Are School Administrators Consistent With Disciplining Middle School Black Students?

• In Event: 51.079 - MTCC Roundtable Session 22
  In Roundtable Session: 51.079-7 - Teaching, Learning, and Leading in Urban Settings

Abstract

Higher rates of school discipline infractions for African American is partly the result of school administrators’ subjective enforcement of zero tolerance policies (Skiba et al., 2002; Skiba et al., 2011). It is the responsibility of school administrators to consistently enforce code-of-conduct rules, however, literature has yet to ascertain if administrators’ discipline recommendations for African American students are perceived as consistent by the teachers in their respective school. This study examines teachers’ perception of administrators’ consistent enforcement of discipline on rates of suspensions for African American students, utilizing a hierarchical multiple regression model.

Author

• John Andrew Williams, Texas A&M University - College Station