School-Justice Partnership

Who We Are

Guiding Principles

1. Schools that foster positive school climates can help to engage all students in learning by preventing problem behaviors and intervening effectively to support struggling and at risk-students.
2. Schools that have discipline policies or codes of conduct with clear, appropriate, applied expectations and consequences will help students improve behavior, increase engagement, and boost achievement.
3. Schools that build staff capacity and continuously evaluate their own discipline policies and practices are more likely to ensure fairness, equity, and promote achievement for all students.

Working Objectives

1. Convene a countywide work group that represents education, the court system, community mental health, child welfare, and other appropriate agencies. (On-going)
2. Collect and review data to determine the extent of the issues throughout the county. Collaborate with districts and public-school academies to address the issues of suspension, expulsion and truancy.
3. Develop focused educational and professional development activities aimed at supporting our most at-risk youth.
4. Maintain an on-line collection of articles, presentations and other resources that are applicable for this work. The work of the Wayne County SJP supports the strategies of the Michigan School-Justice Partnership

Strategic Objectives

• Increase overall state graduation rates by 5%
• Increase local graduation rates by 10%
• Reduce juvenile arrest rates for truancy and school – related misconduct by 5%

Tactical Objectives

• Reduce truancy rates by 5%
• Reduce school expulsion by 10%
• Reduce out-of-school suspensions by 10%

Resources

Library of resources

Articles

• Wayne State University, College of Education
  • Detroit Education Research Partnership Collaborative Policy Research
  • Series Chronic Absenteeism and Student Attendance: “Why do Detroit Students Miss School”
• Model Dropout Prevention Programs
• Improving Academic Outcomes for African American Male Students
• Effective Strategies for Dropout Prevention / National Dropout Prevention Center/Network

Presentations

• Every Kid Needs a Champion - Rita F. Pierson, TED Talks Education (7:48) May 2013
• SJP tool kit (created by the North Carolina Administrative Office of the Courts)

Wayne County Resource Guides

• Resource guide created by Wayne-Westland Community Schools

Michigan State Board of Education: Model Policies

• Model Code of Student Conduct – 2014
• Policy on Reducing Student Suspensions and Expulsions – 2014

Reporting data

• SJP resource guide