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School Discipline and Security: Fair for All Students?
Abstract
Prior research finds that racial and ethnic minority students are more likely than White students to receive school punishments, yet little prior research considers students' perceptions of the fairness of school rules and their enforcement. Using data from a nationally representative survey of students, the authors consider whether African American and Latino and Latina students, and particularly males, perceive school safety practices as less fair overall, less well communicated, and less evenly applied than White students do. The authors also consider whether particular security strategies (security guards, metal detectors, and locker checks) impact these perceptions of fairness. The results suggest that African American students perceive less fairness and consistency of school rules and their enforcement than do White students, though the perceptions of Latino/a students do not vary significantly from those of White students.
... Studies have found SROs' presence to be negatively associated with students' feelings of safety (Tillyer et al., 2011;Theriot & Cuellar, 2016). Additionally, students' feelings of safety with SROs on campus vary widely based on factors including race (Bachman et al., 2011;Lacoe, 2015;Perumean-Chaney & Sutton, 2013;Theriot & Orme, 2016), gender (Perumean-Chaney & Sutton, 2013;Varjas et al., 2009), age (Kupchik & Ellis, 2008), grade point average (Kupchik & Ellis, 2008;Noaks & Noaks, 2000;Perumean-Chaney & Sutton, 2013) Race influences who feels safer with SROs at school (Lacoe, 2015;Morris et al., 2018). A prominent police presence has been linked to heightened feelings of vulnerability, especially for students from over-policed communities (Kupchik & Ellis, 2008;Lacoe, 2015;Theriot & Orme, 2016). ...
... Studies have found SROs' presence to be negatively associated with students' feelings of safety (Tillyer et al., 2011;Theriot & Cuellar, 2016). Additionally, students' feelings of safety with SROs on campus vary widely based on factors including race (Bachman et al., 2011;Lacoe, 2015;Perumean-Chaney & Sutton, 2013;Theriot & Orme, 2016), gender (Perumean-Chaney & Sutton, 2013;Varjas et al., 2009), age (Kupchik & Ellis, 2008), grade point average (Kupchik & Ellis, 2008;Noaks & Noaks, 2000;Perumean-Chaney & Sutton, 2013) Race influences who feels safer with SROs at school (Lacoe, 2015;Morris et al., 2018). A prominent police presence has been linked to heightened feelings of vulnerability, especially for students from over-policed communities (Kupchik & Ellis, 2008;Lacoe, 2015;Theriot & Orme, 2016). ...
... Additionally, students' feelings of safety with SROs on campus vary widely based on factors including race (Bachman et al., 2011;Lacoe, 2015;Perumean-Chaney & Sutton, 2013;Theriot & Orme, 2016), gender (Perumean-Chaney & Sutton, 2013;Varjas et al., 2009), age (Kupchik & Ellis, 2008), grade point average (Kupchik & Ellis, 2008;Noaks & Noaks, 2000;Perumean-Chaney & Sutton, 2013) Race influences who feels safer with SROs at school (Lacoe, 2015;Morris et al., 2018). A prominent police presence has been linked to heightened feelings of vulnerability, especially for students from over-policed communities (Kupchik & Ellis, 2008;Lacoe, 2015;Theriot & Orme, 2016). The misgivings that students of color have about their safety with police embedded in their schools are not unfounded; Black students are three times more likely than White students to be arrested at school, though in some states, they are eight times more likely to be arrested, and for girls, these racial disparities are even more pronounced (Whitaker et al., 2018). ...
The purpose of this paper is to outline the history of school-based policing, namely, the deployment of School Resource Officers (SROs), and examine the evidence of this program’s impacts on school safety and on students in the USA. We offer a review of the literature documenting the costs and effects of SROs in US schools. More than two decades of research have not yielded evidence that police enhance school safety, but it has repeatedly been documented that embedding police in schools results in serious harms to minoritized students, especially those who are Black, disabled, LGBTQ, or low income. This review of the research makes clear that SROs have not delivered school safety and have caused considerable harm to marginalized students. It must therefore be a priority of the new administration to end schools’ reliance on law enforcement to manage the students in their care and reinvest in the proven support that school-based social work affords to our youth.
