Sept. 2, 2002, 6:38PM



Dressing down Houston's school uniform policies
By ADOLFO SANTOS

NOW that students in Houston have returned to school, I thought it
would be a good time to evaluate the relationship between school
uniforms and student behavior. I have tested the premise that when
students wear school uniforms, student conduct improves. The
assumption is that in an egalitarian environment -- created by
uniform dress codes -- a sense of kinship and cooperation is
fostered. This new environment, then, should contribute to the
improvement of student behavior. Much to my surprise, this does not
appear to happen.



The evidence comes from 28 Houston Independent School District middle
schools that changed their dress codes from casual wear to school
uniforms during the mid- to late 1990s. All alternative schools and
schools with elementary grade components were excluded, leaving the
28 middle schools. To measure student behavior, I relied on HISD data
to calculate the average in-school suspension rates (punishment
served on school property) and out-of-school suspension rates rates
(punishment requiring the removal of the student from the school) for
the years before and after the implementation of the school uniform
rules. Given that different schools implemented the uniform policy at
different times, the average suspension rates were calculated in
relation to the year the school implemented the requirement.



The evidence shows that the rates of in-school suspension were
decreasing prior to the instituting of uniform requirements --
declining from 40 percent two years prior, to 30 percent the year
just before school uniform requirements where implemented. By the
second year after the school uniform requirements, however, the
average percentage of students receiving in-school suspensions
skyrocketed to 49 percent.

Just as dramatic is the average rate of out-of-school suspensions,
which were fluctuating around 30 percent before school uniform rules.
One year after, however, the average jumps to 40 percent, and 43
percent the year after that.



The suspension rates are a function of the number of times the school
reported in-school suspensions and out-of-school suspensions divided
by the total number of students in the school. For example, a school
that has 1,000 students and reports 100 in-school suspensions would
have an in-school suspension rate of 10 percent.



The data presented here hints at the possibility that school uniforms
may actually have a deleterious effect on suspension rates. It is as
if students are more likely to misbehave once they are required to
wear uniforms. For this reason, it is necessary for schools to
evaluate their programs to determine whether the benefits outweigh
the dangers.



School districts need to ask: Does a uniform policy contribute to a
better learning environment? Does it lead to an improved sense of
self-worth on the part of students? And, do school uniforms diminish
or improve self-_expression?



It is also necessary to determine if the increased suspension rates
are a function of students misbehaving more frequently, or teachers
being less tolerant of deviant behavior -- deviant behavior that is
much more evident in an environment where all students dress alike.
One might cautiously suggest that the wearing of school uniforms may
not have changed students for the worse, but it may have changed
teachers. Zero-tolerance policies, greater pressures on teachers to
have their students do well on standardized tests and a post-
Columbine environment also could have contributed to the increased
suspension rates that coincided with the wearing of school uniforms.



Given these other factors, it would be premature for schools to
abandon uniform requirements. Clearly, school uniforms have been seen
as a godsend to low-income parents who have been relieved of the
pressures to purchase expensive clothing for their children. And, of
course, it is also important to remember that this data says nothing
of the impact uniforms have on elementary or high school students, or
on academic achievement.



Nevertheless, the point is that sound public policy requires sound
analysis, and a solid evaluation of school uniform policies may be
called for -- especially if preliminary data suggests that the
policies may be more harmful than useful.


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Santos is the assistant chair over political science at the
University of Houston-Downtown, and a partner in Santos and
Associates, a research-based consulting firm.