Assessing the Root Causes of Disparities in School Discipline is a U.S. Department of Education publication created with the National Center on Safe Supportive Learning Environments. The document intends to help guide school communities as they work to create positive, equitable educational environments for all students.
Safe Supportive Learning. Addressing the Root Causes of Disparities in School Discipline: An Educator’s Action Planning Guide. 2015. Washington, D.C.
Preeminent authors in the field of equitable education, Gregors, Skiba, and Mediratta provide practitioners with a ten-point framework to reduce race and gender disparity in school discipline.
Gregory, Anne, Skiba, Russell J., and Mediratta, Kavitha. 2017. “Eliminating Disparities in School Discipline: A Framework for Intervention.” Review of Research in Education 41: 253-278.
There is a demographic mismatch between teachers and students across California’s public schools. The most recent data from the California Department of Education indicated that while 77% of students are Asian American, Black, Latino, and/or Native American, only 39% of their teachers are.
Bristol, T.J. "How to Diversify California's Educator Workforce." Edsource, (2022).
As we enter the post-pandemic era, the data in this report can help advocates advance racial equity, support our most vulnerable residents, and chart a path into an uncertain future. With regard to education, California’s schools are creating worse outcomes for students of color than for White students. Not only are these disparities evident in graduation rates, but they also extend to suspensions and involvement in the criminal justice system. Public schools are more likely to suspend Black, American Indian/Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander, and Latinx students. Black students are suspended more than twice as often as their White peers, highlighting the alarming disparities in our education system.
Baker, A., Leila Forouzan, Hillary Khan, Maria T. Khan, John Kim, Chris Ringewald, Mike Russo, Jesse Saucedo, David Segovia, Ron Simms Jr., Roxana Reyes, and Matt Trujillo (2023). Race Counts 2023 Annual Report. Catalyst California. Accessed March 25, 2024.
Experts in the field of education have long voiced concerns about racial and ethnic disparities in the application of school discipline, particularly in regard to the disproportionate number of office discipline referrals (ODRs) that Black students face. According to the American Psychological Association, these behaviors can have long-lasting impacts on students, causing them to have worse mental health and lower grades. A group of researchers are providing fresh insight into the matter by determining how a handful of educators in a single California school district more than doubled the disparity in student disciplinary outcomes between white and Black children.
Tamez-Robledo, N. (2023). When a Tiny Fraction of Teacher File Most School Discipline Referrals. EdSurge. Accessed March 25, 2024.
