Parsing Disciplinary Disproportionality: Contributions of Infraction, Student, and School Characteristics to Out-of-School Suspension and Expulsion

SAGE Publications. 2455 Teller Road, Thousand Oaks, CA 91320. Tel: 800-818-7243; Tel: 805-499-9774; Fax: 800-583-2665; e-mail: [email protected]; Web site: http://sagepub.com

Y

31

Discipline; Expulsion; Suspension; Disproportionate Representation; Administrator Attitudes; Institutional Characteristics; Principals; Racial Differences; Gender Differences; Socioeconomic Status; Predictor Variables; African American Students; Enrollment; Student Characteristics; Student Behavior; Models; Regression (Statistics); Hierarchical Linear Modeling; Students; Statistical Analysis

10.3102/0002831214541670

0002-8312

In the context of a national conversation about exclusionary discipline, we conducted a multilevel examination of the relative contributions of infraction, student, and school characteristics to rates of and racial disparities in out-of-school suspension and expulsion. Type of infraction; race, gender, and to a certain extent socioeconomic status at the individual level; and, at the school level, mean school achievement, percentage Black enrollment, and principal perspectives all contributed to the probability of out-of-school suspension or expulsion. For racial disparities, however, school-level variables, including principal perspectives on discipline, appear to be among the strongest predictors. Such a pattern suggests that schools and districts looking to reduce racial and ethnic disparities in discipline would do well to focus on school-and classroom-based interventions.

As Provided

99

2014

EJ1033160