... Despite the consistency of these research findings, key questions remain regarding the conditions under which Black and Hispanic youth might be disparately likely to receive these outcomes. Specifically, there is considerable theoretical and empirical ambiguity surrounding the moderating effects that gender might have on this relationship, with some prior work highlighting the unique disadvantages experienced by minority male youth (Kupchik & Ellis, 2008;Rios, 2011) but others suggesting that Black-and Hispanic-White disparities are more prominent in the sanctioning of female students (Blake et al., 2011;Morris & Perry, 2017). In addition, while scholars have long observed that students of lower socioeconomic status (SES) are disproportionately at risk of receiving exclusionary school punishments (e.g., Hemphill et al., 2010;Wu et al., 1982), very little quantitative work has explored whether racial and ethnic disparities might be moderated by the educational attainment of students' parents or other similar proxies for SES . ...
... Specifically, some scholars have noted that the pervasive stereotypes identifying minority youth as aggressive, violent, and predatory relate largely to males, and the image of the young Black male as a dangerous criminal threat remains a persistent feature of media depictions and popular perception (Carter et al., 2017;Ferguson, 2000;Howard, 2014;Rios, 2011). In addition, prior research has revealed that teachers are less supportive and encouraging of Black male students than others, set lower academic expectations for them (Noguera, 2003), and believe that they "require greater control than their peers and are unlikely to respond to nonpunitive measures" (Monroe, 2005, p. 47; see also Kupchik & Ellis, 2008). Therefore, in light of these issues, it is plausible that the disparities between minority and White students in the likelihood of experiencing punitive school discipline outcomes may be more pronounced among male youth than female youth. ...
... While there recently have been notable advancements in this body of literature, it remains unclear whether these racial/ethnic disparities might be conditioned by other factors, including youths' gender and parents' educational attainment. Indeed, some prior work has highlighted the notable effects of race/ethnicity on suspension, expulsion, and other forms of discipline among males (Carter et al., 2017;Kupchik & Ellis, 2008), though other scholars have found evidence of more prominent disparities among female students (Morris & Perry, 2017;Raffaele Mendez & Knoff, 2003). Parental educational attainment, which has been identified as a useful proxy for youths' SES (Kao & Thompson, 2003;Lien et al., 2001), is consistently negatively associated with school discipline outcomes, though how it might condition the effects of race and ethnicity has received very little empirical attention Skiba et al., 2002). ...
Prior research has provided consistent evidence that minority students are more likely than White youth to experience punitive forms of discipline in schools. Scholars have theorized that these disadvantages are closely connected to gender and socioeconomic status, but little research has explored how these factors independently and jointly might moderate the effects of race/ethnicity. Using data from the 2012 to 2018 8th and 10th grade cohorts of the Monitoring the Future survey (N = 53,986), these analyses find that minority students are more likely than Whites to experience suspension/expulsion and office referrals, and this pattern is especially prominent among females. Further, racial/ethnic disparities are amplified for youth whose parents have higher levels of educational attainment, though some differences by gender also emerge.
... These high-security practices-such as the use of police officers, security cameras, and metal detectors-have sometimes even made students feel less safe at their respective schools (Beger 2003;Hankin et al. 2011). High-security practices have also been shown to lead to an increase in disciplinary action against students with a disproportionate effect on students of color, thus perpetuating the school-to-prison pipeline (Kupchik and Ellis 2008). The potential negative impacts that high-surveillance practices have on school climate and diverse student populations must be considered before deciding to implement social media monitoring as it may produce similar outcomes. ...
... Students also have a right to a safe school environment as well as a positive school climate. Procedures to create safe schools with a positive climate should exclude unfair targeting and disciplinary action due to discriminatory practices like those that have occurred in high-security school environments (Kupchik and Ellis 2008). Legal limits to students' freedom of privacy and speech were outlined by cases in which students were held liable for a threat made toward the school or other persons. ...
... Social media monitoring has the potential to prevent future harm and threats toward the school, but more evidence is needed to support this claim. Like other high-security school practices, social media surveillance could lead to higher rates of disciplinary action and adverse effects on overall school climate (Kupchik and Ellis 2008). Enforcing social media monitoring has the potential to put a school at risk and liable for a data breach. ...
The rise of social media use among school youth has compelled school districts to implement social media monitoring to prevent active shootings, bullying, harassment, victimization, and suicide in the community. This presents an ethical and legal dilemma, with issues surrounding students’ rights to safety, privacy, and free speech in cyberspace. This paper followed the ethical decision-making model outlined by Armistead et al. (2011) to provide guidance to school psychologists and district personnel who may be deciding whether to implement social media monitoring. Review of National Association of School Psychologists and American Psychological Association ethical codes, legislation, and case law demonstrated many complexities regarding the rights of students and school district personnel. Evidence on the effectiveness of social media monitoring is still limited, so school districts and school psychologists are recommended to explore alternatives for harm and threat prevention that value the rights of students while also meeting their obligation to prevent abusive or hostile learning environments.
