Wow: Pinellas County superintendent Julie Janssen is proposing mandatory uniforms for K-8 students as a way to respond to concerns about achievement and in a week when the St. Pete Times has been slamming the school system with stories of alleged nepotism committed by an administrator Janssen wanted appointed as the dropout-program coordinator for the district.
First, let's get the research reference out of the way: there is no serious evidence that uniforms have any beneficial effects on achievement, behavior, or anything else that's been studied by David Brunsma and the small group of other researchers who have done anything on the topic. Some parents may appreciate it as a structural parenting crutch so they don't argue with their children over what to wear to school, but it serves largely symbolic purposes rather than having any concrete effect on student outcomes.
Given the news coverage this week, my first inclination is to applaud Janssen for ripping a page from Bill Clinton's playbook. If you don't remember what the political environment was like in 1995, after Republicans swept the 1994 elections, Clinton's policy initiatives moved from the gigantic (health-care reform) to the tiny. And the epitome of 1995 Clinton smallball was his applauding the school district of Long Beach, California, for requiring uniforms. It was inconsequential, pushed a lot of buttons, and was an attempt to distract the public from his political problems.
I will now make a bold prediction: ignoring the research that exists on the topic, the Pinellas County school board will approve mandatory school uniforms.