About the Project

Out-of-school suspensions disproportionately affect students of color, students with special education designations, and LGBTQ+ youth.

Punitive practices can result in lost instructional time and adverse long-term academic outcomes for young people. To address these concerns, UCLA’s Center for the Transformation of Schools and the UC Berkeley Center for Research on Expanding Educational Opportunity (CREEO) in the Graduate School of Education are co-leading the Race, Education, and Community Healing (REACH) Network, working to identify ways to promote healthy relationships in schools and prevent out-of-school suspensions from happening altogether, and providing tools and training on alternatives to suspensions based on new evidence-based models to a network of 10 districts.

Project Leads:

Dr. Joseph Bishop, Executive Director, UCLA Center for the Transformation of Schools

Dr. Tyrone Howard, Faculty Co-Director, UCLA Center for the Transformation of Schools

Dr. Travis Bristol, Associate Professor, Teacher Education and Education Policy, UC Berkeley School of Education

Dr. Michael Corral, Project Director, Race, Education, and Community Healing (REACH) Network, UCLA Center for the Transformation of Schools

REACH Network Grantees

UCLA’s Center for the Transformation of Schools in the School of Education & Information Studies and the UC Berkeley School of Education are pleased to announce that 10 school districts across the state have been accepted into the initial cohort of the REACH (Race, Education, and Community Healing) Network as part of California’s state law change around willful defiance championed by Senator Nancy Skinner.

The REACH Network represents a geographically diverse set of school districts across California that will work to lower suspension rates, prevent punitive practices and to generate recommendations to expand the efforts across schools statewide. Grantees include four districts from Northern CA & the Bay Area, one district from the Central Valley, three districts from Southern CA, and two districts from border counties. The awardees include:

Claremont Unified School District
Los Angeles County

Crete Academy
Los Angeles County

East Side Union High School District
Santa Clara County

Hayward Unified School District
Alameda County

Kings County Office of Education
Kings County

La Mesa-Spring Valley School District
San Diego County

Leadership Public Schools
Contra Costa County

Para Los Niños Charter Middle School
Los Angeles County

Vista Unified School District
San Diego County

Washington Unified School District
Yolo County

 

 

 

Publications

Beyond the Ban: An Overview of California School Suspension Data

This brief examines statewide suspension trends since California’s ban on “willful defiance” suspensions, highlighting persistent disparities and offering insights to advance more equitable, supportive discipline practices.

Practical Steps Toward Advancing Equitable and Supportive Discipline: A Guide for School Boards

In partnership with the California School Boards Association, this guide offers actionable, research-informed steps for school boards to support more equitable discipline practices. Grounded in findings from our REACH Network baseline report, it outlines how governance teams can help reduce suspensions, improve school climate, and build student-centered systems of accountability.

California Race, Education, and Community Healing (REACH) Network Baseline Report

Our Year 1 baseline report with UC Berkeley’s Center for Research on Expanding Educational Opportunity (CREEO) in the Race, Education, and Community Healing (REACH) Network explores discipline disparities that disproportionately affect students of color across 10 diverse California schools. We provide valuable suspension data by race, gender, and student group in our key findings.