A Comparative Study of Racial Discipline Disproportionality in Montessori and Traditional Public Schools

• In Event: Roundtable Session 33
  In Roundtable Session: Current Issues in African and Black Education

Abstract

Research from the past 40 years indicates that African American students are subjected to exclusionary discipline in public schools at rates two to three times higher than their White peers. This study examines racial discipline disproportionality in Montessori public elementary schools as compared to traditional elementary schools. The Relative Rate Index (RRI) is used as a measure of racially disproportionate use of out-of-school suspensions. Suspension data from the Office of Civil Rights Data Collection is used to generate RRIs for Montessori and traditional elementary schools in a large urban district in the Southeast. While statistically significant levels of racial discipline disproportionality are found in both the Montessori and traditional schools, the effect is substantially less pronounced in Montessori settings.

Authors

• Katherine Elizabeth Brown, University of North Carolina - Charlotte

• Aimy Shantell Steele, The University of North Carolina at Charlotte