Finding Rhetorical Pathways to Racially Disproportionate Outcomes in School Discipline

• In Event: Roundtable: Schools, Education and Crime

Abstract

It is possible to view hallmark turning points in education, such as the increased value placed on standardized testing, as part of a long arm of education reform that includes the end of de jure segregation. While advancements like Brown v. Board of Education (1954) should be celebrated, they are haunted by the specter of disproportionality that continues to plague U.S. schools. In this paper, I argue that the adoption of strict zero-tolerance disciplinary policies instituted nationwide throughout the 1990s are not disjointed from the history of racial inequality within American education. There are many seemingly race-neutral factors that have led to the punitive turn in schools. Centering racial disparities in disciplinary outcomes, the object of my study is the institutional reproduction of racial inequality through the mechanism of school discipline. My research questions are: How is racialized thinking part of the symbolic criminalization (Simon 2007) of school discipline? How are these racialized notions transmitted into school classroom and administrative practices regarding penal procedure (Hirschfield 2008)? New Jersey state disciplinary statutes, hearings, meetings, etc. are reviewed and coded using a critical discourse analysis and critical policy analysis frame to uncover how race is entrenched in policy creation and implementation.

Author

• Kayla Joy Crawley, Rutgers University