scholarly journals The inequitable consequences of school disciplinary policies on Black girls in Ohio

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 175-184
Author(s):  
Terry Husband ◽  
Shamaine Bertrand
Keyword(s):  
School Districts ◽  
Civil Rights ◽  
Black Girls ◽  
Black Boys ◽  
School Suspension ◽  
Suspension Rates ◽  
Office For Civil Rights ◽  
Discipline Policies ◽  
Out Of School ◽  
Policies And Practices

Studies have examined the effects of school disciplinary policies and practices on Black boys. Much of this research highlights the degree to which many of these disciplinary policies and practices have affected Black boys in P-12 contexts in negative ways. A small and emerging body of scholarship has begun to investigate the effects of school discipline policies and practices in P-12 contexts on Black girls. The focus of this study was to investigate the effects of disciplinary policies on Black girls in comparison to girls from other races in the 15 largest school districts in Ohio. Drawing from recent out-of-school suspension data from the Office for Civil Rights Data Collection, we examined the degree to which Black girls were suspended out of school in the 15 largest school districts in Ohio. More specifically, out-of-school suspension rates (1 or more suspensions combined) for Black girls in relation to the suspension rates of girls from other racial backgrounds was analyzed. Findings indicated that Black girls were suspended at disproportionately higher rates in the majority of the districts in this study. Recommendations for practice are discussed.

Black Students in Handcuffs: Addressing Racial Disproportionality in School Discipline for Students with Dis/abilities

2018 ◽  
Vol 120 (13) ◽  
pp. 1-24
Author(s):  
Dorothy E. Hines ◽  
Robb King ◽  
Donna Y. Ford
Keyword(s):  
Civil Rights ◽  
Black Students ◽  
Black Males ◽  
Geographic Area ◽  
Black Girls ◽  
Black Boys ◽  
School Suspension ◽  
Black Females ◽  
School Suspensions ◽  
Out Of School

Although there are federal protections for students with dis/abilities under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) 1975, Black students with and without dis/abilities continue to be suspended and expelled at rates that exceed their peers. Still, there is limited research on how Black girls and Black boys are disciplined across suspension types, and based on their identification for special education services. The purpose of this article is to examine the overrepresentation of Black girls and Black boys with and without dis/abilities and to determine, using a quantifiable percentage, how the overrepresentation of Black students for in-school and out-of-school suspension can be eradicated. We use data from the U.S. Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights, Civil Rights Data Collection 2011–2012 to examine equity (justice and fairness) in disciplinary referrals using state-by-state and regional data. Using an equity formula, we analyzed national data to determine the magnitude of Black females’ and Black males’ overrepresentation in in-school and out-of-school suspensions for students with and without dis/abilities. This study indicates that Black females with dis/abilities had the highest rate of overrepresentation in the Midwest in in-school and out-of-school suspension. In comparison, Black males experienced a greater representation in in-school suspension. Regardless of geographic area Black girls and Black boys are continuously being overrepresented in disciplinary punishments. To end the over-representation of Black girls and Black boys in in-school and out-of-school suspensions, schools and policy makers must collaborate with communities of color, eliminate teacher implicit and explicit racial biases, and discontinue racially punitive school policies.

scholarly journals An examination of the bidirectional relationship between federal civil rights guidance and research

2020 ◽  
Vol 28 ◽  
pp. 104
Author(s):  
Maria M. Lewis ◽  
Sarah Kern
Keyword(s):  
School Districts ◽  
Civil Rights ◽  
Department Of Education ◽  
Admissions Policies ◽  
Office For Civil Rights ◽  
Legal Obligations ◽  
Bidirectional Relationship ◽  
Guidance Documents ◽  
Research Questions ◽  
Policy Guidance

As the primary agency responsible for enforcing federal civil rights laws in the educational context, the U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights (OCR) issues policy guidance to help ensure that school districts and universities understand their legal obligations. These policy guidance documents have direct connections to topics studied by educational researchers (e.g., disproportionality in special education, race conscious admissions policies in higher education, transgender student inclusion, etc.). However, we do not have an empirical understanding of how this guidance is used by the research community. Nor do we have a strong grasp on the extent to which this guidance is explicitly informed by research. It is important to acquire an empirical understanding of the bidirectional relationship between research and educational policy in the context of civil rights enforcement in order to determine areas of strength and those in need of improvement. Specifically, this study poses the following research questions: 1) How often and in what ways do scholars explicitly use OCR policy guidance to inform their research? What are the characteristics of this research? 2) Conversely, how often and in what ways does OCR explicitly use research to inform policy guidance? What are the characteristics of research cited in OCR guidance?

