School Deferred: When Bias Affects School Leaders

Abstract

In the classroom, Black students are disciplined more frequently and more severely for the same misbehaviors as White students. Though teachers have influence over disciplinary actions, the final decisions for exclusionary discipline (i.e., suspensions and expulsions) are principals’ responsibility. We test how principals make disciplinary decisions in a preregistered experiment. Principals endorsed more severe discipline for Black students compared with White students across two time points. Further, this discipline severity was explained through Black students being more likely to be labeled a troublemaker than White students. Future efforts should focus on principals in order to mitigate the negative impacts of the school-to-prison pipeline.

Restorative Justice and the School-to-Prison Pipeline: A Review of Existing Literature

“…Research indicates that a variety of factors contribute to the school-to-prison pipeline. Some studies indicate that school personnel may be biased in the ways they respond to Black students [11,12]. The lack of teacher preparation and support has been documented to be one of the contributing factors as well [13,14].…”

“…The researchers found that Black students had a higher chance of being labeled troublemakers than White students for participating in the same behavior. They suggested that future efforts to reduce the school-to-prison pipeline need to focus on principals since they are the ones making the final decisions on suspensions and expulsions [12].…”

Beyond students: how teacher psychology shapes educational inequality

“…Even at the psychological level, the attitudes, perceptions, and beliefs of myriad others influence students' academic outcomes. School administrators are often responsible for final decisions on matters such as academic placement and discipline, and research shows that principals [96] and school counselors [97] can exhibit racial bias in these decisions even with no input from teachers. Parents may be differentially likely to recognize the potential of their children and advocate for advanced placement [98], perhaps in part due to psychological factors such as their own biases (e.g., gender stereotypes [99]) or cultural factors.…”

Narratives of Systemic Barriers and Accessibility: Poverty, Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and the Call for a Post-Pandemic New Normal

“…The study, which was based in the United States, comprised a sample of public middle and high school assistant principals across two misbehaviors. Jarvis and Okonofua (2020) found that the school principals "endorsed more severe discipline for Black students after the second misbehavior compared with White students. Because misbehaviors were held constant, we can conclude it is due to the student's perceived race and not aspects of the misbehavior" (p. 496).…”