Faculty Vita

Russell Skiba, Ph.D.

Academic Degrees

Professional Experience

Faculty load

Other Administrative Responsibilities

Faculty Teaching

Selected Publications

Skiba, R. J., Michael, R. S., Nardo, A. C., & Peterson, R. (in press). The color of discipline: Sources of racial and gender disproportionality in school punishment. Urban Review.

Skiba, R. J., Bush, L. D., & Knesting, K. K. (In press, March, 2001). Culturally competent assessment: More than non-biased tests. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 11(1).

Skiba, R. J., & Knesting, K. ( 2002). Zero tolerance, zero evidence: An analysis of school disciplinary practice. In R.J. Skiba & G.G. Noam (Eds.), New directions for youth development (no. 92: Zero tolerance: Can suspension and expulsion keep schools safe?). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Skiba, R. J. (2001). When is disproportionality discrimination?: The overrepresentation of black students in school suspension. In W. Ayers, B. Dohrn, & R. Ayers, Zero Tolerance: Resisting the Drive for Punishment in Our Schools (pp. 176-187). New York: New Press

Skiba, R. J. (In press). Special education and school discipline: A precarious balance. Behavioral Disorders.

Peterson, R. L., & Skiba, R. J. (2001). Creating school climates that prevent violence. Clearing House, 74(3), 155-63.

Peterson, R. L., Larson, J., & Skiba, R. (2001). School violence prevention: Current status and policy recommendations. Law & Policy, 23(3), 345-371.

Morrison, G. & Skiba, R. (2001). Predicting violence from school misbehavior: Promises and perils. Psychology in the Schools, 38 (2), 173-184.

Skiba, R. J., & Leone, P. E. (2001). Zero tolerance and school security measures: A failed experiment. In T. Johnson, J. E. Boyden, & W. J. Pittz (Eds.), Racial profiling and punishment in U. S. public schools: How zero tolerance policies and high stakes testing subvert academic excellence and racial equity (pp. 34-38). Oakland, CA: Applied Research Center

Skiba, R. & Peterson, R. (2000). School discipline at a crossroads: From zero tolerance to early response. Exceptional Children, 32, 200-216.

Skiba, R., Peterson, R., Boone, K, & Fontanini, A. (2000). Preventing school violence: A practical guide to comprehensive planning. Reaching Today's Youth, 5(1), 58-62.

Skiba, R. & Nichols, S. (2000). Wraparound programming. In M. Kluger, G. Alexander, & P. A. Curtis (Eds.), What works in child welfare. Washington, D. C., CWLA Press.

Peterson, R.L., & Skiba, R. (2000). Creating school climates that prevent school violence. Preventing School Failure, 44, 122-129.

Skiba, R. J., & Peterson, R. (1999). The dark side of zero tolerance: Can punishment lead to safe schools. Phi Delta Kappan, 80(5), 372-382.

Skiba, R. J., Peterson, R., & Williams, T. (1997). Office referrals and suspension: Disciplinary intervention in middle schools. Education and Treatment of Children, 20 (3). 295-315.

Funded Projects

Division of Special Education, Indiana State Department of Education SEA DiscretionaryProject, AMinority Overrepresentation and Special Education Discipline Issues II: Causes and Remediation@, Indiana DOE: July, 2001 - June, 2002.($206,000)

Office of Special Education Programs Projects of National Significance, "Building Safe and Responsive Schools: System-wide Training in Preventive Discipline," U. S. Department of Education, August 1999-July, 2002. ($600,000)

Division of Special Education, Indiana State Department of Education SEA Discretionary Project, AMeeting the Mandates of IDEA 97: Minority Disproportionality and School Discipline@, Indiana DOE: July, 2000 - June, 2001. ($152,000)

Office of Special Education Programs Serious Emotional Disturbance Systems Change Grant (w/ Dr. Lewis Polsgrove, Indiana University), "Operationalizing the System of Care for Students with Emotional and Behavioral Disorders," U.S. Department of Education, October 1991- August 1995. ($450,000)

Office of Special Education Programs Special Projects Grant (With Dr. Jack Cummings, Indiana University), "Using Technology to Increase Collaboration between School Psychology, Special Education, and Regular Education," U.S. Department of Education, August 1990 - July, 1993.

