Disciplinary action

Abstract: We track the fortunes of all 2,206 individuals identified as responsible parties for all 788 SEC and Department of Justice enforcement actions for financial misrepresentation from 1978 through September 30, 2006. Fully 93% lose their jobs by the end of the regulatory enforcement period. A majority explicitly are fired. The likelihood of ouster increases with the cost of the misconduct to shareholders and the quality of the firm's governance. Culpable managers also bear substantial financial losses through restrictions on their future employment, their shareholdings in the firm, and SEC fines. A sizeable minority (28%) face criminal charges and penalties, including jail sentences that average 4.3 years. These results indicate that the individual perpetrators of financial misconduct face significant disciplinary action.

Abstract: Expulsion is the most severe disciplinary sanction that an educational program can impose. Results are reported from a national study of 3,898 prekindergarten classrooms (81.0% response rate), representing all of the nation’s 52 state-funded prekindergarten systems currently operating across 40 states. Weighted results indicated that 10.4% of prekindergarten teachers reported expelling at least one preschooler in the past 12 months, of which 19.9% expelled more than one. Nationally, 6.67 preschoolers were expelled per 1,000 enrolled. Although this rate for state-subsidized prekindergarten is lower than what has been previously reported for child care programs, the prekindergarten expulsion rate is 3.2 times the rate for K-12 students. Rates are reported for each of the states and state prekindergarten systems represented. Significant cross state variability in expulsion rates was found, possibly due in part to differences in how state prekindergarten systems are structured. Rates were highest for older preschoolers and African-Americans, and boys were over 4½ times more likely to be expelled than were girls. Expulsion rates were lowest in classrooms in public schools and Head Start and highest in faith -affiliated centers and for-profit child care. The likelihood of expulsion decreases significantly with access to classroom-based mental health consultation. Although there has been considerable media attention to the issue of young students – kindergarteners and preschoolers – being suspended or expelled from their educational programs, almost no research exists on the topic. As a result, it has been impossible to estimate the number of preschoolers (children ages 3-years to 4 -years old) expelled from school or to determine which preschoolers are most at risk for this disciplinary action. As the complete and permanent removal of a student from an entire educational system, expulsion is the most severe disciplinary response that any educational system can impose on a student. Transferring students with behavior problems to other educational settings (e.g., self-contained special education programs, alternative schools, etc.) is not considered expulsion. Rather, expulsion represents a complete cessation of educational services without the benefit of alternative services provided by or through the educational program that has expelled the child. In the case of kindergarten through 12 th grade students in public schools, expulsion is typically the last of a series of disciplinary actions that ultimately culminates in the student being barred from attending any educational programming in that school system. Very little research exis ts on expulsion at any grade level, but the dearth is even more pronounced for children younger than kindergarten. One of the first efforts to collect data on expulsion prior to kindergarten (Grannan, Carlier, & Cole, 1999) was conducted as part of Michigan’s Child Care Expulsion Prevention Program, which dispatches mental health consultants to classrooms where children are at immediate risk of expulsion. Surveys were mailed to 127 directors of “preschools and daycare facilities” in the Detroit area. A rate of 27.5 expulsions per 1,000 children enrolled in child care centers was obtained, but the survey suffered from a low response rate of 28%. The first statewide study of expulsion in child care and early education sites was conducted in Massachusetts during the 2001 school year (Gilliam & Shahar, in press). Paper surveys were mailed to a geographically stratified random sample of 185 preschool teachers, of which 64% responded (n = 119). Results indicated that 39% of teachers reported expelling at least one child from her or his class over the previous 12 months. Most of the teachers who reported expelling a child expelled only one child during that time, whereas 25% expelled two or more. When the number of preschoolers expelled was compared to the number of preschoolers enrolled in those classes, an expulsion rate of 27.4 per 1,000 children enrolled was found – a rate nearly identical to that which was previously reported for child care programs in the Detroit, Michigan area. In order to provide a context for this rate, the rate of preschool expulsion was compared to the rate of expulsion in public schools in Massachusetts and across the nation. The rate of expulsion for Massachusetts preschoolers was more than 34 times the rate of expulsions for children K-12 in Massachusetts (0.80 expulsions per 1,000 students) and more than 13 times the national K-12 rate (2.09 expulsions per 1,000 students).

Abstract: Purpose. To determine if medical students who demonstrate unprofessional behavior in medical school are more likely to have subsequent state board disciplinary action. Method. A case– control study was conducted of all University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine graduates disciplined by the Medical Board of California from 1990 –2000 (68). Control graduates (196) were matched by medical school graduation year and specialty choice. Predictor variables were male gender, undergraduate grade point average, Medical College Admission Test scores, medical school grades, National Board of Medical Examiner Part 1 scores, and negative excerpts describing unprofessional behavior from course evaluation forms, dean’s letter of recommendation for residencies, and administrative correspondence. Negative excerpts were scored for severity (Good/Trace versus Concern/Problem/Extreme). The outcome variable was state board disciplinary action. Results. The alumni graduated between 1943 and 1989. Ninety-five percent of the disciplinary actions were for deficiencies in professionalism. The prevalence of Concern/ Problem/Extreme excerpts in the cases was 38% and 19% in controls. Logistic regression analysis showed that disciplined physicians were more likely to have Concern/Problem/Extreme excerpts in their medical school file (odds ratio, 2.15; 95% confidence interval, 1.15– 4.02; p .02). The remaining variables were not associated with disciplinary action. Conclusion. Problematic behavior in medical school is associated with subsequent disciplinary action by a state medical board. Professionalism is an essential competency that must be demonstrated for a student to graduate from medical school. Acad Med. 2004;79:244 –249.