Disproportional Suspension and High School Graduation Rates: A Potential Pedagogical Strategy to Narrow the Gap

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session 6
  In Roundtable Session: Contemporary Ecologies and Strategies of Service-Learning

Abstract

Graduation from high school is an academic milestone, and failure to graduate is well noted to result in maladaptive outcomes. Moreover, similar disparities and disproportionalities exist across demographic variables correlated with both earning a high school diploma and likelihood of being suspended. This study sought to further examine student demographic variables that are correlated with likelihood of suspension and on-time graduation, while also investigating Service Learning (SL) as a potential pedagogical preventative strategy. Guided by theory, data from the Educational Longitudinal Study (2002-2006), publicly available by the National Center of Education Statistics (NCES), were analyzed and structural equation modeling (SEM) was performed to explore these relationships.

Authors

• Nicole DeVillier, University at Buffalo - SUNY

• Shuyi Zhao, University at Buffalo - SUNY

• Richard Lamb, East Carolina University