Corpun file 26703 at www.corpun.com
Education Week blog, 4 May 2018
Inside School Research
Nearly 100,000 K-12 Students Still Spanked or Paddled at School, Data Show
By guest blogger Alex Harwin
(extract)
The percentage of U.S. K-12 students who are physically punished in schools continues to drop, but nearly 100,000 children were still spanked or paddled in school in 2015-16, and black students are still disproportionately on the receiving end of the practice.
The overall number of students receiving physical discipline represents an 8 percent decline from 2013-14 when under 110,000 students were spanked or paddled. There's been no real change in the number of schools using physical discipline -- about 4,000, mostly in the rural South -- but the practice seems to be turning up in new states. Twenty-three states identified cases of corporal punishment in 2015-16, up from 21 in 2013-14 --Minnesota and Wisconsin had schools that used this discipline in the latest collection, even though it is illegal in both states.
Those results are based on an Education Week review of federal civil rights data recently released by the U.S. Department of Education. The analysis of data from the 2015-16 school year updates an earlier Education Week analysis of 2013-14 corporal punishment data. The previous analysis showed that at 4,000 mostly rural schools, the punishment rates for black students were nearly double those for their white peers. With the release of the new 2015-16 civil rights data set, the Education Week Research Center revisited some of the discoveries from the initial report and update them, as well as see if there have been any significant changes year to year.
The number of students receiving physical discipline in school dropped from 1 out of every 125 students in 2000 to 1 out of every 500 students in 2015-16.
That steady long-term decline seems to be losing steam,however. From 2013-14 to 2015-16, the number of students without disabilities receiving corporal punishment dropped by 11 percent, compared to drops of between 17 percent to 36 percent every other year. (The 8 percent decline cited above includes students in special education.)
And in more than 40 percent of schools that used physical punishment, at least some students were paddled or spanked more than once.
Still A Worrying Pattern in Who Gets Punished
When we did our first look at corporal punishment data, based on 2013-14 data, the punishment rates for black students were nearly double those for their white peers.
In the latest analysis, black students are still more likely to be paddled than their white classmates. Black students still make up 22 percent of overall enrollment in schools using corporal punishment, but they receive 38 percent of the physical punishments meted out in those schools. White students meanwhile made up nearly 60 percent of total enrollment in the schools that use corporal punishment, but those students were only involved in less than half of incidents of physical punishment.
Most States Not Using Corporal Punishment
As in years past, schools in the majority of states don't use corporal punishment. Mississippi had most episodes of physical punishment of K-12 students, followed by Texas, Alabama, Arkansas, and Oklahoma.
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Corpun file 26734 at www.corpun.com
The Texas Monitor, Houston, 17 May 2018
Texas has 2nd largest number of school spankings in U.S.
By Steve Miller
(extracts)
While most public school districts in the U.S. have done away with corporal punishment, Texas ranks second to Mississippi in paddlings, according to a report from Education Week.
The data from school year 2015-2016 shows a drop of eight percent from the previous year, but the same number of schools --about 4,000 -- continue to keep spanking on the disciplinary menu.
The district with the most incidents in Texas is an elementary school in City View ISD in Wichita Falls, followed by the high school in Floydada ISD in West Texas, enrollment: 760.
Most of the schools with spanking are in smaller districts in rural areas. Although, one school in Dallas -- the AW Brown Leadership Academies Charter School, intermediate campus in South Dallas -- is on the list.
Several other Dallas charters, including both Nova Academies' campuses, made the list as well. Districts located around Beaumont and Waco both had schools listed as using paddling in 2015-2016.
[...]
As recently as 2016, 21 states still allowed spanking as a punishment, although the new data indicates a higher percentage of charter schools in Texas are employing the practice, at least in more urban areas.
In 2011, Texas lawmakers passed a measure authorizing public school educators to use corporal punishment "unless the student's parent or guardian has previously provided a written, signed statement prohibiting the use of corporal punishment as a method of student discipline."
According to an academic report from the University of Texas, the U.S. is one of two westernized countries that allow paddling.
The debate to allow the practice is an old one, and when lawmakers in New Jersey tried to pass a measure allowing it, the bill was defeated by a margin of 4-1 in 1894. The state has the longest prohibition on spanking in the U.S., dating back to 1867.
State Rep. Alma Allen, (D-Houston) introduced a measure in 2015 that would ban paddling in Texas. The bill died in committee.
Steve Miller is a veteran journalist, who has previously worked at the Dallas Morning News and the Washington Times, as well as Texas Watchdog. His work has appeared in the Houston Press, Miami New Times, People Magazine, and High Times. He also travels the country writing true crime books. His work has won awards in national, regional, and state contests.
