Inequities in days assigned to an exclusionary discipline consequence by ethnicity/race of high school boys
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.32674/ne6px835Keywords:
ethnicity/race, in school suspension, out of school suspension, boys, number of days, black, hispanic, high schoolAbstract
We examined the extent to which inequities were present in the number of days Texas Grade 9, 10, and 11 boys were assigned to either in-school suspension or to out-of-school suspension by their ethnicity/race for three school years. Inferential statistical procedures (i.e., Analysis of Variance) revealed statistically significant disparities in all three school years and at all three grade levels. At every grade level and school year, Black boys were assigned to more days in an in-school suspension than were Hispanic boys and White boys. For out-of-school suspensions across all three school years, Black boys were assigned to an out-of-school suspension statistically significantly more days than Hispanic boys and White boys, and Hispanic boys were assigned statistically significantly more days than White boys.
References
Anderson, K. P., & Ritter, G. W. (2017). Disparate use of exclusionary discipline: Evidence on inequities in school discipline from a U.S. state. Education Policy Analysis Archives, 25(49). http://dx.doi.org/10.14507/epaa.25.2787
Balfanz, J., Byrnes, V., & Fox, J. (2015). Sent home and put off track: The antecedents, disproportionalities, and consequences of being suspended in the 9th grade. In D. J. Losen (Ed.), Closing the school discipline gap: Equitable remedies for excessive exclusion (pp. 17–30). Teachers College Press.
Barnes, M. J., & Slate, J. R. (2016). Grade 4 and Grade 5 inequities in disciplinary consequences by ethnicity/race and gender. Journal of Global Research in Education and Social Science, 5(4), 216–221.
Barnes, M. J., Slate, J. R., Moore, G. W., & Martinez-Garcia, C. (2017). Disciplinary consequence assignment differences by student ethnicity/race and gender: A Texas statewide investigation. Social Science Review, 3(2), 1–18.
Battal, J., Pearrow, M. M., Kaye, A. J. (2020). Implementing a comprehensive behavioral model for social, emotional, and behavioral development in an urban district: An applied study. Psychology in the Schools, 57(9), 1475–1491. https://doi.org/10.1002/pits.22420
Boykin, A. W., & Noguera, P. (2011). Creating the opportunity to learn: Moving from research to practice to learn to close the achievement gap. Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
Bryan, J., Day-Vines, N. L., Griffin, D., & Moore-Thomas, C. (2012). The disproportionality dilemma: Patterns of teacher referrals to school counselors for disruptive behavior. Journal of Counseling & Development, 90(2), 177–190. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1556-6676.2012.00023.x
Burris, M. W. (2012). Mississippi and the school-to-prison pipeline. Widener Journal of Law, Economics, and Race, 3, 1–25.
Cholewa, B., Hull, M. F., Babcock, C. R., & Smith, A. D. (2018). Predictors and academic outcomes associated with in-school suspension. School Psychology Quarterly, 33(2), 191–199. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/spq0000213
Cohen, J. (1988). Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences (2nd ed.). Lawrence Erlbaum.
Coleman, C. L., & Slate, J. R. (2016). Inequities in disciplinary reasons and consequences by ethnicity/race and economic status for Grade 6 students in Texas. Journal of Global Research in Education and Social Science, 9(1). http://www.ikpress.org/articles-press/46
Curtiss, K., & Slate, J. R. (2015). Differences in disciplinary consequences and reasons for Texas elementary students by gender. Private and public schools: International perspectives, management and educational efficiency (pp. 11–18). Nova Publishers.
Eckford, C. A. (2017). Inequities in Juvenile Justice Alternative Education Program assignments by the economic status and ethnicity/race of Texas middle school boys and their effects on academic achievement: A multiyear, statewide investigation (Order No. 10756376). Available from Dissertations & Theses @ Sam Houston State University. (2013205402).
Eckford, C., & Slate, J. R. (2016). Differences in disciplinary consequence for Texas middle school boys as a function of ethnicity/race and economic status. Global Journal of Human-Social Science, 16(8), 43–47.
Eckford, C., Slate, J. R., Martinez-Garcia, C., & Lunenburg, F. (2018). Inequities in the assignment of Juvenile Justice Alternative Education Program placements by the economic status of Texas Grade 6-8 boys. Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities, 1(1), 27–40.
Fasching-Varner, K. J, Mitchell, R. W., Martin, L. L., & Bennett-Haron, K. P. (2014). Beyond school-to-prison pipeline and towards an educational and penal realism. Equity & Excellence in Education, 47, 410–429. https://doi.org/10.1080/10665684.2014.928595
Field, A. (2018). Discovering statistics using SPSS (5th ed.). Sage.
