A Phenomenological Investigation of Discipline Disparities between Black and Hispanic Students in an Urban North Central Texas School District

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71

Racial Differences; Ethnicity; Disproportionate Representation; Discipline; Racism; Teacher Attitudes; Middle School Teachers; Middle School Students; African American Students; African American Teachers; Teaching Experience; Hispanic American Students; Urban Schools

979-83-8261-299-7

Equity between racial/ethnic groups has become an important factor in education, and scholar-practitioners have focused on closing the equity gap in both student academics and discipline. Research has shown the inequity in student discipline dating back to the 1950s when schools began to integrate and Black students were allowed to attend the same schools as White students. There have been over 40 years of research on this problem of educational inequity, and to date, there is data that report Black students being disciplined at a higher rate than other students (Gregory et al., 2016). Research has suggested that this disparity could be linked to a lack of cultural competency from educational stakeholders. The purpose of this study was to examine student discipline disparities and investigate the discipline gap from a teacher perspective. Although there is literature to describe the inequity in student discipline, this qualitative phenomenological study gives voice to the experiences and perceptions of middle school teachers who encounter students inside the classroom. Teachers were interviewed and their responses were analyzed using in vivo coding to establish themes. This study provides another lens for examining the phenomenon of discipline disparity that exists at schools, and the responses from the teachers can help scholar-practitioners address the discipline gap. The researcher approached discipline from an equity point of view, therefore, an equity audit was performed on the campus being researched. The equity audit concluded that the number of Black teachers reflected the Black student population, and there was not a lack of Black teachers present on the campus being researched. The equity audit also concluded that almost have the teachers on the campus being researched have less than five years of teaching experience. The results indicated that three of the five participants perceived that there was a discipline gap present on the campus being researched. The teachers' qualitative feedback indicated inequity in discipline practices and that one group of students was more harshly punished than another group of students. The qualitative feedback also yielded eight themes underlying the data. Data have shown there are years of a discipline gap at K-12 schools, and the first documented publications on discipline disparity were published in 1975 (Gopolan, 2019; Lundberg, 2020; Skiba et al., 2016). The results from this study can confirm the discipline gap still exists, as both the campus and district within the research reported an overrepresentation of student discipline among Black students. Understanding the perception of teachers' student discipline provides valuable insights for educational leaders as they approach this educational problem. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]

As Provided

2024

ED653420