Steinberg and Gray set the stage for discussion of school suspensions

In the last three months, Penn GSE’s Matthew Steinberg and Abigail Gray, a researcher at the Penn-based Consortium for Policy Research in Education, have both published research examining school suspensions in Philadelphia. 

So it made sense for the two researchers to set up a discussion on school discipline policy at a recent event held by the Thomas B. Fordham Institute.  

Steinberg is the co-author of The Academic and Behavioral Consequences of Discipline Policy Reform, a Fordham Institute report that looked at effects of the School District of Philadelphia’s decision to eliminate school suspensions for non-violent conduct in the 2012–2013 school year. 

This is the latest in a series of Steinberg projects that examine school discipline in Philadelphia.

Gray is the lead author of Discipline in Context: Suspension, Climate, and PBIS in the School District of Philadelphia, which looks at efforts to implement alternative discipline methods in Philadelphia. Gray recently received a $3 million grant from the National Institute of Justice to help SDP implement recommendations from the report.