Gastic, B. (2017). Disproportionality in school discipline in Massachusetts. Education and Urban Society, 49(2), 163–179. https://doi.org/10.1177/0013124516630594
Girvan, E. J., Gion, C., Mcintosh, K., & Smolkowski, K. (2017). The relative contribution of subjective office referrals to racial disproportionality in school discipline. School Psychology Quarterly, 32(3), 392–404. https://doi.org/10.1037/spq0000178
Gregory, A., Hafen, C. A., Ruzek, E. A., Mikami, A. Y, Allen, J. P., & Pianta, R. C. (2016). Closing the racial discipline gap in classrooms by changing teacher practice. School Psychology Review, 45(2), 171–191. https://doi.org/10.17105/SPR45-2.171-191
Gregory, A., Skiba, R., & Noguera, P. (2010). The achievement gap and the discipline gap: Two sides of the same coin? Educational Researcher, 39(1), 59–68. https://doi.org/10.3102/0013189X09357621
Harkrider, T., & Slate, J. R. (2020). Inequities in days assigned to exclusionary discipline consequences by economic status: Even more cause for concern. In J. R. Slate (Ed.). Exemplars of conducting archival data analyses: A collection of K-12and higher education studies. Nova Science Publishers.
Henkel, B. L., Slate, J. R., & Martinez-Garcia, C. (2016). Out-of-school suspension and differences in reading and mathematics achievement by gender and ethnicity/race. Journal of Ethical Educational Leadership, 3(2), 1–27. http://cojeel.org/?page_id=37
Hilberth, M. R. (2010). Black and white Texas middle school student discipline referral consequences and their relationship to academic achievement [Thesis (Ph.D.)--Sam Houston State University, 2010.]. http://search.proquest.com/docview/859240053
Hilberth, M., & Slate, J. R. (2014). Middle school Black and White student assignment to disciplinary consequences: A clear lack of equity. Education & Urban Society, 46, 312–328. https://doi.org/10.1177/0013124512446218
Hwang, N. (2018). Suspensions and achievement: Varying links by type, frequency, and subgroup. Educational Researcher, 47(6), 363–374. https://doi.org/10.3102/0013189X18779579
Johnson, R. B., & Christensen, L. (2020). Educational research: Quantitative, qualitative, and mixed approaches (7th ed.). Sage.
Jones, M. C., Slate, J. R., & Martinez-Garcia, C. (2014). Discipline inequities between White and Hispanic middle school students: An analysis of the research literature. Journal of Ethical Educational Leadership, 1(6), 2–35. http://cojeel.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/JEELvo1no6.pdf
Jordan, J., & Anil, B. (2009). Race, gender, school discipline, and human capital effects. Journal of Agricultural & Applied Economics, 41, 419–429.
Khan, M. Q., & Slate, J. R. (2016). Disciplinary consequence differences in Grade 6 students as a function of race/ethnicity and economic status. Journal of School Administration Research and Development, 1, 39–46.
Lopez, E. L. (2017). Inequities in disciplinary alternative educational program placements by ethnicity/race and economic status for Texas middle school students: A multiyear, statewide investigation (Order No. 10662388). Available from Dissertations & Theses @ Sam Houston State University. (1955175316)
Lopez, E., & Slate, J. R. (2016). Differences in Disciplinary Alternative Educational Program placement as a function of economic status for White students. Journal of Global Research in Education and Social Sciences, 6(2), 75–79.
Lopez, E. L., & Slate, J. R. (2020). Ethnic/racial disparities in Disciplinary Alternative Education Program placements for Texas grade 6, 7 and 8 boys: A statewide, multiyear analysis. Advances in Educational Research and Evaluation, 1(1), 33–42. https://doi.org/10.25082/AERE/2020.01.006
Losen, D., Hodson, C. L., Keith, I. I., Michael, A., Morrison, K., & Belway, S. (2015). Are we closing the school discipline gap? K-12 racial disparities in school discipline. University of California
Martin, J. L., Sharp-Grier, M., & Smith, J. B. (2016). Alternative realities: Racial disparate discipline in classrooms and schools and its effect on Black and Brown students. Leadership and Research in Education, 3(1), 16–33.
Mcloughlin, C. S., & Noltemeyer, A. L. (2010). Research into factors contributing to discipline use and disproportionality in major urban schools. Current Issues in Education, 13(2), 1–21. http://cie.asu.edu//ojs/index.php/cieatasu/article/view/303
Miller, B. J., & Slate, J. R. (2019). Inequities in days assigned to out-of-school suspension by ethnicity/race: A Texas, statewide analysis. International Journal of Social Science and Humanities Education, 1(1), 29–33. http://www.humanitiesjournals.com/article/view/5/1-2-11
National Fair Housing Alliance. (2015). Disparate impact. http://www.nationalfairhousing.org/PublicPolicy/DisparateImpact/tabid/4264/Default.aspx
Neild, R. C., Balfanz, R., & Herzog, L. (2007). An early warning system. Educational Leadership 65(2), 28–33. http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/oct07/vol65/num02/An-Early-Warning-System.aspx
Noguera, P. A. (2003). Schools, prisons, and social implications of punishment: Rethinking disciplinary practices. Theory Into Practice, 42(4), 341–350, https://doi.org/10.1207/s15430421tip4204_12
Noltemeyer, A. L., Ward, R. M., & Mcloughlin, C. (2015). Relationship between school suspension and student outcomes: A meta-analysis. School Psychology Review, 44, 224-240.
