Examining the Link between Racial Disparities in School Climate and School Discipline

• In Event: Racial Disparities in School Discipline: Looking Beyond the Classroom

Abstract

Researchers and practitioners have long known that Black students are administered exclusionary school discipline at much higher rates than their White peers. In recent years, increased attention has also been given to racial disparities in students’ perceptions of school climate. This study investigates the empirical relationship between these two types of disparities. We use cross-sectional data from 89,313 students nested in 131 schools within a single school district to examine how race at the individual level interacts with racial disparities in perceptions of school climate at the school level to predict the likelihood of being suspended. We find that being Black increases the odds of being suspended, particularly in schools where Black students perceive a less positive school climate than White students. We propose two different causal pathways to explain these results and lay out a plan for further investigating these relationships.

Authors

• Benjamin W. Fisher, University of Louisville

• Kristin Swartz, University of Louisville

• Cherie Dawson-Edwards, University of Louisville

• Kyra Fritz, University of Louisville