The Adoption of the Monarch Room As an Alternative to Suspension and Expulsion in Addressing School Discipline Issues Among Court-Involved Youth

Background & Purpose:  7% of the school population misses at least one school day a year due to suspension/expulsion – a figure that has doubled since the 1970s (Wald & Losen, 2003). There is evidence that minority, special education, and court-involved students, such as those in foster care and the juvenile justice systems (Sullivan et al., 2010; Zima et al., 2000), are disproportionately suspended (Skiba, 2001). Out-of-school time, as well as instability produced from student expulsions, can have an adverse effect on education well-being, and does not improve student behavior.  Despite this fact, suspension/expulsion is a common practice.  This study assesses the impact of the Monarch Room (MR) intervention, a trauma-informed alternative to school discipline suspension/expulsion policies, among a sample of 719 court-involved girls placed in a residential care facility and enrolled in a co-located, public, chartered high school.  

 Methods: Data analyzed included school administrative data collected and maintained by the school.  Data were entered into SPSS and explored using descriptive and multivariate statistics.  The young people enrolled in the school over the observation period (September 2011 and June 2014) ranged in age from 14 to 18 years old, and were African American (70%), White (24%) and Hispanic (3%).  As the school operates under a single-gender classroom philosophy, all students were female.  44% of participants were court-involved due to juvenile delinquency and the other 56% were placed as a result of abuse and neglect petitions. 57% of the girls in the study were experiencing their first stay in the residential treatment center; 43% of the girls experienced multiple stays (range 1-5). The average time per stay was 133 days.

 Results: 39% of the student body used the monarch room intervention. Mean use was 10.36 visits over the observation period (or 5 visits per academic year).  Being African American and the experience of multiple stays in the residential treatment center were significantly associated with Monarch Room use. Ninth graders were the highest users of the Monarch Room intervention (54%). African American youth (OR =1.6) and those who experienced multiple stays in residential treatment (OR= 3.8) were significantly more likely to experience out-of-school suspension. Students who experienced an average of 10+ absences over the reporting period were more likely to have a history of suspension/expulsions than students who experienced <10 absences (OR= 3.2). Of the 27 total suspensions experienced over the observation period, 26 occurred in year 2. The number of suspensions significantly decreased in year 3, with only one suspension given.

 Conclusions & Implications: MR use significantly decreased reliance on suspension/expulsion in addressing problematic behavior.  School mobility and race were significant predictors of MR use; and race, school mobility, and school absences were significant predictors of suspension/expulsions.  Suspension rates should be included as factors used by schools and districts to measure the performance of secondary schools and as early warning systems to target interventions and supports.  Public investments should be made in promising interventions supported by research, such as the MR, to address and improve current systemic approaches to school discipline.