Search for Pathology or Tough Love? Black Educators, Black Students, and Disparities in School Discipline

• In Event: Leading for Equity: Different Places, Different Faces, but the Same Inequities

Abstract

School discipline is a significant educational policy and equity issue in K-12 education due to well-documented racial inequality in exclusionary discipline leading to deleterious effects on academic and adult outcomes. The roles and approaches of school leaders in the production of discipline disparities warrants further inquiry. In this qualitative case study, we draw on semi-structured interviews with Black principals and assistant principals in an urban emergent district to examine Black educators’ perspectives on their own discipline practices and the disciplinary experiences of Black students. The findings illustrate that Black school leaders’ disciplinary perspectives and practices are complex and nuanced. Four major themes emerged: (a) deficit thinking, (b) politicized care, (c) awareness of racialized harm and (d) internalized whiteness.

Authors

• Richard O Welsh, New York University

• Neha Sobti, New York City Department of Education