This causal-comparative study examined the relationship of school uniforms to attendance, academic achievement, and discipline referral rates, using data collected from two high schools in rural southwest Georgia county school systems, one with a uniforms program and one without a uniforms program. After accounting for race and students with disabilities status, School A (with uniforms) had significantly better attendance and somewhat fewer minor behavior infractions, but trended lower in standardized math scores and more intermediate and major behavioral infractions than School B (without uniforms). These findings failed to demonstrate an unambiguous advantage of school uniforms, consistent with the mixed results across reports in the published literature. Implications and suggestions for further research are detailed.

This study examined the relationship between mandatory school uniforms and student success. Student success was defined through four themes: student achievement, school culture, student discipline/safety, and socioeconomic impact. Communication Arts and Math MAP scores were utilized to evaluate student achievement. School culture is evaluated based off of attendance, graduation, and dropout rates. Student discipline and safety is evaluated through school discipline incidences. Socioeconomic impact is not the focus of the study, but rather is a concern of the researchers and pundits, so it is addressed in the review of literature. The goal was to determine if mandatory school uniforms have a positive impact on student success.

The debate surrounding the effectiveness of school-uniform policies, as well as discussions concerning when and how to implement them, is rooted in anecdote. This review summarizes anecdotal literature on which the current debate is based and critically reviews the empirical literature, including theoretical underpinnings, findings, and suggestions. The anecdote-based literature relies on attitudes, personal experience, and hearsay, ignoring available research. Empirical literature includes small-scale studies of effects, such as case studies of schools that implemented mandatory school-uniform policies, and large-scale studies that compare nationally representative samples of students enrolled in schools implementing uniform policies with students enrolled in schools not implementing such policies on a variety of outcomes. Many methods used are flawed because different factors are not accounted for, such as design of uniform policies in different schools studies, and racial and socioeconomic status. Still, results of qualitative studies lay the groundwork for creating theories on uniform policy effectiveness and defining related issues requiring further research. These results will direct policymakers away from conjecture, emotion, anecdotes, and assumptions. One suggestion is that a uniform policy be part of a larger comprehensive plan that focuses on students' academic success. (Contains 31 endnotes, 14 references, and 18 resource Web sites.) (RT)

This book represents the most thorough exposition on our present understanding of the impetuses, debates, legalities, and effectiveness of school uniform policies that have rapidly entered the discourse of school reform in the United States. In it, David Brunsma provides an antidote to the ungrounded, anecdotal components that define the contemporary conversation regarding policies of standardized dress in American K-12 districts and schools.