Discipline Disproportionalities in Schools: The Relationship between Student Characteristics and School Disciplinary Outcomes

Abstract

According to a 2014 report from the US Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights, black students represent only 15% of students across the nation, but 35% of students suspended once are black, 44% of students suspended more than once are black, and 36% of expelled students are black. These disparate disciplinary aggregate outcomes, while troubling, do not provide as much information as policymakers need. In this study, we exploit three years of student-level discipline data from Arkansas to assess the extent to which black students or other minority students were more likely to receive certain types of punishments, even for the same infraction. In previous studies utilizing the same dataset, we find that, consistent with the recent reports on this topic, black students were punished more frequently; furthermore, we find that black students received slightly longer punishments than their white peers in the same school. The current study utilizes multinomial logit to assess the extent to which student demographics predict consequence type, even after controlling for infraction-level information and district characteristics. Black students, males, and low-income students (eligible for free-and reduced-lunch) were more likely to receive certain types of exclusionary consequences such as out-of-school suspension, expulsion, and referrals to Alternative Learning Environments relative to in-school-suspension.

The role of culture in student discipline of secondary schools in cross-cultural context: a systematic literature review and future research agenda

“…For the United States, the relationship between student discipline history and special education identification, as well as the relationship between student achievement and discipline, is also identified as an under-researched area (Anderson & Ritter, 2015). The authors, Martin and Smith (2017) mentioned the need for more studies on professional development sessions for in-service teachers in the United States.…”

Black and White Female Disproportional Discipline K–12

“…If there is a correlation between discipline and corporal punishment, a case can be made for understanding the high number of disciplines in several of the southern states. According to Anderson and Ritter (2015), corporal punishment is still legal in 19 states. For example, many of the southern, southwest, and mid-west teachers and school officials have wide discretion in how and when to apply such discipline.…”

“…Among the 19 states, Mississippi tops the list in cases of corporal punishment. Black students are 49% of the state’s student population and 64% of those paddled, far surpassing the number of White students (35%) receiving such discipline (Anderson & Ritter, 2015). Also, Black female students received the highest number of suspensions (81.4% vs. 17.2%) compared with White female students in Mississippi.…”

“…In addition, Mississippi has a low ranking for student achievement and is one of the poorest states. It also has the highest suspension rates for elementary and the second highest for high school students (Anderson & Ritter, 2015).…”

“…Black males are at a higher risk of suspension than any other group, and Black females are right behind them. Anderson and Ritter (2015) found Black, male, and low-income students were more likely to receive OSSs. A study done by Barrett et al (2017) compared the severity of behavior by race have found no evidence that students of color in the same schools or districts engage in more severe behaviors that would warrant higher rates of suspension or expulsion.…”