EHE News
How local zero tolerance discipline policy impacts No Child Left Behind
Keisha Fletcher-Bates
T.K. Daniel
Scholarship student and endowed professor explore conflicting mandates
Keisha Fletcher-Bates (MA '99 special education), an assistant principal with Columbus City Schools (CCS), received the Darrell K. Root and Carolyn A. Root Scholarship to finish her doctoral degree this autumn.
"I've always had the desire to pursue leadership roles," says the high-achieving professional. "Now I'm equipped with the skills and knowledge to do so, a direct reflection of the outstanding education that I received from Ohio State."
After Fletcher-Bates served seven years as a special education teacher with CCS and one year as a teacher on special assignment in the Office of High School Curriculum, she was recognized when CCS accepted her into its leadership intern program. She completed the college's courses for both principal and superintendent licensure and became an assistant principal at CCS's Indianola Math, Science and Technology Middle School for two years. Now, she is an assistant principal at Franklin Alternative Middle School.
"Dr. T.K. Daniel, Dr. Frank Walters and Dr. John Cooper helped me believe in myself," she says. "They ignited my strong desire to continue my education and aspire to a superintendency and, I hope, secretary of the Department of Education one day. I'm eternally grateful to them and all my Ohio State professors. The scholarships I have been honored to receive greatly diminished the financial impact of attaining my higher education and have inspired me to reciprocate this blessing to other students."
"Keisha Fletcher-Bates has engaged in remarkable research about the impact of state and school-based zero tolerance policies on the No Child Left Behind federal legislation...This kind of study, in principle, helps maintain the reputation of our Educational Administration program as one of the best in the nation." - T.K. Daniel
Fletcher-Bates' doctoral advisor, Professor T.K. Daniel, Educational Policy and Leadership, has launched many effective student careers over the years. The holder of the endowed William Ray and Marie Adamson Flesher Professorship of Educational Administration guided Fletcher-Bates in her doctoral dissertation about how K-12 faculty in an urban school district respond to conflicting local and national mandates.
"Keisha Fletcher-Bates has engaged in remarkable research about the impact of state and school-based zero tolerance policies on the No Child Left Behind federal legislation," says Daniel. "Her dissertation details how certain members of the targeted populations of the NCLB Act are, in fact, being left behind because of state policies that constructively inhibit or prevent their participation in mandatory state achievement tests and graduation exams. The research offers a well-constructed qualitative analysis on how to understand this important educational problem, as well as schematic recommendations on how educators and policymakers can create important and necessary remedies.
"This kind of study, in principle, helps maintain the reputation of our Educational Administration program as one of the best in the nation; specifically, it is an intellectually sound and transformative body of research that the author can build upon and other researchers can replicate."
Dr. Darrell Root (right, PhD '71, Education) and Carolyn Root (left) presented their endowed scholarship to Keisha Fletcher-Bates (second from right) and Patricia Hanna for this academic year
Fletcher-Bates captured the perceptions of teachers and administrators in CCS about this subject. They believe that students who are in the highest danger of failing and who need the most aid are, due to state and local zero tolerance discipline policies, disproportionately suspended or expelled compared to higher achieving students.
Suspended or expelled students are at a disadvantage because they are not prepared for the standardized testing mandated by the national No Child Left Behind (NCLB). As a result, their academic achievement weakens, their exposure to standardized testing is limited, and a cascade of other effects follow, from an increased likelihood to drop out of school to a decrease in workforce readiness.
Fletcher-Bates summarizes factors that contribute, according to the interviewees, to lack of educational access for students who are suspended or expelled:
- Political - law and policy contradict, policy oversight, no advocates
- Psychological - legislatures' and boards of educations' (BOE) avoidance of issues, their deliberate lack of effort to provide students who are expelled with assessment opportunities, and legislatures' and BOEs' testing neglect due to unconscious lack of understanding about ramifications of policy and law
- Economical - scarce funding to support needs
- Cultural - lack of culturally relevant pedagogy in teacher training
- Legal - no case law to establish a new law, federal mandates flow in a hierarchical manner to state departments of education, state rules and regulations flow to local school districts and local school district policies flow to administrators, teachers and students
- Social - inequality that permeates the system
She also reviews methods deemed effective for reducing the marginalization of students.
- Require a reconciliation of local policy and federal law
- Require that student discipline and pedagogy be addressed by culturally sensitive personnel
- Require social and behavioral programming for students
- Require approval of fiscal support to address the problem
- Require that all students be permitted to take standardized testing (e.g., the Ohio Graduation Test), including those suspended or expelled, as a means to narrow the achievement gap
Due to her outstanding scholastic achievement and dedication to serving the public schools, Keisha Fletcher-Bates received scholarship support throughout her doctoral and licensure programs. In addition to the Root Scholarship this academic year, she received support in past years from the Bryson Endowed Scholarship, the Dan H. Eikenberry Scholarship, the Martin W. and Blanche D. Essex Scholarship for Graduate Education in Educational Administration, the Harry L. Thompson Scholarship, and the Franklin B. and Jane Walter Scholarship.
How you can help
Endowed professorships provided by donors like you support distinguished faculty who engage students in significant research, teaching, and outreach.
Student scholarships help us recruit the best and brightest students, who work with their advisors to address complex problems of society.
To discuss how to endow or contribute to a professorship or scholarship in the program area of your choice, contact Tracy Kirby, senior director of development, College of Education and Human Ecology, or (614) 292-5538.
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