Class Dismissed: The Null Effect of Student Population Grants on (School) Criminalization

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

Abstract

This study contributes to the theoretical development of Critical Race Theory and advances its potential as a causal model for education policy analyses. Almost 50 years of scholarship has shown that—regardless of a student’s behavior—being socially classified as “Black” increases a child’s probability of being suspended, restrained, referred, expelled, confined, beaten, or arrested in school. Grounded in CRT, I exploit the inherent design of California’s K-12 funding model to isolate the effects of high-need student population grants on school suspensions and expulsions. A regression discontinuity analysis finds null effects for multiple school discipline outcomes. CRT predicts and explicates why colorblind student-population grants fail to impact discipline disparities rooted in white supremacy. Implications for theory and reform are discussed.

Author

• Da'Shay P. Templeton, California Lutheran University
  Presenting Author