Is Oregon's K–5 Policy Reform Associated With Improvement in Racial Equity in School Discipline?

• In Event: Equity-Related Insights From Studies of School Community, Climate, and Culture

Abstract

In 2015, Oregon enacted policy reforms that limit the use of exclusionary discipline for students in grades K-5 to situations that pose a direct threat to the safety of others. This study examined office discipline referrals in a voluntary sample of 401 Oregon elementary schools to determine whether the 2015 policy reform was associated with differences in exclusionary and non-exclusionary discipline, for all students and by racial group. Logistic regression models indicate that office discipline referrals became less likely to result in exclusionary discipline and more likely to result in non-exclusionary discipline for most racial groups. However, for Black students, office discipline referrals became more likely to result in exclusionary versus non-exclusionary discipline after the 2015 policy reform.

Authors

• Vicki M. Nishioka, Education Northwest

• Rebecca Merrill, Education Northwest