates of disciplinary actions
against African American girls are Carter, P., R. Skiba, M. Arredondo, and M.
higher than the rates for boys in all Pollock. 2014. You Can’t Fix What You
other ethnic groups, excluding African Don’t Look At: Acknowledging Race in
American boys. Embracing a culture of Addressing Racial Discipline Disparities. In
dignity, instead of a culture of disci- Discipline Disparities Series: Acknowledg-
pline, can help to foster positive and ing Race (December). Bloomington, IN:
healthy school climates for all students. The Equity Project at Indiana University,
Center for Evaluation and Education Policy.
Build the political will for a sustained
movement to achieve a long-term vision. Younge, G. 2015. “Farewell to
The AI approach is a strategy to foster America,” The Guardian (July 1). Available
relationship-building between systems online at http://www.theguardian.com/
leaders and community advocacy us-news/2015/jul/01/gary-younge-farewell-
groups. Continuing to deepen relation- to-america.
ships among teachers, administrators,
students, and parents will build critical
mass to ensure a more fortified
movement behind implementation
of new school discipline policies.
Intersections with other social issues
Maisie Chin VUE 2015, no. 42 25
