Discipline Disproportionality in an Urban School Division within the Commonwealth of Virginia

The purpose of this study was to determine what change, if any, existed in the number and percentage of student discipline referrals and exclusionary discipline practices of students by race, gender, and those with disabilities after the introduction of a division-wide, systematic approach to discipline that aligned behavior, social-emotional wellness, and academics into one decision-making framework. This research used quantitative data with a nonexperimental descriptive design. The researcher sought to answer the questions: 1. What is the number and percentage of students receiving an office discipline referral by race, gender, and those with a disability? 2. What is the number and percentage of students receiving suspensions, both in-school and out-of-school, related to office discipline referrals for students by race, gender, and those with a disability? 3. How has the number and percentage changed for incidents over the three years of implementing a systematic approach that aligns behavior, social-emotional wellness, and academics into one decision-making framework for students of different races, genders, and those with a disability? 4. How has the number and percentage changed for consequences over the three years of implementing a systematic approach that behavior, social-emotional wellness, and academics into one decision-making framework for students of different races, genders, and those with a disability? This study included 39 schools (24 elementary schools, seven middle schools, five high schools, one middle/high school, one specialty high school, and one alternative school) of an urban school division in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The selected division leadership team established an outcome to decrease office discipline referrals (ODRs), In-School Suspension (ISS), and Out-of-School Suspensions (OSS) in order to increase instructional time in the classroom. The sampled schools had evidence of varying levels of implementation. This study examined the effects of a multi-tiered system of support on student discipline. This study found that the proportion of students receiving ODRs was not reduced by the implementation of a multitiered framework. Additionally, the number of ODRs increased for most subgroups over the period of the study. However, the study did find that the disproportionality for SWD decreased for ODRs. The study also found that the gap in proportions between Black students receiving ISS and White students receiving ISS increased. Despite the growing disparity between Black and White students, disproportionality for SWD receiving ISS decreased. Conversely, the proportion of Black students receiving OSS decreased over the 3-year period of the study. In conjunction to the findings related to ISS, the disproportionality of SWD receiving OSS decreased during this study period. Finally, the study found that the proportion of female students receiving LTS increased over the 3-year period of the study. This study did not include an analysis of the critical features of a multi-tiered system of support.

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctor of Education

Level thesis:degree_level

doctoral

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Educational Leadership and Policy Studies

Department dc:contributor.department

Counselor Education

Grantor dc:publisher

Virginia Tech

Year dc:date.issued

2021

Author dc:creator

• Ransome, Jaraun Montel

Chair dc:contributor.committeechair

• Cash, Carol S.

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Cook, Michael A.
• Walter, Glenda Powell
• Price, Ted S.

• Behavior
• Discipline
• Disproportionality
• Exclusionary Discipline
• Gender
• Race
• Zero-Tolerance Policies

Statement dc:rights

• In Copyright

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Dc Identifier Other

vt_gsexam:31199

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/103813