Examining Curricular Environments as Contexts for Racialized Disciplinary Practices in Kindergarten

• In Event: Marriott Roundtable Session 4
  In Roundtable Session: Division G Roundtable Session 1

Abstract

While much research has examined the role of individual and systemic racial bias in driving racial discipline disparities, less work has considered the significance of curricular environments in school discipline patterns. In this paper, I report on an ethnographic study of three kindergarten classrooms. Adopting a critical sociocultural perspective, I unpack how curricular contexts constructed norms for acceptable behavior, prioritized compliance over engagement, and disproportionately subjected historically marginalized students to heightened surveillance, unengaging instruction, and deficit explanations for behavior. I conclude that curricular environments shaped and impeded policy efforts to reduce racial discipline disparities, in part by disinvesting in relational ecologies.

Author

• Kathryn Boonstra, University of Wisconsin - Madison