Race & Discipline
School-to-prison pipeline issues impacting students of color
Key Facts and Data
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Discipline Disparities: Myths and Facts, The Equity Project at Indiana University
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Black Students and Students with Disabilities Remain More Likely to Receive Out-of-school Suspensions, Despite Overall Declines, Childtrends, April 29, 2019
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Race, Discipline, and Safety at U.S. Public Schools, ACLU, August 2018
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Cops and No Counselors: How the Lack of Mental Health Staff is Harming Students, ACLU, February 2019
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11 Million Days Lost: Race, Discipline, and Safety at U.S. Public Schools, The Civil Rights Project at UCLA and the ACLU of Southern California, August 2018
- Federal Data Shows Public Schools Nationwide Are a Hotbed of Racial Injustice, ACLU, August 30, 2018
- Discipline Disparities Grow for Students of Color, New Federal Data Show, Education Week, April 24, 2018
- Can We Fix the Race Problem in America’s School Discipline?, Rolling Stone, January 24, 2014
Causes of Racial Disparities
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Research Summary: Racial Disparities in School Discipline, School Diversity Notebook, December 19, 2019
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Unpacking the Drivers of Racial Disparities in School Suspension and Expulsion, podcast and research report, September 2019
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Research on Disproportionality in Discipline, National Association of School Psychologists, podcast, September 8, 2018
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Why Do Racial Disparities in School Discipline Exist? The Role of Policies, Processes, People, and Places, Virginia Commonwealth University, 2017
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Inequality at School: What’s Behind the Racial Disparity in Our Education System?, American Psychological Association, November 2016
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Estimating the Effect of State Zero Tolerance Laws on Exclusionary Discipline, Racial Discipline Gaps, and Student Behavior, Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, American Educational Research Association, 2016
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Reducing Racial Disparities in School Discipline Requires More than Eliminating "Zero Tolerance" Policies, Scholars Strategy Network, April 2016
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Schools, Black Children, and Corporal Punishment, Brookings, January 14, 2016
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Position Statement: Racial and Ethnic Disproportionality in Education, National Association of School Psychologists, 2013
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Are Black Kids Worse? Myths and Facts About Racial Differences in Behavior: A Summary of the Literature, The Equity Project at Indiana University, March 2014
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You Can’t Fix What You Don’t Look At: Acknowledging Race in Addressing Racial Discipline Disparities, The Equity Project at Indiana University, December 2014
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Racial Threat and Punitive School Discipline, Social Problems, 2010
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Racial Disparities in School Discipline, WHYY RadioTimes, March 31, 2014, discussion of racial disproportionality in discipline rates, charter schools and discipline, and alternative approaches to improving school climate [Podcast]
Teacher-Student Interactions
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Black Students Receive Fewer Warnings from Teachers about Misbehavior, Illinois News, July 29, 2019
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Teacher Voice: Breaking the School-to-Prison-Pipeline with 'Windows and Mirrors' for Black Boys, The Hechinger Report, March 26, 2019
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Stereotyping Across Intersections of Race and Age: Racial Stereotyping among White Adults Working with Children, PLOS One, September 12, 2018
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Substantial Racial Stereotyping toward Young Children of Color Found among White Adults Who Work with Them, Harvard School of Public Health, September 12, 2018
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Teacher Race and School Discipline, EducationNext, Winter 2017
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Does Exposure to Teachers of the Same Race Affect Discipline? ACLU of PA, June 12, 2017
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Do Early Educators’ Implicit Biases Regarding Sex and Race Relate to Behavior Expectations and Recommendations of Preschool Expulsions and Suspensions?, A Research Study Brief, Yale Child Study Center, September 28, 2016
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More resources on implicit bias here.
School Security and Race
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A Cigarette Only Changes Your Life if You Are Black, ACLU of PA, January 28, 2020
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Student Surveillance, Racial Inequalities, and Implicit Racial Bias, University of Florida College of Law, April 2017
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Compared to Majority White Schools, Majority Black Schools are More Likely to Have Security Staff, Child Trends, April 26, 2018
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Why Are We Criminalizing Black Students?, Education Week, March 21, 2017
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Policing the Schools: Minority Students More Likely to Be Suspended or Arrested, NBC News New York City, February 20, 2017.
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Black Students More Likely to Be Arrested at School, Education Week, January 24, 2017
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When California Schools Call Cops for Small Infractions it Disproportionately Hurts Minority Students, Civil Rights Study Finds, The Los Angeles Times, October 19, 2016
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City School Safety Data Shows Handcuffs Used Disproportionately on Black and Latino Students, New York Civil Liberties Union, May 8, 2017
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Students, Security and Race. Low-income and minority students are much more likely to experience intense security conditions in their schools than other students, even when taking into account neighborhood crime, school crime, and school disorder, The University of Florida Law School, 2013
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More resources on school safety here.
