The Scars of School Discipline? A National Study in the Effects of Exclusionary School Discipline

• In Event: 70.065 - Roundtable Session 27
  In Roundtable Session: 70.065-4 - Inequality: School Factors

Abstract

Exclusionary discipline, or school suspension and expulsion, is a potentially important triggering event in the educational career that scars, or deleteriously affects, subsequent student outcomes. We use national data to evaluate the causal effects of early exclusionary school discipline. We find weak short-term scars but strong long-term scars of discipline in the early grades on students' high school completion and conviction of a crime. We conclude by discussing extensions to our analyses, including an evaluation of discipline in later grades. Our analysis contributes to the literature by anchoring school discipline effects in theory on scarring and cumulative advantage, accounting for selection on (un)observed student characteristics, and evaluating differences in the timing of school discipline and its effects.

Authors

• Megan Andrew, University of Notre Dame

• Mary Kate Blake, University of Notre Dame