Class Dismissed: The Effects of State Aid and School Personnel Biases on (School) Criminalization (Poster 28)

• In Event: Promising Scholarship in Education Research: Dissertation Fellows and Their Research

Abstract

Critical Race Theory (CRT) proposes that both material and ideological forces uphold white supremacy in America. To dismantle racism, researchers must adopt a dualistic approach which, in the context of this dissertation, justifies the joint study of racially stratified resource allocation and racial animus. In my dissertation, I will test the extent to which CRT can explicate how material and ideological forces of white supremacy (in school funding and criminalization) disparately impact oppressed schoolchildren. First, I exploit an exogenous, statewide experiment using a Regression Discontinuity Design (RDD) to isolate the causal effects of California’s education policy and finance reform on school disciplinary outcomes. A RDD analysis finds null effects for multiple school discipline outcomes. CRT predicts and explains why colorblind student population grants fail to impact discipline disparities rooted in white supremacy. Second, in an online survey experiment, I isolate the causal effect of school personnel biases on school disciplinary procedures by manipulating student race and gender demographics. I find that school personnel exhibited implicit biases that advantaged White American students over Black American students, and cis gender girls over genderfluid children. The study aims to inform federal, state, and oversight agencies who repeatedly deploy school interventions to reduce school discipline by targeting teacher classroom management skills and student misbehavior instead of confronting bias. My dissertation contributes to the theoretical development of CRT and advances its potential as a causal model for education policy and bias analyses. Implications for theory and reform are discussed.

Author

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