Modeling the Effects of Racial Threat on Punitive and Restorative School Discipline Practices*

Abstract

It is clear that schools are mirroring the criminal justice system by becoming harsher toward student misbehavior despite decreases in delinquency. Moreover, Black students consistently are disciplined more frequently and more severely than others for the same behaviors, much in the same way that Black criminals are subjected to harsher criminal punishments than other offenders. Research has found that the racial composition of schools is partially responsible for harsher school discipline just as the racial composition of areas has been associated with punitive criminal justice measures. Yet, no research has explored comprehensively the dynamics involved in how racial threat and other factors influence discipline policies that ultimately punish Black students disproportionately. In this study (N = 294 public schools), structural equation models assess how school racial composition affects school disciplinary policies in light of other influences on discipline and gauge how other possible predictors of school disciplinary policies relate to racial composition of schools, to various school disciplinary policies, and to one another. Findings indicate that schools responding to student misbehavior with one type of discipline tend to use other types of responses as well and that many factors predict the type of disciplinary response used by schools. However, disadvantaged, urban schools with a greater Black, poor, and Hispanic student population are more likely to respond to misbehavior in a punitive manner and less likely to respond in a restorative manner.

More Than a Metaphor: The Contribution of Exclusionary Discipline to a School-to-Prison Pipeline

“…Black students have been documented as receiving fewer mild disciplinary sanctions (McFadden, Marsh, Price, & Hwang, 1992;Payne & Welch, 2010) and more severe disciplinary consequences (Skiba, Horner, Chung, Rausch, May, & Tobin, 2011) for similar infractions. Neither poverty status nor differential rates of disruptive behavior have been found to be sufficient as an explanation of African American disciplinary disparities (see, e.g., Bradshaw, Mitchell, O'Brennan, & Leaf, 2010;Skiba, Michael, Nardo, & Peterson, 2002;Wallace, Goodkind, Wallace, & Bachman, 2008;Wu, Pink, Crain, & Moles, 1982).…”

Breaking Stereotypes and School Punishment: Family Socioeconomic Status, Test Scores, Academic and Sport Activities, Backlash, and Racial and Ethnic Discipline Disparities

“…Fourth, this study did not focus on exploring the potential role of school context in the relationships between race, ethnicity, stereotypes, and school punishment. In addition, the school's social milieu plays a role in how racial and ethnic minorities are treated (Ogbu, 2003;Payne & Welch, 2010;Tyson, 2011). School demographic context matters in the treatment, education, socialization, and perception of racial and ethnic minority adolescents.…”

“…Student characteristics such as gender, misbehavior, family structure, and parental involvement, as well as school factors such as poverty, level of social disorder, school size, level of security, and locale, are linked to students' odds of being subjected to a form of school punishment (Kim, Losen, & Hewitt, 2012;Kupchik, 2010;Morris, 2005Morris, , 2006Noguera, 2008;Payne & Welch, 2010;Rios, 2011;Skiba et al, 2002Skiba et al, , 2011; thus, these control measures are included in this research.…”

Race, Exclusionary Discipline, and Connectedness to Adults in Secondary Schools

“…School-level covariates were selected based on research addressing the influence of school context on discipline disparities (Payne & Welch, 2010;Skiba et al, 2013Skiba et al, , 2014. School racial composition, proportion of students who are eligible for free and reduced lunch, and average daily attendance were continuous variables based on applicable percentages.…”