Table Of ContentINEQUALITY
IN SCHOOL
DISCIPLINE
Research and Practice
to Reduce Disparities
Edited by
RUSSELL J. SKIBA,
KAVITHA MEDIRATTA,
and M. KAREGA RAUSCH
Inequality in School Discipline
Russell J . Skiba • Kavitha Mediratta • M . K arega Rausch
Editors
Inequality in School
Discipline
Research and Practice to Reduce Disparities
Editors
Russell J. Skiba M. Karega Rausch
Center for Evaluation and Center for Evaluation and
Education Policy Education Policy
School of Education School of Education
Indiana University Indiana University
Bloomington, Indiana , USA Bloomington, Indiana , USA
Kavitha Mediratta
The Atlantic Philanthropies
New York, USA
ISBN 978-1-137-51256-7 ISBN 978-1-137-51257-4 (eBook)
DOI 10.1057/978-1-137-51257-4
Library of Congress Control Number: 2016940984
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It is to the many individuals and organizations who have dedicated
themselves to discovering more effective and socially just practices in
education and juvenile justice, and to the children and youth who are the
benefi ciaries of those efforts, that we dedicate this book.
A
CKNOWLEDGMENTS
This volume grew directly out of the efforts of the Discipline Disparities
Research-to-Practice Collaborative, whose members committed three
years to meetings, writing, and collaboration in order to identify the criti-
cal issues in the fi eld, and commission the research projects that form
the heart of this book. The Collaborative was composed of researchers,
advocates, educators, policy analysts, juvenile justice representatives, and
funders who contributed a disproportionate share of their professional lives
to clarifying the issues, acting as review panels for research applications,
writing and editing Collaborative publications, and most of all, building a
hard-won consensus across disciplines. In particular, we are deeply grate-
ful to the other members of the leadership team, Dan Losen and Tanya
Coke, themselves intellectual leaders in this fi eld, for their extraordinary
effort and insight in helping establish the direction and activities of the
Collaborative. Other members of the Discipline Disparities Collaborative
include James Bell, Judith Browne-Dianis, Prudence Carter, Christopher
Chatmon, Tanya Coke, Matt Cregor, Manuel Criollo, Jim Eichner, Eddie
Fergus, Michelle Fine, Phillip Atiba Goff, Paul Goren, Anne Gregory,
Damon Hewitt, Tammy Bang Luu, Pedro Noguera, Blake Norton, Mica
Pollock, Stephen Russell, Leticia Smith-Evans Haynes, Lisa Thomas,
Michael Thompson, and Ivory Toldson. We are extremely grateful to the
numerous professional organizations, researchers, and policymakers at the
federal and state level who contributed to the effort through their partici-
pation in stakeholder meetings and in the release and dissemination of the
Collaborative briefi ng papers. 1
vii
viii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
We also gratefully acknowledge the funders who made this effort pos-
sible—the Atlantic Philanthropies, the Open Society Foundations, and a
group of anonymous donors—who not only provided resources for the
effort, but remained actively engaged throughout the lifespan of the
Collaborative in moving the efforts and issues forward. A big thanks is
also due to the staff of the Equity Project at Indiana University—Mariella
Arredondo, Shana Ritter, Fatima McKenzie, Jillian DeHaan, Amara
Lovato, and Natasha Williams—for their work on coordination and logis-
tics in planning complex meetings and conferences in multiple cities across
the nation.
This volume could not have been completed without the hard work,
perseverance, and expertise of Jennifer Turrentine, who helped manage the
organization of all aspects of the book from start to fi nish, doing whatever
she had to do to keep it on track. We’re grateful for the keen copyediting
skills of Leigh Kupersmith, and for her ability to track down the hardest-
to-fi nd references and citations. Thanks also to the Palgrave Macmillan
editorial team, Mara Berkoff, Milana Vernikova, and Sarah Nathan for
their gracious and helpful assistance. Finally, words are not suffi cient to
express our gratitude to our partners and families, whose patience and
support during the process never fl agged.
The pace at which the public discourse on school discipline and ineq-
uity has changed in our nation has been remarkable. Finally, we acknowl-
edge the ongoing efforts of individuals and organizations, too numerous
to mention, who have made a long-term commitment to fi nding equitable
and research-based alternatives to out-of-school suspension and expulsion.
It is to many individuals and organizations who have dedication to discov-
ering more effective and socially just practices in education and juvenile
justice, and to the children and youth who are the benefi ciaries of those
efforts, that we dedicate this book.
NOTE
1. A complete listing of the institutional affi liations of all members and partner
organizations as well as the products and publications of the Collaborative
can be found at the Discipline Disparities website http://rtpcollaborative.
indiana.edu/ .
C
ONTENTS
Part I D iscipline Disparities: A Research-to-Practice
Collaborative 1
1 Introduction 3
Kavitha Mediratta and M . Karega Rausch
2 What Do We Know About Discipline Disparities?
New and Emerging Research 21
Russell J. Skiba , Mariella I. Arredondo , Chrystal Gray ,
and M. Karega Rausch
3 How Educators Can Eradicate Disparities in School
Discipline 39
Anne Gregory , James Bell , and Mica Pollock
Part II U nderstanding and Addressing Disparities:
What We Are Learning and What We Can Do 59
4 Sexual Orientation-Based Disparities in School and
Juvenile Justice Discipline Practices: Attending to
Contributing Factors and Evidence of Bias 6 1
V. Paul Poteat , Jillian R. Scheer , and Eddie S.K. Chong
ix
