What causes high rates of suspensions, especially for students of color? Growing evidence points to racial bias. For instance, laboratory experiments find that teachers are more likely to knit together a series of misbehaviors as a pattern, to view a student who misbehaves as a troublemaker, and to punish them more severely, if the student is Black as compared with White.
Okonofua, J. A., Goyer, J. P., Lindsay, C. A., Haugabrook, J., & Walton, G. M. (2022). A Scalable Empathic-Mindset Intervention Reduces Group Disparities in School Suspensions. Sciences Advances, 8 (12), 1-10.
In this article, the authors propose that pervasive negative stereotypes about racially stigmatized children influence both teachers and students, undermining teacher–student relationships over time.
Okonofua, J. A., Walton, G. M., & Eberhardt, J. L. (2016). A Vicious Cycle: A Social–Psychological Account of Extreme Racial Disparities in School Discipline. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 11(3) 381–398.
There is increasing concern about rising discipline citations in K–12 schools and a lack of means to reduce them. A brief intervention aimed at encouraging an empathic mindset about discipline halved student suspension rates over an academic year. The authors found this intervention, an online exercise, can be delivered at near-zero marginal cost to large samples of teachers and students.
Okonofua, J. A., Panunesku, D., & Walton, G. M., (2016). Brief Intervention to Encourage Empathic Discipline Cuts Suspension Rates in Half among Adolescents. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 113 (19) 5221-5226.
High rates of discipline citations predict adverse life outcomes, a harm disproportionately borne by Black and Latino boys. The authors hypothesized that these citations arise in part from negative cycles of interaction between students and teachers, which unfold in contexts of social stereotypes.
Goyer, J. P., Cohen, G. L., Cook, J. E., Master, A., Apfel, N., Lee, W., Henderson, A. G., Reeves, S. L., Okonofua, J. A., & Walton, G. M. (2019). Targeted Identity-Safety Interventions Cause Lasting Reductions in Discipline Citations Among Negatively Stereotyped Boys. American Psychological Association, 117(2) 229-259.
School suspension and expulsion are important forms of punishment that disproportionately affect Black students, with long-term consequences for educational attainment and other indicators of wellbeing. Prior research identifies three mechanisms that help account for racial disparities in suspension and expulsion: between-school sorting, differences in student behaviors, and differences in the treatment and support of students with similar behaviors. The authors extend this literature by (1) comparing the contributions of these three mechanisms in a single study, (2) assessing behavior and school composition when children enter kindergarten and before most are exposed to school discipline, and (3) using both teacher and parent reports of student behaviors.
J. Owens, S. S. McLanahan, Unpacking the Drivers of Racial Disparities in School Suspension and Expulsion. Soc. Forces 98, 1548–1577 (2020).
