cjrc-sponsored research

  • Project:
  • Suspended Opportunities: Examining Racial Disparities in School Discipline

  • Investigator:
  • Darlene Saporu (Sociology)

  • Abstract:
  • While prior research documents the existence of racial gaps in school discipline (McCarthy and Hoge 1987; Skiba et al, 2000, Taylor and Foster 1986) few studies have attempted to explain the mechanisms underlying differential application of school discipline for minorities on a national scale. The adoption of zero tolerance policies has exacerbated racial differences in exclusionary discipline. Although zero tolerance policies were enacted to address the escalation of violent shootings in suburban and rural schools, these policies have had the unintended effect of penalizing poor and minority students for non-violent actions. Within the new disciplinary culture, students' non-criminal behaviors are often subjected to school arrests, and referrals to criminal court. As social control becomes the implicit mission in school, attention is deflected from the learning process, which may have detrimental consequences for levels of educational achievement among minority students.

  • First, this study seeks to determine the extent of racial disparities in school punishment on a national level. The second objective is to examine the causes for racial-ethnic disparities in school suspension and expulsions. Specifically, I will evaluate the plausibility of three potential explanations: differential treatment from teachers, differential involvement in misbehavior or delinquency, and school/institutional context. Lastly, this study will examine trends in racial disparities in school discipline prior to the introduction of No Child Left Behind and after.

  • The proposed study will analyze data from the first two waves of Educational Longitudinal Study (ELS) of 2002 and the second wave of National Educational Longitudinal Study of 1988 ( NELS). Out of school suspension, in school suspension, and expulsion data will be analyzed to depict trends and patterns across school context as well as race/ethnicity. Because zero tolerance policies normalize the processes of criminalization in public schools and limits life chances through the disproportionate punishment and social exclusion of minority youth it is essential to identify factors that contribute to the school to prison pipeline.