Black-White Racial Disparities in Exclusionary School Discipline During the Era of School Desegregation: A Systematic Review

• In Event: Sheraton Roundtable Session Eighteen
  In Roundtable Session: Exploring Racial Disparities in Exclusionary School Discipline Policy (Table 9)

Abstract

This paper presents findings from a systematic review of research literature pertaining to the use of exclusionary school discipline in Southern school desegregation efforts during the second half of the twentieth century (1954-1995). Using a method called “systematic review,” and applying the theory of second-generation discrimination (Meier, Stewart, & England, 1989), I find that white education officials did use exclusionary discipline in many desegregating Southern schools and disproportionately targeted Black students in both policy and practice as a means of enforcing segregationist rules, customs, and norms in attempts to resist desegregation. Ultimately, findings from this study help explain the racialized history behind contemporary Black-white racial disparities in exclusionary school discipline, a history deserving fuller recognition in education policy discourse.

Authors

• Kathryn E. Wiley, Howard University
  Presenting Author

• Joshua Middleton, Howard University
  Presenting Author