An Exploration of Discipline and Suspension Data

Abstract

This project serves as a followup to an earlier report (J. Nichols, W. Ludwin, and P. Iadicola, in press) in which the student discipline and suspension data for a large urban school corporation in the Midwest were explored. In the earlier project, flawed data collection procedures by the school corporation made analysis of the data tentative and problematic. As a result, new data collection procedures were implemented the following year. This project explores the "following year" data and expands the analysis to include data from 6 high schools, 11 middle schools, and 35 elementary schools. Analysis of the student discipline data is presented with a discussion centering around overrepresentation of minority and low-income students within the data. In addition, this project includes a discipline consequence and zone analysis of behavioral occurrences. Implications for future research are also discussed. (Contains 11 tables and 32 references.) (Author/SLD)

Modeling the Effects of Racial Threat on Punitive and Restorative School Discipline Practices*

“…Research clearly documents that Black students experience more intense punishment in school than White students (Ferguson, 2000;Foney and Cunningham, 2002;Gottfredson and Gottfredson, 2001;Nichols, 2004;Skiba, 2001;Peterson, 1997, 1999;Skiba, Peterson, and Williams, 1997;Welsh, 2000) and receive punitive treatment more frequently for less serious offenses (Brown and Beckett, 2006;McCarthy and Hoge, 1987; \\server05\productn\C\CRY\48-4\CRY404.txt unknown Seq: 5 12-NOV-10 12:09 MODELING THE EFFECTS OF RACIAL THREAT 1023 McFadden et al, 1992;Nichols, 2004;Noguera, 2003a;Raffaele Mendez and Knoff, 2003;Shaw and Braden, 1990;Skiba, 2000Skiba, , 2001Skiba et al, 2002). Statistics indicate that Black students are more likely to be suspended than White students (Brooks, Schiraldi, and Ziedenberg, 1999;Costenbader and Markson, 1994;Gottfredson and Gottfredson, 2001;Gregory and Weinstein, 2008;Nichols, 2004;Raffaele Mendez, Knoff, and Ferron, 2002;Skiba and Knesting, 2001;Skiba et al, 2002;Taylor and Foster, 1986; Thornton and Trent, 1988). Although Black students make up only approximately 17 percent of those enrolled in American public schools, they account for 40 percent of all rule-breaking incidents and 32 percent of all out-of-school suspensions (Gottfredson, 2001;Vavrus and Cole, 2002).…”

“…Another explanation for greater school punitiveness toward Black students is that they are perceived by teachers and school administrators to engage disproportionally in delinquency, despite findings that they do not, and that these perceptions lead to more severe punishment (Morrow and Torres, 1995;Nichols, 2004;Noguera, 2003b). Some research suggests that perceptions of deviance by White teachers result from certain cultural expectations of behavior, such as greater physical contact, boisterousness, and vocal assertiveness of Black students (Nichols, 2004).…”

Revisiting The Great White North?

“…Educational counsellors have a significant role in the development of socio-emotional competence in school children (Coleman & Baskin, 2003;Holcomb-McCoy, 2004). Higher rates of school disciplinary actions and suspensions reported for minority youth (Nichols, 1999;Ruck & Wortley, 2002) may reflect lack of understanding of racial/cultural factors in these students' lives. Educational counsellors who define their identities as independent individuals might make errors such as advising separation and individuation from the family and inappropriate expression of emotions and assertiveness (Constantine, 2001) when working with children and families from cultures that tend to define identity in terms of relation to their families and communities, including Aboriginal, Chinese, and African-American (Sparrow, 2000).…”

The Impact of Schools and Education on Antisocial Behavior over the Lifecourse

“…Research shows that these punishments are associated with various negative academic outcomes, including school failure, grade retention, negativity toward school, and a greater likelihood of dropping out (Nichols, 2004 ;Schiraldi & Zeidenberg, 2001 ;Skiba & Peterson, 1999 ), all of which are risk factors for offending. Further, the use of these forms of discipline seems to actually increase the probability that the students receiving these disciplinary measures will commit delinquent acts at school, such as participate in physical fi ghts, carry weapons, smoke, and use alcohol and other drugs (Schiraldi & Zeidenberg, 2001 ) , and engage in delinquency within the greater community (Foney & Cunningham, 2002 ;Nichols, 2004 ) .…”