Office of Special Education Programs Personnel Preparation Grant (With Dr. James McLeskey, Indiana University), "A Training Program for Intervention and Change Specialists," U.S. Department of Education, September, 1988 - August, 1991.

Current Professional and Academic Association Memberships

National Association of School Psychologists

Council for Exceptional Children

Council for Children with Behavioral Disorders (Member, Advocacy and Government Relations Committee of CCBD)

Indiana Council for Children with Behavioral Disorders

Conference Presentations

Invited Testimony to the United States House of Representatives (2002, May). Rethinking School Discipline: Keeping Schools Safe Through Instruction, Not Exclusion. Hearing before the Subcommittee on Education Reform Committee on Education and the Workforce, Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, D. C.

Skiba, R. J. (2002, April). Zero tolerance, zero evidence: An analysis of school disciplinary practice. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, New Orleans, LA.

Skiba, R. J. (2001, December). Minority overrepresentation in school discipline: What does it mean and what should we do? Invited talk at the Inaugural Urban Research Conference: Culturally Responsive Research to Practice, Tampa, FL.

Skiba, R. J. (2001, November). Zero tolerance: Solution or problem? Keynote presentation to the Ohio State Chiefs of Police Association 8th Annual Reducing School Violence Conference, Columbus, OH.

Invited U.S. Senate Staff Briefing. (2001, July 12). Preventing school violence: Issues in disciplinary exclusion. Russell Senate Office Building, Washington, D. C.

Skiba, R. J. (2001, July). Discipline and zero tolerance: Data on school exclusion and alternatives. Invited Presentation to the USDOE Office of Special Education Programs Research Project Directors' Conference, Washington, D. C.

Skiba, R. J. (2001, July). Preventing school violence and disruption: Alternatives to zero tolerance for ensuring safe schools. Invited Presentation to the Annual Meeting of the National Prevention Coalition, Washington, D. C.

Skiba, R. J. & Nardo, A. (2001, April). The color of discipline: Disproportionality in school suspension and expulsion. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the National Association of School Psychologists, Washington, D. C.

Skiba, R. J., Peterson, R. L., Boone, K., Fontanini, A. Strom, T., Miller, C., & McKelvey, J. (2001). The Safe and Responsive Schools Project: System-wide training in school violence prevention. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the National Association of School Psychologists, Washington, D.C.

Skiba, R. J. (2000, November). Special education and school discipline: A precarious balance. Paper commissioned for presentation at the Future of Special Education Conference, Washington, D. C.

Skiba, R. J. (2000, June). How effective is zero tolerance? Paper presented at the National Summit on Zero Tolerance and School Discipline, Washington, D. C.

Skiba, R. J. (2000, June). The color of discipline: When is disproportionality bias? Paper presented at the National Summit on Zero Tolerance and School Discipline, Washington, D. C.

Peterson, R. L. & Skiba, R. J. (2000, April). How do we know what works in preventing school violence? Paper presented at the Annual Conference of the International Council of Exceptional Children, Vancouver, B. C.

Invited Testimony to United States Civil Rights Commission (2000, February). The problem of African American overrepresentation in school suspension and expulsion. Washington, D. C.

Skiba, R. J., Peterson, R. L., Boone, K., & Fontanini, A. (2000, February). What works in preventing school violence? Workshop presented at the Midwestern Symposium for Leadership in Behavioral Disorders, Kansas City, MO.

Research Areas

Russ Skiba is currently Co-Director of the Safe and Responsive Schools Project, a U.S. Department of Education Projects of National Significance grant working with eleven schools in two states to develop comprehensive and preventive approach to ensuring school safety. He has presented on school violence prevention for professional associations and school districts throughout the country, and recently received the Operation PUSH/Rainbow Coalition Push for Excellence award for his research in minority disproportionality in school suspension. He has been called upon as an expert on zero tolerance by both the United States Senate and the United States Commission on Civil Rights, and has been cited as an expert on school violence and minority disproportionality in a number of national media, including the Los Angeles Times, USA Today, Chicago Sun-Times, Philadelphia Inquirer, Washington Post, and Nightline.

Honors/Awards

Rainbow Coalition/Operation Push Push for Excellence Award for research in minority disproportionality (The Color of Discipline), July, 2000.