Eliminating the Racial Disparity in Classroom Exclusionary Discipline
Open accessAbstract
Advocates call for schools with high suspension rates to receive technical assistance in adopting “proven-effective” systematic supports. Such supports include teacher professional development. This call is justified given evidence that good teaching matters. But what types of professional development should be funded? Increasingly, research points to the promise of programs that are sustained, rigorous, and focused on teachers’ interactions with students. The current study tests whether a professional development program with these three characteristics helped change teachers’ use of exclusionary discipline practices—especially with their African American students. Exclusionary discipline is when a classroom teacher sends a student to the administrators’ office for perceived misbehavior. Administrators then typically assign a consequence, usually in the form of suspension (in-school or out-of school). The My Teaching Partner-Secondary (MTP-S) aims to improve teachers’ interactions with their students when implementing instruction and managing behavior. MTP-S helps teachers offer clear routines, implement consistent rules, and monitor behavior in a proactive way. The program also supports teachers in developing warm, respectful relationships that recognize students’ needs for autonomy and leadership. Teachers are paired with a coach for an entire school year (sustained approach), they regularly reflect on videorecordings of their classroom instruction and carefully observe how they interact with students, and they apply the validated Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS-S) to improve the quality of their interactions (rigorous approach). In the current study, a randomized controlled trial found that teachers receiving MTP-S relied less on exclusionary discipline compared to the control teachers. Specifically, MTP-S teachers issued fewer exclusionary discipline referrals to their African American students. This is the first study to show that programs like MTP-S that focus on teacher-student interactions in a sustained manner using a rigorous approach can actually reduce the disproportionate use of exclusionary discipline with African American students. More broadly, the findings offer policymakers direction in identifying types of professional development programs that have promise for reducing the racial discipline gap.
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The resource and commitment requirements of restorative practices may be similar to those of other school-wide or teacher interventions such as positive behavior intervention supports or MyTeaching Partner.
“these requirements may be similar to other school-wide or teacher interventions such as positive behavior intervention supports (PBIS; Bradshaw et al., 2010) or MyTeaching Partner (Gregory et al., 2015).”
From The Impact of Restorative Practices on the Use of Out-of-School Suspensions: Results from a Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial (2023) · cites this paper as Gregory et al., 2015
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- Authors
- Gregory, A., Allen, J. P., Mikami, A. Y., Hafen, C. A., & Pianta, R.
- Affiliations
- Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey (US)
- University of Virginia (US)
- University of British Columbia (CA)
- Venue
- Journal of Applied Research on Children: Informing Policy for Children at Risk
- Publisher
- Texas Medical Center Library
- Published
- 2015-02-03
- Volume
- 5
- Issue
- 2
- ISSN
- 2155-5834 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2993764914
- Cited by
- 26
- References
- 63
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 2 · 2018: 1 · 2017: 2 · 2016: 2 · 2015: 1
- FWCI
- 10.00
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Journal of Applied Research on Children Informing Policy for Children at Risk (publishedVersion)
- Digital Commons-TMC (Texas Medical Center) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Institute of Education Sciences (R305A100367)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Education › Education Discipline and Inequality
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Behavioral and Psychological Studies
- Social Sciences › Decision Sciences › Information Systems and Management › Educational Assessment and Improvement
- Keywords
- exclusionary discipline, racial disparities in discipline, school suspension, teacher professional development, teacher-student relationship, African American students, Classroom Assessment Scoring System, classroom behavior management, coaching, school discipline policy
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