Are You Sure It's Racialized Disproportionately? Interrogating the Data to Disrupt Disproportionate School Discipline

• In Event: 16.061 - Roundtable Session 4
  In Roundtable Session: 16.061-4 - Community-Based Interventions to Disrupt Racially Disproportionate School Discipline in an Urban School District

Abstract

Claims of disproportionate suspensions of children of color are understandably concerning to school boards, school administrators, teachers, and parents, not to mention students of color within school districts (Skiba, Michael, Nardo & Peterson,2002). However, these claims are sometimes met with denial from school administrators and teachers in Rivertown School District, the site of our study. Alternative explanations deemphasizing or rejecting the possibility of racial bias or disparate treatment are often proposed. Using archival data publicly available through the State Department of Education’s Basic Educational Data System (BEDS), this paper does two things. First, it describes an easily replicable approach to assessing existing rates of racial disproportionality in out of school suspensions, as well as possible changes in those rates due to current (and future) interventions. Second, the paper describes the results of an test of one commonly proposed alternative explanation for existing disproportionality: economic disadvantage. These results suggest that even when controlling for economic disadvantage, significant disproportionately based on race exists within schools across the district.

Author

• Sean Massey, Binghamton University - SUNY