About This Project

Students of color are disciplined more punitively than white students for similar infractions during the adolescent years, placing them at risk for the "school to prison pipeline." A supportive school climate lessens this risk, but which aspects of school climate relate to school discipline practices, and how does this vary according to racial identity? Answering this will help us learn how school climate and discipline interact to foster or hinder adolescent success.

Ask the Scientists

What is the context of this research?

Schools are more likely to use exclusionary discipline practices (e.g., suspension, expulsion) on students of color than white students, a gap which widens during the adolescent years. Research suggests that implicit racial biases play a large role in this disparity, as the gap persists when accounting for student behavior and poverty. Exclusionary discipline predicts a range of negative outcomes for adolescents, and acts as an entry point into the "school to prison pipeline." A supportive school climate is linked to less use of exclusionary discipline and better educational, social, and emotional outcomes for students. However, few have examined which aspects of school climate are linked to exclusionary discipline, and how this varies according to racial identity.

What is the significance of this project?

Educational policies such as the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) increasingly prioritize school climate initiatives and closing racial disparities in school discipline. Research has established that these issues are deeply interconnected and cannot be treated as separate. However, research has largely focused on isolated components of school climate, such as racial climate, anti-bullying policies, and zero tolerance policies. By exploring which aspects of school climate link to exclusionary discipline practices (e.g., social support from teachers, clarity and consistency in school rules, etc.) and for whom, we can inform prevention, intervention, and school improvement efforts in ways that benefit adolescents who need them most.

What are the goals of the project?

The funds will be used to hire a research assistant to assemble, clean, and analyze the data. Specifically, we will use student, parent, and school personnel reports of school climate from 250 secondary schools across 20 states during the 2013-2014 school year. These data were collected with the Comprehensive School Climate Inventory 3.0, a nationally-recognized survey that covers 12 dimensions of school climate. We will match these data with school-level discipline data from the same year, collected by the Office of Civil Rights, and conduct a multi-level analysis. We will report our findings in a series of briefs that explore the relationship between individual perceptions of school climate, self-reported racial identity, and school discipline patterns.