... While youths' race and ethnicity might influence discipline outcomes via school professionals' reliance on implicit biases, it is theoretically plausible that these processes are informed in notable ways by gender. For example, the cultural stereotypes which associate minority status with images of aggression, combativeness, dangerousness, and criminal behavior are largely concentrated among males (Kupchik & Ellis, 2008;Rios, 2011), and thus the in-school misbehavior of Black and Hispanic males might be viewed as particularly deserving of harsh disciplinary responses (Carter et al., 2017;Townsend, 2000;Watts & Erevelles, 2004). However, other research indicates that Black-White and Hispanic-White disparities in school discipline are more prominent among females than males (Ferguson, 2000;Morris & Perry, 2017;Wallace et al., 2008;Vavrus & Cole, 2002). ...
... The current study contributes to the extant work on race/ethnicity and school discipline by considering the moderating effects of gender and academic achievement. While alternative theoretical rationales anticipate that Black-White and Hispanic-White disparities in discipline might be amplified or weakened among males relative to females (Carter et al., 2017;Ferguson, 2000;Kupchik & Ellis, 2008;Morris, 2005Morris, , 2007Townsend, 2000), limited research has examined these interactive relationships (Morris & Perry, 2017;Raffaele Mendez & Knoff, 2003;Wallace et al., 2008). Additionally, it is theoretically plausible that academic achievement could influence school teachers' and administrators' perceptions of students' commitment to education, behavioral malleability, and deservingness of leniency in discipline (Bowditch, 1993;Girvan, 2019;Okonofua & Eberhardt, 2015) and thus moderate the effects of race/ethnicity and gender on school punishment. ...
... Such a strategy would produce benefits for students as well as for schools. Indeed, prior research shows that students are acutely aware of disparities in the application of school punishments (Kupchik & Ellis, 2008), and this perceived unfairness can erode respect for teachers' authority, reduce cooperation with school rules, and increase the likelihood of defiant reactions (Fenning & Rose, 2007;Gregory & Weinstein, 2008). In contrast, schools which strive to discipline students fairly, especially when equipped with the resources to do so, can increase compliance and foster a positive school climate (Arum & Velez, 2012;Mowen, Mowen, & Brent, 2017). ...
A vast body of research demonstrates that the consequences of the “criminalization” of school discipline are not racially equitable, and Black and Hispanic students are more likely than White youth to experience exclusionary school punishments. However, limited prior work has examined the factors that might strengthen or weaken racial/ethnic inequalities in school discipline. Theoretically, academic achievement could moderate the effects of race and ethnicity, especially in conjunction with gender, though the expected direction of these interactive relationships is unclear. To explore these issues, the current study makes use of data from the 2018 Florida Youth Substance Abuse Survey (N = 54,611). The analyses reveal that, while Black male youth are the most likely to be suspended, racial/ethnic disparities are greater among females than males. Additionally, racial differences in the likelihood of suspension are more prominent at higher levels of academic achievement, particularly among female students.
... Scholars examined pupils' perceptions of school discipline in various countries, including the UK (Osler, 2000;McCluskey, 2008;McCluskey et al., 2013), the US (Bracy, 2011;Kupchik & Ellis, 2008;Preiss et al., 2016), Canada (Raby, 2008;Raby & Domitrek, 2007), Sweden (Thornberg, 2008), Finland (Honkasilta et al., 2016), and South Africa (Geldenhuys & Doubell, 2011). ...
... Most of these studies examined the perceptions of secondary school pupils (Bracy, 2011;Geldenhuys & Doubell, 2011;Honkasilta et al., 2016;Kupchik & Ellis, 2008;McCluskey, 2008;McCluskey et al., 2013;Osler, 2000;Preiss et al., 2016;Raby, 2008;Raby & Domitrek, 2007). Several studies have examined the perceptions of primary school pupils (Honkasilta et al., 2016;McCluskey et al., 2013;Osler, 2000;Thornberg, 2008), but only a few studies included data on the perceptions of pupils enrolled in the lower primary grades Thornberg, 2008). ...
... A related finding, which may elucidate the previous one, was that moderate levels of school rules' strictness were associated with pupils' perceptions of greater fairness. Another quantitative study that measured pupils' perceptions of school rules' fairness showed that African-American pupils perceive less fairness of school rules and their enforcement than do White pupils (Kupchik & Ellis, 2008). The findings further indicated that participation in extracurricular activities and high grades were associated with a relatively higher degree of perceived fairness. ...
