Professor: Uniforms benefit behavior

The study looked at Ohio's eight largest school districts.
YOUNGSTOWN -- Requiring students in urban public high schools to wear uniforms results in increased attendance and graduation rates and fewer student suspensions, but it doesn't improve academic performance in reading and math.
Those are among the results of a new study conducted by Virginia Draa of Canfield, assistant professor of human ecology at Youngstown State University.
"Uniforms alone do not improve student reading and math proficiency test scores, but they do help in addressing problems with discipline and attendance in a school building," said Draa, who conducted the study as part of her dissertation for a doctoral degree in educational leadership at YSU.
"People should not expect miraculous improvements overnight in the school climate or even in one year" as the result of uniforms, she said. "As with many educational policies, it takes some time for students and school personnel to adapt to a change and for the improvements to be noticeable."
Surprising results
Draa, who received her doctorate at YSU's fall commencement in December, is a former teacher and administrator in the Youngstown public schools, and she said she was surprised by the study's results.
"I was teaching when uniforms were introduced in Youngstown, and, quite honestly, I was skeptical that they would have any impact," she said. "I wasn't sold on the idea. But now, I think I'm a convert."
Draa taught family and consumer sciences for two years in the Toledo public schools and for 10 years in the Youngstown public schools. She also was a program coordinator in the curriculum/instruction department in Youngstown before joining YSU's human ecology faculty full time in 1998. She is currently the coordinator of YSU's Fashion and Interiors Merchandising program and the teacher for Family and Consumer Sciences Education at YSU.
"Since the mid-1990s, when more and more schools started to consider school uniforms to address disciplinary and other problems, there has not been a whole lot of research -- especially research that examines a number of schools for a number of years or controls for the effects of other school policies -- on the effectiveness of uniforms," she said.
Draa surveyed school administrators and examined proficiency test scores and rates of attendance, graduation, suspension and expulsion between 1994 and 2002 at 64 high schools in Ohio's eight largest school districts, six of which have uniform policies.
What's helped, what's not
She concludes that school uniforms are effective in improving school attendance, increasing graduation rates and decreasing suspension rates. The study also showed that requiring students to wear uniforms did not make any significant difference in student reading and math performance or in school expulsion rates.
"My advice to superintendents and principals, especially those in high-risk school districts, would be that uniforms may help reduce problem behaviors and may create a more orderly environment for learning," she said. "They are not a cure-all, but they certainly may help.
Draa earned a bachelor's degree in home economics education from Bowling Green State University in 1977 and a master's degree in career/technology education from Bowling Green in 1978.