Laurie Stern

Schools facing dilemmas over disparities in discipline policies are turning to an approach known as restorative practices, focusing on how to repair harm done.

In St. Paul, administrators dealt with disparities in discipline by reducing suspensions and expulsions. In the end, the superintendent was fired and few were happy with the result.

In 2008, Denver schools abandoned their zero-tolerance approach to discipline and opted for other ways to deal with school behavior. Suspensions and expulsions are way down and the racial gap in discipline has narrowed.

Across the country, thousands of high schools are transforming into career academies. The idea is that students will be more engaged if they see how academics are connected to the world of work. And they’ll be more likely to get the postsecondary schooling they need to support themselves in today’s economy.

Just 20 percent of college-goers fit the stereotype of being young, single, full-time students who finish a degree in four years. College students today are more likely to be older, part-time, working, and low-income than they were three decades ago.

University of Texas at El Paso President Diana Natalicio has a problem with the "nontraditional student." She doesn't like the term. "It suggests that you're not something, rather than that you are something new," she says.