This study explored how children of lower primary school grades perceive due process in schools' disciplinary procedures. While many studies have explored how adolescents perceive school discipline, only few studies have examined the perceptions of primary school pupils, and no study has investigated lower primary school grades. The qualitative research design was based on semi-structured interviews and focus groups with 70 children, aged seven to ten, recruited from 19 public schools in Israel. In addition, we recruited a children's advisory group that participated in the research process. The findings revealed that while many of the study participants had internalised a formalistic approach to due process (i.e., meting out uniform punishments in similar cases, in accordance with a closed system of rules), others objected to this approach, providing various reasons for their concerns. Participants' criticisms of a formalistic due process policy included lack of compassion and lack of understanding of pupils' social, academic, or other difficulties, disregard of the pupils' voice, the complex task of discerning the truth, apprehension over a uniform punitive system, and low efficacy of punishments. We argue that the right to due process in school lays at the intersection of legal and educational narratives. Even young children are able to recognise the inherent incongruity of these narratives, as they constitute a significant part of their daily routine in school. We also argue that this incongruity engenders a distorted due process, thus imparting faulty lessons about the right to due process and its justifications.
... As with other institutions dealing with punishment, such as the criminal justice system (Western, 2006), research projects have found strong racial imbalances in both the application of punishment (Skiba, Michael, Nardo, & Peterson, 2000) and the perception of the equality of punishment among students in secondary schools (Kupchik & Ellis, 2008). Prior research has found that minority students are much more likely than white students to be expelled or suspended for the same behavioral issue (Kupchik & Ellis, 2008;Jung, 2007;Skiba et al., 2000). ...
... As with other institutions dealing with punishment, such as the criminal justice system (Western, 2006), research projects have found strong racial imbalances in both the application of punishment (Skiba, Michael, Nardo, & Peterson, 2000) and the perception of the equality of punishment among students in secondary schools (Kupchik & Ellis, 2008). Prior research has found that minority students are much more likely than white students to be expelled or suspended for the same behavioral issue (Kupchik & Ellis, 2008;Jung, 2007;Skiba et al., 2000). Moreover, metal detectors, police officers, and surveillance cameras are more likely to be used in schools with greater proportions of minority and low-income students (Devine, 1996;Nolan, 2011). ...
... In exploring how perceptions of the equality of discipline vary among white, black, and Hispanic students, Kupchik and Ellis (2008) found that Hispanic students were no more likely to perceive unequal application of rules compared with white students. Kupchik and Ellis (2008) did find, how-ever, that black students were more likely to believe that school rules were applied unfairly when compared to white students. ...
Although investigation of school security measures and their relationships to various outcomes including school crime rates (Gottfredson, 2001), perpetuation of social inequality (Ferguson, 2001; Nolan, 2011; Welch & Payne, 2010), and the impact on childhood experiences has seen significant growth within the last 20 years (Newman, 2004; Kupchik, 2010), few studies have sought to explore the impacts of these measures on suspension rates. Using data from the Educational Longitudinal Study (2002), I explore the relationship between security measures and in-school, out-of-school, and overall suspension rates. Results indicate schools with a security officer experience higher rates of in-school suspensions but have no difference in rates of out-of-school or overall suspensions compared to schools without a security officer. No other measure of security was related to higher suspension rates. As prior literature suggests, schools with greater proportions of black students experienced significantly higher rates of all suspension types. Finally, different types of parental involvement correlated with both higher and lower suspension rates.
... Unlike the research on racial and ethnic differences in school misbehavior and delinquency, disproportionate representation of minority students in a variety of school disciplinary actions has been well documented for the past 25 years. Even after controlling for student misbehavior, studies consistently show Black adolescents are being disproportionately disciplined in school (Arcia, 2007;Gordon et al., 2000;Kupchik & Ellis, 2008;Mendez & Knoff, 2003;Skiba et al., 2002;Welch & Payne, 2010). The few studies exploring the pattern of school-based discipline for Latino and Asian youth are inconsistent. ...
... In addition, there are a number of student and school characteristics that are associated with the likelihood of school-based misbehavior and discipline. Student characteristics such as gender, educational achievement, family socioeconomic status, family structure, and parental involvement have been linked with the likelihood of school-based misbehavior and discipline (Arcia, 2007;Kupchik, 2010;Kupchik & Ellis, 2008;Morris, 2005Morris, , 2006Reyes, 2005;Skiba et al., 2002). Gender is coded male or female based on the student's self-report of their biological sex. ...
