How Educators Can Eradicate Disparities in School Discipline

Abstract

Skiba, Arredondo, Rausch and Gray examine the most current research on disciplinary disparities. They find that out-of-school suspension and expulsion continue to be used inequitably by race, gender, disability, and sexual orientation; that disparities cannot be explained by different rates of misbehavior or poverty; and that school disciplinary exclusion is often the first step leading to short- and long-term negative academic and social consequences. Available findings suggest that schools have the power to change their exclusion rates. Even effective school discipline reforms may need to be adapted to specifically address issues of race, difference, and disparity, however, since not all interventions that reduce use of exclusionary discipline overall also close disciplinary gaps. The authors close with recommendations based on current findings concerning disparities