There is a large body of research examining the discipline experiences of Black males (Lewis et al. in Souls: A Critical Journey of Black Politics, Culture, and Society, 2009; Skiba et al. in The Urban Review, 34, 317-348, 2002); however, less is known about the types of behavioral infractions Black female students exhibit and the discipline sanctions imposed for Black girls for such infractions. As a result, the purpose of this study is to examine the type of discipline infractions exhibited by Black female students enrolled in an urban school district and to explore whether the pattern of discipline infractions and sanctions imposed for Black girls disproportionately differs from all female students, but more specifically White and Hispanic females. Results suggest that Black girls are overrepresented in exclusionary discipline practices and Black girls reason for discipline referrals differs significantly from White and Hispanic girls. Based on these findings, recommendations are provided for urban educational stakeholders.

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School discipline disparities for African American students in urban schools continue to be a topic of contention. While research has rightfully called into question the practices and preparation of teachers and principals, the role that assistant principals serve as disciplinary gatekeepers has gone relatively unnoticed in the literature. The purpose of this study was to explore the experiences of five assistant principals at two urban middle schools to ascertain how they addressed issues of race amid applying school discipline interventions for African American students. The findings are analyzed and discussed through a critical race theoretical framework.

The effects of professional teacher dispositions on student development have been widely documented. Yet there is limited discussion of the impact of socially just dispositions. The present study critically examines the relationship between justice-oriented mind-sets in preservice teachers and their perceptions of teaching in urban schools. Using critical interpretive case study, we analyze a series of journal reflections from a diverse group of prospective teachers to determine whether exposure to service-learning opportunities within an urban school influenced their views about urban schools and students. As a result of the findings from the study, recommendations for teacher education are addressed.

Exclusionary school discipline practices continue to play a key explanatory role in racially disproportionate outcomes in the justice system. Three decades of research substantiate the disproportionality of discipline practices and the negative effects on Black students. However, a meta-analysis of this phenomenon and its moderators remains absent but is warranted based on its practical and empirical import. Thus, this meta-analysis synthesized the research on school discipline disproportionality between Black and White students by aggregating odds ratios across studies. An exhaustive search of the literature and rigorous screening process produced a final pool of 29 studies representing 51 independent effect sizes. Based on the test for homogeneity we concluded that their was significant heterogeneity, Q(50) = 20115.40, p <0.001. Thus, a random effects analytic model was employed. After testing and adjusting for publication bias, the overall mean estimated odds ratio was 2.58, p <.001. Thus, the odds of being disciplined if Black are more than 2 and half times the odds of being disciplined if White. The subsequent moderator analysis results suggest that grade level and gender were not significant moderators of the disproportionality. Rather the results explicitly indicate that the ill-effects of school discipline are "equally" disproportionate toward Black male and female students across all K-12 grade levels. Results also indicate that statistically