... School-level characteristics such as social disorder, security, size, racial and ethnic minority student population, poverty, and location have been linked with the likelihood of school-based misbehavior and discipline (Arcia, 2007;Kupchik, 2010;Kupchik & Ellis, 2008;Morris, 2005;Reyes, 2005;Skiba et al., 2002). The school's level of social disorder construct is measured using 19 questions that represented school administrators' account of the level of social problems and disorder (e.g., tardiness, absenteeism, class cutting, physical conflicts, robbery or theft, vandalism, use of alcohol, and use of illegal drugs) within their school. ...
School-based discipline can negatively shape the educational outcomes of students, particularly for racial and ethnic minorities. Because racial and ethnic minority youth are at risk for educational failure and marginalized within schools, academic and sport extracurricular activities are often presented as a means to ameliorate educational risk factors. Little is known, however, about the relationship between involvement in these activities and school-based discipline, particularly for racial and ethnic minority youth. This study uses data from the Education Longitudinal Study of 2002 and incorporates multilevel modeling techniques to examine whether the relationship between academic and sport extracurricular activities, misbehavior, and school-based discipline varies by race and ethnicity. This study suggests that while academic and sport extracurricular activities reduce the likelihood of school-based discipline for White students, the relationships for racial and ethnic minority are complex. The implications of the racial and ethnic disparity in school-based discipline in the United States are discussed.
... For example, not only are enhanced security measures disproportionately implemented in schools serving primarily Black students (Kupchik & Ward, 2014;Mowen & Parker, 2017), but Black students are differentially and disproportionately subject to punitive disciplinary practices (US Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights, 2018). Consequently, research has found racial/ethnic disparities in the effect of school security on students' perceptions of safety (Bachman et al., 2011;Lindstrom Johnson et al., 2018) and in students' perceptions of the fairness of such efforts (Arum, 2003;Hernández Sheets, 1996;Kupchik & Ellis, 2008;Portillos et al., 2012). ...
... Similarly, Arum (2003) revealed that relative to White and Hispanic students, Black students are more likely to perceive school rules and enforcement practices as unfair. Kupchik and Ellis (2008) found that relative to White and Latinx students, Black youth are less likely to perceive school rules and rule enforcement as fair. ...
Although school violence statistics indicate that schools are safe places, anxiety over school shootings continues to influence school safety reform to the extent that security measures in American public schools include the arming of schoolteachers. Furthermore, not only have youths’ perceptions of school security been relatively unexplored, existing research points to racial inequalities in the use of and the effects of school security practices. This study uses data from high school students across multiple school districts in a Midwestern county to examine how race and perceptions of fairness intersect to influence attitudes on arming teachers. The results suggest that, relative to White students, Black students are less supportive of arming teachers and anticipate greater decreases in safety if teachers are armed. In addition, perceptions of fairness mediate the effect of race on support and feelings of safety. Implications for policy and future research are discussed.
... There are similarly stark racial differences among both nonarrestees and youth arrested for other types of drugs. This latter finding supports prior research that shows Black and Latinx youth face more school sanctions than white youth, even after accounting for delinquent behavior (Browne, Losen, and Wald 2001;Eitle and Eitle 2004;Ferguson 2020;Kupchik and Ellis 2008;Skiba et al. 2002). It also supports the notion that white youth must exhibit behaviors that are more noticeably delinquent in order to be sanctioned, whether by the criminal justice system or by school officials. ...
... These approaches included zero-tolerance policies that require harsh punishments (such as suspension or expulsion) regardless of circumstances, as well as referrals to police and juvenile courts for offenses previously handled by school teachers, administrators, or parents (Theriot 2009), forming what is now known as the school-to-prison pipeline. Black and Latinx students are more likely to attend schools that have these punitive policies and are also more likely to face these types of school sanctions than white youth, even after accounting for delinquent behavior (Browne et al. 2001;Eitle and Eitle 2004;Ferguson 2020;Kupchik and Ellis 2008;Skiba et al. 2002). Future research should examine why a drug arrest affects Black and darker phenotype Latinx adolescents differently and how biases in school discipline, as well as police discretion in the community, may be driving these differences. ...
Racial biases in law enforcement over the past three decades have been linked to the racialized policies of the war on drugs. The author examines the educational consequences of the war on drugs on the lives of youth by analyzing racial differences in the impact of a juvenile drug arrest on high school dropout. Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent and Adult Health, the author finds that juvenile drug arrests are more consequential for Black and darker phenotype Latinx youth, who are less likely to be involved in delinquent and criminal behaviors than white youth with drug arrests. The author suggests that racial disparities in drug enforcement may be creating a racialized selection bias among drug arrestees, leading to racially disparate consequences for drug arrests, but not for other types of arrest. The results hold important implications for how drug arrests can produce and sustain racial disadvantages in educational attainment.
