Latino/a Student Threat and School Disciplinary Policies and Practices

Abstract

Using a nationally representative sample of approximately 3,500 public schools, this study builds on and extends our knowledge of how ‘‘minority threat’’ manifests within schools. We test whether various disciplinary policies and practices are mobilized in accordance with Latino/a student composition, presumably the result of a group response to perceptions that white racial dominance is jeopardized. We gauge how schools’ Latino/a student populations are associated with the availability and use of several specific types of discipline. We further explore possible moderating influences of school crime and economic disadvantage on punishment. We find that schools with larger percentages of Latino/a students are more likely to favor certain punitive responses and less likely to favor certain mild responses, as predicted by minority threat. The percentage of Latino/a students is also related to greater use of certain disciplinary responses in schools with less crime.

School Leadership: Implicit Bias and Social Justice

“…When expanded, results showed that teachers were more likely to label African American males as "troublemakers" and indicate a pattern of misbehavior and that these indications were linked to more severe discipline and suggestions for suspensions. The relationship found in this study is supported by higher incidences of Black students being referred to the office for behavioral infractions despite similar behavior to that of other students (Anyon et al, 2014;Huang, 2018); this relationship extends to Hispanic students as compared to White students as well (Welch & Payne, 2018). To add to the challenge, once students get to the office they typically receive more severe and more exclusionary discipline than their White peers (Anyon et al, 2014, Huang, 2018, Welch & Payne, 2018.…”

Recent developments in school social control

“…For example, using a nationally representative sample of children in 8 th graders, Wright et al () found that prior teacher reports of aggressive behavior explained Black‐White and Hispanic‐White disparities in school suspension. However, a growing body of research suggests that disparities persist even when scholars consider differences in individual behavior problems (Ramey, ; Rocque, ; Skiba et al, ) and variation in school incidents of violence and misbehavior (Irwin et al, ; Payne and Welch 2012; Welch & Payne, , ). Moreover, if behavior were the primary factor behind child social control, it would follow that we would observe similar disparities in both criminalized and medicalized child social control, as schools would ostensibly rely on all possible social control strategies.…”

“…When these patterns are considered in the context of criminalization and medicalization as repressive or restitutive social controls, disparities in school social control reflect systemic racial and economic inequality in the United States. Specifically, a large body of research suggests that support for the implementation and utilization of harsh or punitive social control policies and practices increases as the size of the minority and marginalized population increase relative to the White or middle‐class population (Payne and Welch 2012, Payne & Welch, ; Welch & Payne, , ). While less is known about the implementation of restitutive controls, recent research suggests that schools with larger White student bodies are more likely to implement restorative disciplinary practices (Payne & Welch, ; Payne & Welch, ; Welch & Payne, ), and schools with relatively larger White student bodies have higher enrollments of students on behavioral IEPs and Section 504 behavior plans (Ramey, ).…”

“…While schools ostensibly have both criminalized and medicalized child social control policies “on the books,” there is mounting events that schools' use of criminalization and medicalization in practice varies considerably across different social contexts. Most notably, research suggests that schools serving racial/ethnic minorities are more likely to rely on criminalized social control and Non‐Hispanic Black and Hispanic children are more likely to be exposed to and experience criminalized child social control than White children (Losen & Martinez, ; Payne and Welch 2012; Payne & Welch, ; Ramey, ; Welch & Payne, , ). Conversely, schools with relatively large White student bodies have higher rates of enrollment in behavioral special education plans and White children are more likely to be exposed to and experience medicalized social control than racial and ethnic minority children (Miller, Nigg, & Miller, ; Morgan et al, ; Morgan, Farkas, Hillemeier, & Maczuga, ; Morgan, Staff, Hillemeier, Farkas, & Maczuga, ; Ramey, ).…”

Earning rent with your talent: Modern-day inequality rests on the power to define, transfer and institutionalize talent

“…"magna cum laude"). In the worst-case-scenario, they lead to a student's expulsion, the longterm consequences of which have been described as a "school-to-prison pipeline" (Kim, Losen, and Hewitt 2010;Mittleman 2018;Welch and Payne 2018). This definitional power extends far beyond the realm of education, into the world of literature (Franssen and Kuipers 2013), fashion (Mears 2010), business (Khurana 2002), and as we will see below, sports.…”