Middle School Black and White Student Assignment to Disciplinary Consequences

Abstract

Disciplinary consequences assigned to all Texas middle school Black and White students (n = 172,551 Grade 6 students; 173,671 Grade 7 students; 175,730 Grade 8 students) for the 2008-2009 school year were analyzed to determine the extent to which statistically significant differences were present between the proportion of Black students and the proportion of White students assigned discipline consequences. Black students received in-school suspension at more than twice the percentage of their representation in the overall student sample population. Similar results were present for out-of-school suspension, with proportionately more Black students being assigned to out-of-school suspension than White students. Although the number of students assigned to disciplinary alternative education program placement was small, Black students were still assigned to this disciplinary consequence at a much higher percentage than were White students. A lack of equity was clearly demonstrated in the overrepresentation of Black middle school students assigned to disciplinary consequences.

An African American Student Networking Group in an Urban High School: Experiences and Outcomes

“…Interestingly, students did not feel comfortable criticizing the school or authority figures in other spaces. This finding aligns with research by Hilberth and Slate (2014) who noted that Black middle school students tended to be disciplined or suspended for subjective reasons such as disrespect. Students in our research not only shared this sentiment in the focus groups but also shared that in the African American Student Network, they were able to find a counter space-a space in which they could share thoughts and feelings that they might be punished for outside of group, including instances when they felt belittled, silenced, and/or invisible at the school.…”

Ethnic/Racial disparities in Disciplinary Alternative Education Program placements for Texas Grade 6, 7 and 8 boys: A statewide, multiyear analysis

“…With respect to the empirical evidence regarding inequities in disciplinary consequence assignment by student ethnicity/race, several researchers [10][11][12] have conducted studies in Texas in which they have provided extensive evidence of the presence of inequities. Hilberth and Slate [11] analyzed data from the 2008-2009 school year on disproportionalities in discipline consequence assignment to Black and White students. The Texas statewide data they analyzed included 172,551 Grade 6 White and Black students, 175,671 Grade 7 White and Black students, and 175,730 Grade 8 White and Black students.…”

“…The Texas statewide data they analyzed included 172,551 Grade 6 White and Black students, 175,671 Grade 7 White and Black students, and 175,730 Grade 8 White and Black students. With respect to in-school suspension, Hilberth and Slate [11] documented that 32% of the in-school suspensions were assigned to Grade 6 Black students, although only 14.1% of their Grade 6 students were Black. In contrast, they determined that 14.1% of the in-school suspensions were assigned to White students, although White students constituted 34.7% of Grade 6 students.…”

“…Of particular importance to this article are Hilberth and Slate's [11] results for Disciplinary Alternative Education Program placement. Of these consequences that were assigned, 4.1% of Grade 6 Black students were assigned to a Discipline Alternative Education Program placement, compared to 1.1% of White students; 5.8% of Grade 7 Black students were assigned to a Disciplinary Alternative Education Program placement, compared to 1.8% of White students; and 7.0% of Grade 8 Black students were assigned to a Discipline Alternative Education Program placement, compared to 2.6% of Grade 8 White students.…”

“…Of these consequences that were assigned, 4.1% of Grade 6 Black students were assigned to a Discipline Alternative Education Program placement, compared to 1.1% of White students; 5.8% of Grade 7 Black students were assigned to a Disciplinary Alternative Education Program placement, compared to 1.8% of White students; and 7.0% of Grade 8 Black students were assigned to a Discipline Alternative Education Program placement, compared to 2.6% of Grade 8 White students. In their investigation, Hilberth and Slate [11] used a commonly used definition of disproportionality [13] . That is, they compared the percentage of Black and of White students who received a discipline consequence with their proportion of the student enrollment.…”