... In fact, between the 1996-1997-2008 school years, the number of public high schools with full-time law enforcement and security guards tripled (Kang-Brown et al. 2013). Additionally, the advancement of technology has also contributed to the widespread implementation of strategies such as cameras and metal detectors, especially in inner-city school systems (Kupchik and Ellis 2008;Servoss 2014;Servoss and Finn 2014). ...
... Even though several studies have attempted to capture the students' perceptions of school safety strategies and differences within students and in between school personnel, an examination of the school safety literature suggests that much of the research concerning the disproportional use of school safety has been conducted using three large, publicly available secondary datasets originating from self-report surveys: (1) Add Health's National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, a sample of adolescents in grades 7-12 in 1994-1995; (2) United States Department of Education's Education Longitudinal Study, a sample of high school adolescents across the United States in 2002; and (3) United States Department of Education's SSCS, a sample of school administrators in United States schools across all education levels (e.g., Gastic 2011;Gastic and Johnson 2014;Irwin et al. 2013;Kupchik and Ellis 2008;Servoss 2014;Servoss and Finn 2014). A common limitation of this literature is the restricted information available from these public-use datasets and their inability to allow the linking of student-to school-level policies. ...
Disproportionality in exposure to school safety strategies in the United States has received increasing attention across the literature. These inequalities are a very important topic for administrators and educators to consider when addressing school safety needs, as they have implications for how student behavior is processed. While research has extensively examined inequalities in exposure to school safety strategies using nationally representative, school-level data, we have extremely limited quantitative evidence regarding the extent to which students of different races/ethnicities experience school security measures differently when they are situated within the same school. Using person-in-environment perspective to guide inquiry into this phenomenon, this paper examines data from students in seven different high schools across one large, urban school district situated within an inner-city setting. Complex modeling was used to model fixed effects with consideration of the clustering of students within schools, thus controlling for shared variability of students within schools. Controlling for gender, socioeconomic status, performance, behavior, and attendance, results identify inequalities in engagement with security measures by race and ethnicity. Findings call for researchers and practitioners to regularly assess the way students interact with the school safety strategies in their school. Moreover, implications for addressing this phenomenon using an implicit bias framework to promote cultural inclusivity are discussed and recommendations for educators and administrators are provided.
... Studies also identified socioeconomic and racial gaps in disciplinary policies (e.g. Gazeley et al., 2015;Kupchik and Ellis, 2008;Payne and Welch, 2015). Calarco (2018) shed light on the fact that these inequalities are not produced only by teacher bias but also by children's efforts to secure advantages for themselves. ...
... Various studies have shown that educators relate differentially to higher and lower SES children (e.g. Calarco, 2018;Kupchik and Ellis, 2008;Lareau, 2011;Nelson and Schutz, 2007), a factor having implications on children's cultural capital (Calarco, 2018) and sense of entitlement (Lareau, 2011). A sense of entitlement facilitates the development of rights consciousness (compare Almog and Perry-Hazan, 2011;Morrill et al., 2010). ...
This study examines whether and how teachers who work in low-and high-SES primary schools name and mobilise their pupils' online rights. As children's out-of-school behaviour lays at the margins of teachers' professional responsibilities, this context enables a robust inquiry into teachers' commitment to pupils' rights. The research design is based on in-depth semi-structured interviews with 20 teachers from low-and high-SES schools. The findings showed that whereas most teachers indicated their concern about online injury suffered or caused by their pupils, they did not name these injuries in terms of pupils' rights. As teachers progressed through the legal mobilisation process, the analysis revealed SES differences. Whereas teachers working in the low-SES schools tended to minimise their professional responsibilities regarding online injury, teachers working in the high-SES schools held a broader perception of themselves as professionals who actively promote their pupils' rights and empower them to participate in regulating their online worlds. These perceptions were manifested in different approaches towards the adequate strategies to address pupils' online behaviour, and particularly, towards pupils' autonomy. The conclusions highlight that the ways teachers mobilise their pupil's online rights are intertwined with their contextual perceptions of their professional role.
... In addition, future research must attend to issues of race and sex, as research consistently documents that Black and Latino youth, as well as boys, are most likely to be punished (Skiba et al., 2011(Skiba et al., , 2002. The impact of suspension on members of these groups may differ, particularly if they feel they are unfairly or disproportionately targeted (Kupchik & Ellis, 2008). ...