The Impact of School Mental Health Services on Out-of-School Suspension Rates

2005 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-30 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric J. Bruns ◽  
Elizabeth Moore ◽  
Sharon Hoover Stephan ◽  
David Pruitt ◽  
Mark D. Weist
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Mental Health Services ◽  
Health Services ◽  
School Mental Health ◽  
School Suspension ◽  
Suspension Rates ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Out Of School

#BlackGirlsMatter: A Case Study Examining the Intersectionality of Race, Gender, and School Discipline

2017 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 21-35
Author(s):  
Kriss Y. Kemp-Graham
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
Ethnic Groups ◽  
School Discipline ◽  
African American Girls ◽  
Leadership Programs ◽  
Suspension Rates ◽  
Discipline Policies ◽  
School Discipline Policies ◽  
Policies And Practices

Nationwide, African American girls have the highest suspension rates among all racial and ethnic groups. Furthermore, they are the most severely, disproportionately affected by school discipline policies and practices when compared with other girls. This case study was developed for use in education leadership programs to critically analyze school discipline policies and practices that disproportionately affect African American girls.

RING THE ALARM

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-17
Author(s):  
Jelisa S. Clark
Keyword(s):  
Black Women ◽  
News Coverage ◽  
Black Girls ◽  
Black Boys ◽  
Exclusionary Discipline ◽  
School To Prison Pipeline ◽  
Race And Gender ◽  
Discipline Policies ◽  
And Gender ◽  
The Impact

Abstract In this research, I use theories of framing and social construction to investigate how race and gender are featured in national news coverage of the school-to-prison pipeline, and how policies and practices funnel students from school to the criminal justice system. Results indicate that there are three primary narratives surrounding the school-to-prison pipeline. The first is a narrative that harsh disciplinary practices in schools are irrational and negatively impact all students. The second narrative crafts the school-to-prison pipeline as a social problem for all Black students irrespective of gender. The final narrative emphasizes the impact of exclusionary discipline on Black boys. Each of these narratives functions to erase the experiences of Black girls. Ultimately, I argue that we need to take a more intersectional approach to school discipline policies and take into account how Black women and girls are situated within popular and policy discussions.

Protecting Students' Civil Rights: The Federal Role in School Discipline

2020 ◽  
Vol 49 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessica Cardichon ◽  
Linda Darling-Hammond
Keyword(s):  
Civil Rights ◽  
School Discipline ◽  
Educational Equity ◽  
Policy Tools ◽  
Educational Inequalities ◽  
Federal Law ◽  
Over Time ◽  
Policies And Practices

This article takes a careful look at political and policy tools that presidential administrations have at their disposal for ameliorating educational inequalities. These tools, the authors suggest, include issuing federal guidance that informs and supports states and districts as they work to implement policies and practices that comply with federal law. However, as the authors point out, the extent to which administrations have chosen to leverage these opportunities to advance educational equity has varied over time.

Unification and Its Discontents

2016 ◽  
Vol 93 (2) ◽  
pp. 4-16
Author(s):  
Brian Kovalesky
Keyword(s):  
Public Schools ◽  
School District ◽  
Los Angeles ◽  
School Districts ◽  
Civil Rights ◽  
Working Class ◽  
Los Angeles County ◽  
The State ◽  
White Working Class ◽  
City Schools

In the late 1950s and early 1960s, during the height of protests and actions by civil rights activists around de facto school segregation in the Los Angeles area, the residents of a group of small cities just southeast of the City of Los Angeles fought to break away from the Los Angeles City Schools and create a new, independent school district—one that would help preserve racially segregated schools in the area. The “Four Cities” coalition was comprised of residents of the majority white, working-class cities of Vernon, Maywood, Huntington Park, and Bell—all of which had joined the Los Angeles City Schools in the 1920s and 1930s rather than continue to operate local districts. The coalition later expanded to include residents of the cities of South Gate, Cudahy, and some unincorporated areas of Los Angeles County, although Vernon was eventually excluded. The Four Cities coalition petitioned for the new district in response to a planned merger of the Los Angeles City Schools—until this time comprised of separate elementary and high school districts—into the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD). The coalition's strategy was to utilize a provision of the district unification process that allowed citizens to petition for reconfiguration or redrawing of boundaries. Unification was encouraged by the California State Board of Education and legislature in order to combine the administrative functions of separate primary and secondary school districts—the dominant model up to this time—to better serve the state's rapidly growing population of children and their educational needs, and was being deliberated in communities across the state and throughout Los Angeles County. The debates at the time over school district unification in the Greater Los Angeles area, like the one over the Four Cities proposal, were inextricably tied to larger issues, such as taxation, control of community institutions, the size and role of state and county government, and racial segregation. At the same time that civil rights activists in the area and the state government alike were articulating a vision of public schools that was more inclusive and demanded larger-scale, consolidated administration, the unification process reveals an often-overlooked grassroots activism among residents of the majority white, working-class cities surrounding Los Angeles that put forward a vision of exclusionary, smaller-scale school districts based on notions of local control and what they termed “community identity.”

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document