Exploring Disproportionality in Discipline at the Classroom Level: Teacher and Student Perspectives and Pedagogical Implications

• In Event: 32.084 - Poster Session 6
  In Poster Session: 32.084-7 - Professional Development for Success in Urban Schools

Abstract

This multiple case study examined teachers and students in two classrooms in an urban high school. Through classroom observations, interviews, and artifact analysis, this paper examines how teachers’ perceptions of power, race, gender, and class impact their perceptions of and decisions regarding student behavior and discipline. While both teachers stated that race, gender, and class did not have an impact on their disciplinary decisions, the data indicated that students’ race, culture, and socioeconomic status affected the way that teachers perceived them and the corresponding pedagogical decisions each teacher made. Such misalignment between teachers views of discipline and their corresponding depictions of students of color as culturally different offer unique insight on how classroom-level subjective factors may influence the discipline gap.

Author

• Kristine Massey, The University of Texas - Austin