... Heightened levels of police activity and increased surveillance in schools are hypothesized to increase the likelihood that individual students will receive exclusionary punishment (Kupchik, 2010). Although research shows that school security measures and increased presence of police are linked to student perceptions of rules as well as overall misbehavior (Kupchik & Ellis, 2008;Servoss, 2017), we are unaware of studies that have provided empirical evidence for the link between school-level punitive characteristics and student-level punishment. This dearth of research calls for explicit empirical tests of the relationships between school climate variables and student-level outcomes. ...
Rather than mitigating behavioral issues, exclusionary school disciplinary practices can actually increase student misbehavior and school dropout. However, the impact these sanctions have on students may vary based on school climate, particularly whether the environment is inclusive or punitive. Relying on a sample of over 2,000 students within 26 schools, we examine whether school climate shapes the impact of suspension on future delinquency and later school sanctions. We find that suspension is associated with increased misbehavior and additional sanctioning, regardless of school climate. These results suggest that suspensions can cause harm no matter the environment in which they are meted out, and schools should work to reduce their use of exclusionary punishments.
... To shed light on how students perceive school discipline policies, Kupchik and Ellis (2008) investigated African American and Latino/a students' perceptions of fairness regarding school discipline using data from the 2001 School Crime Supplement Survey. The findings showed African American students reported significantly lower ratings than their white counterparts on questions that assessed the fairness of school rules and rule enforcement (Kupchik and Ellis 2008). ...
... To shed light on how students perceive school discipline policies, Kupchik and Ellis (2008) investigated African American and Latino/a students' perceptions of fairness regarding school discipline using data from the 2001 School Crime Supplement Survey. The findings showed African American students reported significantly lower ratings than their white counterparts on questions that assessed the fairness of school rules and rule enforcement (Kupchik and Ellis 2008). McNeil and Dunbar (2010) explored African American and Hispanic students' perceptions of school safety and discipline practices. ...
Research on violence and culture highlights the presence of a street
code that governs interpersonal communication and behavior in impoverished
communities. I contribute to this literature by exploring how
the social norms embedded within the Code of the Street influence
violence in the academic setting. In this study, I explore the relationship
between out-of-school suspension and social status in primarily black
high schools (PBHSs). I also explore black students’ and parents’ perceptions
of school discipline. Using qualitative methodology, I interview 60
black students and parents of black students who were suspended from
a PBHS in southeast Michigan in the 2016–2017 school year. My findings
suggest the informal social norms that are embedded within the Code of
the Street pervade PBHSs to create the ‘code of the school’, which
encourages students to seek physical altercations and out-of-school
suspension as a strategy for earning respect, toughness, and elevated
social status. Additionally, my findings suggest most parents are aware of
the ‘code’ and instruct their children to engage in physical altercations
when it is necessary to defend themselves. As a result, the code of the
school renders out-of-school suspension as an ineffective deterrent to
school violence.
... In comparison to their Asian and White peers, Black and Hispanic students have been assigned a disproportionate amount of disciplinary consequences for over four decades (Khan & Slate, 2016). In addition to the studies on inequities between the four major ethnic/racial groups, several researchers (e.g., Kupchik & Ellis, 2008;Mendez & Knoff, 2003;Mendez et al., 2002;Skiba et al., 2011) have also conducted studies regarding discipline inequities between Black, White, and Hispanic students. According to the National Center for Education Statistics (2016a), a higher percentage of Black students have been suspended or expelled than any other major ethnic/racial groups. ...
... Research consistently finds that compared to their White peers, Black minors are more likely to be investigated and punished by police and other school authorities, as well as to perceive school safety practices as less fair (Ferguson 2000;Kupchik 2016; Kupchik and Ellis 2008;Morris 2005;Skiba et al. 2011;Skiba et al. 2002;Wallace et al. 2008). Moreover, secondary and primary schools with predominantly Black student bodies have higher levels of surveillance and punishment (Kupchik 2009;Kupchik and Ward 2014;Irwin, Davidson, and Hall-Sanchez 2013;Payne and Welch 2010). ...
... Black students are more likely to experience a negative and hostile school climate and experience racism and unfairness, causing higher detention and suspension rates compared to White students (Kupchik & Ellis, 2008;Morgan & Wright, 2018;Kinsler, 201 L). Institutional racism, known as systemic racism within educational institutions, still exists (Tadros, Owens, et al., 2021). ...
