Category
Theoretical Proposal
Description
Disproportionate disciplinary outcomes for neurodivergent students—particularly those with autism, ADHD, and learning disabilities—represent a systemic failure of American education policy. Although students with disabilities constitute 17% of the K–12 population, they account for 29% of out-of-school suspensions and 21% of expulsions, disparities compounded by race, gender, and socioeconomic disadvantage. These patterns feed directly into the school-to-prison pipeline, a documented trajectory linking exclusionary discipline to elevated risk of juvenile justice involvement. Existing legal protections under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), as well as trauma-informed care frameworks, provide partial relief but do not transform the underlying systems that marginalize neurodivergent youth. This paper proposes a healing-centered Christian policy framework for discipline reform. Drawing on interdisciplinary scholarship in education policy, disability studies, trauma research, and Christian anthropology, the study pursues three objectives: (1) analyzing the limits of current exclusionary disciplinary practices and their legal context; (2) examining how neurodivergent youth are disproportionately harmed; and (3) articulating policy recommendations that restore agency, dignity, relational belonging, and long-term flourishing. The proposed framework integrates Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS), restorative justice practices, and healing-centered engagement within a normative foundation drawn from the Christian doctrine of imago Dei and the teaching of Matthew 18:1–4. This study argues that a Christian vision of human dignity offers a distinctive, morally grounded pathway toward educational equity, capable of disrupting the school-to-prison pipeline and promoting the flourishing of society’s most vulnerable youth.
Lessons From the Least: Healing-Centered Discipline Reform for Neurodivergent Youth in U.S. Public Schools
Theoretical Proposal
Disproportionate disciplinary outcomes for neurodivergent students—particularly those with autism, ADHD, and learning disabilities—represent a systemic failure of American education policy. Although students with disabilities constitute 17% of the K–12 population, they account for 29% of out-of-school suspensions and 21% of expulsions, disparities compounded by race, gender, and socioeconomic disadvantage. These patterns feed directly into the school-to-prison pipeline, a documented trajectory linking exclusionary discipline to elevated risk of juvenile justice involvement. Existing legal protections under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), as well as trauma-informed care frameworks, provide partial relief but do not transform the underlying systems that marginalize neurodivergent youth. This paper proposes a healing-centered Christian policy framework for discipline reform. Drawing on interdisciplinary scholarship in education policy, disability studies, trauma research, and Christian anthropology, the study pursues three objectives: (1) analyzing the limits of current exclusionary disciplinary practices and their legal context; (2) examining how neurodivergent youth are disproportionately harmed; and (3) articulating policy recommendations that restore agency, dignity, relational belonging, and long-term flourishing. The proposed framework integrates Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS), restorative justice practices, and healing-centered engagement within a normative foundation drawn from the Christian doctrine of imago Dei and the teaching of Matthew 18:1–4. This study argues that a Christian vision of human dignity offers a distinctive, morally grounded pathway toward educational equity, capable of disrupting the school-to-prison pipeline and promoting the flourishing of society’s most vulnerable youth.
