Publication Date

1-1-2021

Document Type

Article

Publication Title

Race Ethnicity and Education

Volume

26

Issue

5

DOI

10.1080/13613324.2021.2019000

Abstract

Although in-school suspensions may be viewed as less severe than out-of-school suspensions, both discipline consequences limit students’ access to learning opportunities and are negatively associated with a range of educational outcomes. Moreover, if sending students out of class perpetuates the same racial disparities as sending them home, this practice does not realize the equity goals of discipline reforms over the last decade. Our study draws on Critical Race Theory and QuantCrit to understand racial discipline gaps across in-school and out-of-school suspensions using data from students and schools in one large district. Results of multilevel regression models indicate similar racial disparities in both suspension types, suggesting neither approach is equitable. These findings illustrate the limits of race-neutral policies in mitigating exclusionary discipline gaps. Addressing the thorny issues that contribute to racial disparities will likely require greater resources for high quality implementation of school-wide culture change initiatives that are explicitly anti-racist.

Keywords

Critical Race Theory, exclusionary, Quantcrit, racial disparities, school discipline, Suspension

Comments

This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Race Ethnicity and Education on 21 Dec 2021, available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/13613324.2021.2019000.

Department

Social Work

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