Critical Trauma Theory and School Discipline: A Framework for Contextualizing Racially Disproportional School Suspensions

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Friday 8:00 am Four Seasons Ballroom 4
  In Roundtable Session: Engaging the School-Prison Nexus: Social Contexts of School Discipline (Table 11)

Abstract

Despite the implementation of school-based multi-tiered interventions, racial disparities in suspensions persist, particularly in universal, race-neutral interventions (Cruz et al., 2021; James & Turner, 2017; Losen, 2015). Research indicates a significant relationship between childhood adversities, trauma, and disproportional school discipline (Sanders et al., 2022, 2023). Critical Trauma Theory (CTT) addresses the structural racism in schools and the marginalization of students of color due to collective traumas (Nelson & Kew, 2023). This conceptual paper presents a framework to help scholars and practitioners understand racialized discipline data, use responsive methodologies, and consider childhood adversities in the context of systemic racism, thus moving beyond ineffective interventions to address the root causes of these disparities.

Authors

• Andrea A. Joseph-McCatty, University of Tennessee

• Jane Elizabeth Sanders, King's University College

• Michael Massey, Catholic University of America