Indigenous Students
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Empty Desks: Discipline & Policing in Montana's Public Schools, ACLU of Montana, December 4, 2019
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From School Boards to Suspension Boards: Suspensions and Expulsions of Native American Students in California Public Schools, Sacramento Native American Higher Education Collaborative and the Community College Equity Assessment Lab, 2019
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Racial Disparities in the Equality State (Wyoming), Wyoming Community Foundation, 2019
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Native American Students Left Behind by South Dakota Education System, Argus Leader, November 22, 2019
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Are Native Youth Being Pushed into Prison (Infographic), National Congress of American Indians
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Education Equity for All Students, Including Native Americans (Loleta, CA), ACLU of Northern California, resolution agreement
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Tribal Members Urge School District to Provide Transparency Around Funding, ACLU of Northern California, February 11, 2019
Disability
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Beyond Suspensions: Examining School Discipline Policies and Connections to the School-to-Prison Pipeline for Students of Color with Disabilities, US Commission on Civil Rights, July 2019
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Disabling Punishment: The Need The Need for Remedies to the Disparate Loss of Instruction Experienced by Black Students with Disabilities, The Center for Civil Rights Remedies at the UCLA Civil Rights Project, April 2018
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Discipline Disparities for Black Students, Boys, and Students with Disabilities, US General Accounting Office, March 2018
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ACLU Comments to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights Re: Students of Color with Disabilities and the School-to-Prison Pipeline, ACLU, January 16, 2018
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Why Disabled Youth Are More at Risk of Being Incarcerated, TeenVogue, October 9, 2017
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5 Things to Know about Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Special Education, Child Trends, January 12, 2017
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More resources on students with disabilities here.
Federal Policy
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ACLU Comments on Equity in IDEA Compliance Delay, ACLU, May 2018
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National Association of State Directors of Special Education's Letter to Sec. DeVos Urging Prompt Implementation of the Equity in IDEA Rule, February 6, 2018
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Trump Directive Spurs Proposal To Delay IDEA Rule, Disability Scoop, February 27, 2018
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Dear Colleague Letter: Preventing Racial Discrimination in Special Education, US Department of Education, December 12, 2016
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Dear Colleague Letter on the Nondiscriminatory Administration of School Discipline, US Departments of Education and Justice, January 8, 2014 [Rescinded by the Trump Administration]
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Will Betsy DeVos Change Course on Racial Disparities in School Discipline?, Education Week, October 16, 2017
Gender
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Why Won't Society Let Black Girls Be Children?, NYT Parenting, January 28, 2020
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Our Girls, Our Future: Investing in Opportunity and Reducing Reliance on the Criminal Justice System in Baltimore, NAACP Legal Defense Fund, June 26, 2018
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Black Girls Are Disciplined More Harshly in School. Dress Codes Play a Big Role. Vox, April 26, 2018
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From Preschool to Prison: The Criminalization of Black Girls, American Progress, December 8, 2017
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How the School-to-Prison Pipeline Works: And Why Black Girls Are Particularly at Risk , TeenVogue, October 10, 2017
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Girls Behaving Badly? Race, Gender, and Subjective Evaluation in the Discipline in African American Girls, Indiana University, American Sociology Association, May 2017
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Black Girls and School Discipline: The Complexities of Being Overrepresented and Understudied, Urban Education, 2016
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Black Girls and School Discipline: Four Researchers Unpack K-12 Racial Bias, Education Week, May 2017 (Video)
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Shinning a Spotlight on Black Girls, Schott Foundation, May 2016 [Infographic]
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Let Her Learn: Stopping School Pushout for Girls of Color, National Women's Law Center, May 2017
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When Black Hair Violates the Dress Code, NPR, July 17, 2017
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The War on Black Girls' Hair in Charter and Private Schools, Schott Foundation for Public Education, May 19, 2017
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Girlhood Interrupted: The Erasure of Black Girls’ Childhood, Georgetown Law Center on Poverty and Inequality, 2017
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Addressing the Intersection of Gender and Racial Disparities, National Juvenile Justice Network, April 2016
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Be Her Resource: A Toolkit About School Resource Officers and Girls of Color, Georgetown Law Center on Poverty and Inequality, 2017
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Racial Disparities in Discipline Greater for Girls than for Boys, Research Finds, Indiana University, May 2017
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Let Her Learn - A Toolkit to Stop Push Out for Girls of Color, National Women's Law Center, December 6, 2016
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Black Boys in Crisis: The School-to-Prison Pipeline, Education Week, August 6, 2016
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How Dress Codes Criminalize Males and Sexualize Females of Color, Phi Delta Kappan, September 24, 2018
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More resources on gender here.