What Does Exclusionary Discipline Mean to Black Girls With Dis/abilities: A Hermeneutic Phenomenological Study

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Thursday 3:35 pm Four Seasons Ballroom 2-3
  In Roundtable Session: Investigating Behavior Through a Culturally Responsive Lens for Students With Emotional and/or Behavioral Disorders (Table 3)

Abstract

Disciplinary exclusion is disproportionately enforced on Black students with dis/abilities. Researchers typically examine the overuse of disciplinary exclusion using homogeneous samples narrowed by race, gender, or dis/ability category; however, implications of the overuse and misuse of discipline have rarely been explored at the intersection of race, gender, and dis/ability. This study does just that by centering on Black girls with dis/abilities whose experiences are often misinterpreted, muted, and subsequently obscured. This hermeneutic phenomenological study interviewed eight, Black girls with dis/abilities to explore their needs, beliefs, attitudes and perceptions of school discipline. Narratives revealed their perceptiveness, bewilderment, and a longing to be taken seriously intellectually and educationally. And most of all, a longing for their teacher’s care and trust.

Author

• Whitney S. Hanley, University of Kentucky