Office for Civil Rights. (2016). Data collection: US public schools. http://ocrdata.ed.gov/
Onwuegbuzie, A. J., & Daniel, L. G. (2002). Uses and misuses of the correlation coefficient. Research in the Schools, 9(1), 73–90.
Ryan, T. G., & Goodram, B. (2013). The impact of exclusionary discipline on students. International Journal of Progressive Education, 9(3), 169–177.
Skiba, R. J., Arredondo, M. I., & Williams. N. T. (2014). More than a metaphor: The contribution of exclusionary discipline to a school-to-prison pipeline. Equity & Excellence in Education 47(4), 546–564. https://doi.org/10.1080/10665684.2014.958965
Skiba, R. J., Chung, C. G., Trachok, M., Baker, T. L., Sheya, A., & Hughes, R.L. (2014). Parsing disciplinary disproportionality: Contributions of infraction, student, and school characteristics to out-of-school suspension and expulsion. American Educational Research Journal, 51(4). 640–670. https://doi.org/10.3102/0002831214541670
Skiba, R. J., Horner, R. H., Chung, C., Rausch, M. K., May, S. L., & Tobin, T. (2011). Race is not neutral: A national investigation of African American and Latino disproportionality in school discipline. School Psychology Review, 40(1), 85-107. https://doi.org/10.1080/02796015.2011.12087730
Skiba, R. J., Michael, R. S., Nardo, A. C., & Peterson, R. L. (2002). The Color of discipline: Sources of racial and gender disproportionality in school punishment. The Urban Review, 34, 317-342. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1021320817372
Slate, J. R., & Rojas-LeBouef, A. (2011). Calculating basic statistical procedures in SPSS: A self-help and practical guide to preparing theses, dissertations, and manuscripts. NCPEA Press.
Smith, D., Ortiz, N., Blake, J. J., Marchbanks, M. P., Unni, A., & Peguero, A. (2020). Tipping point: Effect of the number of in-school suspensions on academic failure. Contemporary School Psychology, 44, 379-389 https://doi.org/10.1007/s40688-020-00289-7
Smolkowski, K., Girvan, E. J., McIntosh, K., Nese, R. T., & Horner, R. H. (2016). Vulnerable decision points for disproportionate office discipline referrals: Comparisons of discipline for African American and White elementary school students. Behavioral Disorders, 41(4), 178–195.
Sullivan, A. L., Klingbeil, D. A., & Van Norman, E. R. (2013). Beyond behavior: Multilevel analysis of the influence of sociodemographics and school characteristics on students' risk of suspension. School Psychology Review, 42(1), 99–114.
Texas Education Agency. (2019a). About TEA. http://tea.texas.gov/About_TEA/Welcome_and_Overview/
Texas Education Agency. (2019b). Education Code 37. Alternative settings for behavior management. http://www.statutes.legis.state.tx.us/Docs/ED/htm/ED.37.htm
Texas Education Agency. (2019c). Enrollment in Texas public schools, 2018-19. (Document No. GE19 601 13). Author. http://tea.texas.gov/acctres/Enroll_2018-19.pdf
Texas Education Agency. (2019d). PEIMS-overview. https://tea.texas.gov/reports-and-data/data-submission/peims/peims-overview
United States Census Bureau. (2019). How the Census Bureau measures poverty. https://census.gov/topics/income-poverty/poverty/guidance/poverty-measures.html
United States Department of Education. (2016). School climate and discipline: Know the data. http://www.ed.gov/policy/gen/guid/school-discipline/data/html
White, J. W. (2019).Inequities in The Number of Days Assigned to An Exclusionary Discipline Consequence as A Function of Ethnicity/Race and Economic Status of Texas Middle School Students: A Multiyear, Statewide Investigation. ProQuest Dissertations & Theses. https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11875/2578
White, J. W., & Slate, J. R. (2017). Differences in days assigned to exclusionary discipline consequences as a function of student poverty for Texas middle school students. Cross-Currents: An International Peer-Reviewed Journal on Humanities & Social Sciences, 3(2), 45–51. https://doi.org/10.36344/ccijhss.2017.v03i02.004
White, J. W., & Slate, J. R. (2018). Differences in out-of-school suspension assignments by the ethnicity/race of Texas high school students. Inaugural Edition of the Journal of Educational System, 2(1), 1–8. http://www.sryahwapublications.com/journal-of-educational-system/pdf/v2-i1/1.pdf
Viadero, D. (2006). Signs of early exit for dropouts abound. Education Week, 25(41S), 17–24.
Additional Files
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Dr. Bart J. Miller, Dr. John R. Slate
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Copyright (c) [year] [author]
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Call for Special Issue Proposals 
