At calm, focused schools, scores are high, but so is suspension rate

Classrooms are calm at the K-8 charters run by Paramount Schools of Excellence in Indiana. Students are focused. Test scores are much higher than the state average, even though 80 percent of students come from families living at or below the poverty level. Students with disabilities -- 17 percent of enrollment -- also outperform special-needs students at other schools.

Photo: Paramount Schools

Paramount’s supporters, including many parents, have praised the network for calm classrooms and strong academic performance, especially among students from low-income families and students of color, writes NPR's Dylan Peers McCoy. But suspension rates are high for students with disabilities, much higher than the state average.

"Several current and former Paramount parents told NPR that some students – especially those with disabilities – struggle to follow the rules that foster those quiet classrooms," he writes.

“It’s either you fit this mold or you don’t,” says the mother of a frequently suspended eighth-grader with ADHD. “And if you don’t, then we’re going to suspend, suspend, suspend.”

Paramount is very structured, says CEO Tommy Reddicks. He believes that structure "protects the learning environment and ultimately benefits students, including those with disabilities," reports McCoy.

Nicol, who's sent five children to Paramount schools tells McCoy, "I like that they're strict."

Her 12-year-old son, Leon, has autism and other disabilities. Last year, Leon’s behavior spiraled after his grandfather died, Nicol says. He began cussing and throwing objects in class. Nicol says that not every suspension he received was necessary but that he should be suspended when he pushes or fights with other students. “He does need to be held accountable,” she says. “Because I don’t want to say, ‘Oh, well, let’s let [Leon] get by with this because he has autism.'”

"They care about the teacher having a safe place to teach and the kids having a safe place to learn," says Monique Lampkin, a seventh-grade language arts and writing teacher at Paramount Inglewood. At other schools where she'd worked, there was "very little accountability for teachers or students," she told Hanna Rauworth, an Indianapolis Recorder reporter. "When I got here, the expectation was high for the kids to grow. Not only do the kids love it, but the teachers love it.” 

“Our kids with special needs, some years, have even matched the state pass rate for students without special needs," says Reddicks. "We get to that because we don’t allow them to be treated differently in the classroom.” 

British schools have similar issues. Known as the "headmaster from Hell" for his tough discipline, Alun Ebenezer is turning around a troubled school in Wales, reports Louise Eccles in the Sunday Times. Test scores and attendance are up. Suspensions are down.

"In October 2023, behaviour was so out of control that teachers staged walkouts and a list was handed to management with the names of pupils some staff said they refused to teach," she writes.

Ebenezer enforces the dress code. Students carry “conduct tables” that show demerits for things such as poor attitude or tardiness. "Repeated infringements add up to detentions that gradually increase from ten minutes to 45 minutes and eventually, Saturday mornings," writes Eccles. They also can win rewards for "everything from acts of kindness and volunteering to effort and behaviour."

If students are disruptive, their parents are required to come to class to observe -- and embarrass -- them.

Many schools let students leave class when they feel stress to visit a counselor. The headmaster closed the "wellbeing room," and told students they'd need a staff referral to see a counselor.

Ebenezer explains: “The children could self-refer themselves to the wellbeing room if they felt a bit down in the dumps, they didn’t fancy doing physics, or it was a bit cold and they thought, ‘I don’t want to play rugby’.” The school counselor says "now she can help the ones who want to be helped, not the ones dossing around."

“One of the fundamental problems with society at the moment is that we’ve told young people ‘do whatever you want, be whatever you want, just make yourself happy’. But it actually made them unhappier," says Ebenezer. "The secret to it is just stop thinking about yourself. We’re overindulging them.”

"Now, pupils want to listen and learn and we can do the job we trained to do,” says Richard Scott, a physics teacher and teachers' union representative.