Responding Pedagogically to the "Discipline Gap": A Case Study of One White Middle School Administrator

• In Event: Poster Session 12
  In Poster Session: The Complexity and Multiple Spaces of Social Justice in Action

Abstract

This paper theorizes the praxis of a middle school administrator who participated in a two-year professional development program for white practicing teachers on structural racism, white racial identity, and antiracist pedagogy and practice. In a temporary role as dean, Sarah (a pseudonym) instituted a restorative justice approach to “student disciplinary referrals” based on her engagement with the professional development program. After identifying racial disparities in referrals and students' conflicts with particular white teachers, she sought to teach while mediating conflicts, rather than to merely punish students. Her work to bring a more pedagogical approach to the office of “school disciplinarian” contains numerous insights for critically intervening in the over-referral and suspension of students of color.

Authors

• Shannon McManimon, Science Museum of Minnesota

• Zachary A. Casey, Rhodes College