ERIC Number: EJ1153007
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2017-Sep
Pages: 13
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1045-3830
EISSN: N/A
The Relative Contribution of Subjective Office Referrals to Racial Disproportionality in School Discipline
Girvan, Erik J.; Gion, Cody; McIntosh, Kent; Smolkowski, Keith
School Psychology Quarterly, v32 n3 p392-404 Sep 2017
To improve our understanding of where to target interventions, the study examined the extent to which school discipline disproportionality between African American and White students was attributable to racial disparities in teachers' discretionary versus nondiscretionary decisions. The sample consisted of office discipline referral (ODR) records for 1,154,686 students enrolled in 1,824 U.S. schools. Analyses compared the relative contributions of disproportionality in ODRs for subjectively and objectively defined behaviors to overall disproportionality, controlling for relevant school characteristics. Results showed that disproportionality in subjective ODRs explained the vast majority of variance in total disproportionality. These findings suggest that providing educators with strategies to neutralize the effects of implicit bias, which is known to influence discretionary decisions and interpretations of ambiguous behaviors, may be a promising avenue for achieving equity in school discipline.
Descriptors: African American Students, White Students, Disproportionate Representation, Racial Differences, Referral, Discipline Problems, Social Bias, Information Storage, Racial Bias, Institutional Characteristics, Socioeconomic Influences, Elementary Schools, Middle Schools, High Schools
American Psychological Association. Journals Department, 750 First Street NE, Washington, DC 20002. Tel: 800-374-2721; Tel: 202-336-5510; Fax: 202-336-5502; e-mail: order@apa.org; Web site: http://www.apa.org
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Elementary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: Office of Special Education Programs (ED/OSERS)
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: H326S130004