The Social Context of Disproportionality in Suspensions: Understanding School and District Factors

• In Event: Sheraton Roundtable Session 28
  In Roundtable Session: Disproportionality in School Discipline: Exploring Policies, Practices, Contexts, and Experiences

Abstract

This study seeks to understand the nature and relationships of key constructs of school and district social context variables and racial/ethnic disproportionality in discipline with quantitative methodology using data from the largest school district in the United States, the New York City Department of Education. New York City Public Schools are “nested” in 32 geographical districts. And this study focuses on the twelve geographic districts in Brooklyn. Multilevel modeling is used to assess the contribution of school-level and district-level variables to disproportionality in suspension rates, using relative risk as the outcome. Results indicate that context matters differentially for certain racial/ethnic groups.

Authors

• Alexandra Aylward, New York University

• Catherine Kramarczuk Voulgarides, Touro College

• Edward Fergus, Temple University