AASA School Discipline Survey

1. AASA School Discipline Survey SAMPLE TITLE TEXT Bryan Joffe Project Director, Youth Development and Education

2. AASA School Discipline Survey • Purpose: AASA and CDF surveyed AASA member supts. to determine the state of district-wide school discipline policies and practices • The Facts • April 2014 • 500 Respondents • 55% rural, 28% suburban, 13% urban, 4% county • 50% fewer than 2,500 students, 32% between 2,500 and 10k, 18% more than 10k students

3. Findings • Most common infractions that lead to OSS • 40% defiance, disrespect, insubordination • 30% fighting • ‘Maintaining safety and order’ (42%) was cited as the primary purpose for OSS while removing disruptive students (20%) and changing student behavior (12%) • 71% of supts. reported that their states have laws requiring OSS that limit the discretion of school staff.

4. More Findings • 50% of respondents agree that reducing OSS and expulsion is ‘important’ to their agenda • Opposition and Support for Reducing OSS • Supts. (72%) expect opposition from teachers • 57% expect opposition from principals • No consensus on Boards. Parents and students seen as generally supportive • Solutions: Parental involvement, character education/conflict resolution, health/mental health services, and better teacher training and support.

5. Common Core & Other State Standards: Superintendents Feel Optimism, Concern and Lack of Support SAMPLE TITLE TEXT Leslie Finnan Policy Analyst

6. The Good News • Superintendents overwhelmingly (92.5 percent) see the new standards as more rigorous than previous standards. • More than three quarters (78.3 percent) agree that the education community supports the standards, but that support drops to 51.4 percent among the general public. • Nearly three quarters of the respondents (73.3 percent) agree that the political debate has gotten in the way of the implementation of the new standards.

7. The Need for Caution • Nearly half (47 percent) say their input was never requested in the decision to adopt or develop new standards or in planning the implementation. • More than half (60.3 percent) of the respondents who had begun testing say they are facing problems with the tests. • Just under half (41.9 percent) say schools in their states are not ready to implement the online assessment, while 35.9 percent say they lack the infrastructure to support online assessments.

8. 2013 Superintendents Salary & Benefits Study SAMPLE TITLE TEXT Leslie Finnan Policy Analyst

9. AASA saw a doubling of the response rate – over 25 percent • Nearly half of the participating superintendents described their districts’ economic conditions as stable while more than 40 percent described their districts’ economic conditions as “declining.” • Base median salaries increased by 1-2 percent from the 2012-13 to the 2013-14 school years. • The 2013 study showed a nearly 10 percent increase in superintendents who are subject to an annual evaluation. • The study also observed that 40 percent of superintendents indicated student performance data are included in their evaluations.