Juveniles are entering the justice system at exceptional rates. Nearly 700,000 minors were arrested in 2019 in the United States, calling for a social justice movement. This paper explores the zero‐tolerance policies being implemented in school systems, grades K‐12, across the U.S. Schools began implementing zero‐tolerance policies in an attempt to control drug‐war crimes, regulate firearm activity, and control gang‐related activity in the 1980s. However, they are still in place today and are being used for minor infractions. Zero‐tolerance policies make up the school‐to‐prison pipeline because they force youth out of the school systems via expulsion or suspension and into the criminal justice system. Zero‐tolerance policies focus on punitive actions, including incarceration, rather than social and restorative justice, disproportionately targeting racial minority groups. The article offers clinical implications for working in the juvenile justice system through a restorative justice and incarcerated informed lens.
... Similarly, we were unable to include more information about the school context. For example, security strategies such as guards and metal detectors are known to impact students' views of their school as well as objective measures of school safety (e.g., Kupchik & Ellis, 2008;Nguyen et al., 2020) and would therefore be an important control variable. Existing research assessing how school climate along with other aspects of the school environment impact student outcomes such as bullying victimization is highly robust and should be incorporated when examining organizational and school fairness (see Connell, Barbieri et al., 2015;Fissel et al., 2019;Gottfredson & DiPietro, 2011;Hurd et al., 2018;James et al., 2020;Moon et al., 2011;Nguyen et al., 2020;Payne, 2008;Sanches et al., 2012;Stewart, 2003;Syvertsen et al., 2009;Thapa et al., 2013;Way, 2011;Welsh, 2000Welsh, , 2003. ...
Recent research has shown a link between fairness in terms of school rules and discipline and negative student outcomes, including delinquency, violent behavior, and victimization. The current study examines how fairness at school impacts bullying victimization—operationalized as repeated physical, psychological, or verbal victimization—among high school sophomores. We tested this hypothesis using one wave of the Educational Longitudinal Study (2002). The findings of negative binomial regression analyses indicate bullying victimization is more prevalent among students who believe that their schools are unfair. A number of student characteristics were also significantly related to experiencing bullying. Implications for policy and practice are outlined.
... It translates into a critical stance towards the notion of an 'achievement gap' which is understood to put the burden on those individuals and groups that are lagging behind, rather than holding the system accountable for having disadvantaged these individuals and groups. Furthermore, the issue of racial discrimination, and differences in how racial minorities experience education system represent salient topics in this group of scholars (Artiles, 2011;Bass & Gerstl-Pepin, 2011;Brayboy et al., 2007;Fusarelli, 2004;Kupchik & Ellis, 2008). There are a few notable exceptions which have applied these discussions of social justice to the African context (e.g., Bosu et al. 2011), yet a North American focus still prevailed throughout this community. ...
This thesis is an exploration of questions pertaining to the legitimacy of International Education Agendas (IEAs) with two main contributions. Firstly, I provide a conceptually sound and empirically viable approach to assess IEAs’ legitimacy. And secondly, I investigate what can be learnt about the legitimacy of IEAs when this approach is put into practice. I thereby focus on a sociological understanding of legitimacy which is fundamentally concerned with how global governance arrangements are perceived by an identified audience. To define IEAs I introduce the distinction between the formal core of an IEA, such as UN resolutions, and the formal interpretive frames, such as global monitoring reports and thematic indicators frameworks. Specifically, my research questions focus on the legitimacy beliefs held by academics towards equity in education, as an ideational feature of the current IEA, the Education 2030 – SDG 4 agenda. I argue in my thesis that academics can be considered an audience of particular relevance to IEAs, and likewise, equity in education arguably constitutes a critical ideational feature of SDG 4. Furthermore, the present thesis recognizes the importance of ideational competition in global governance dynamics and identifies IEAs as one of the loci where this ideational competition happens. In response to gaps in the existing literature, a heuristic conceptual framework for the analysis of legitimacy beliefs towards IEAs is introduced. Building on this conceptual framework, a blended reading research design is employed to investigate the congruence between, on the one hand, academics’ perceptions of the conceptualization of equity in education embedded in IEA, and, on the other hand, those conceptualizations that are found in the scholarship on equity in education. Eventually, three specific dimensions of textual data were considered, namely, representation, structure, and knowledge, in order to allow for a comprehensive understanding of the scholarship on equity in education. Findings point to the divergence between conceptualizations of equity in education that emerge from the formal interpretive frames of the present IEA, and those that are embedded in the initial wording of the UN resolution, as well as the most prominent conceptualizations of equity in education in the scholarship. The conceptualization that emerge from the formal interpretative frames of the SDG 4 agenda is identified as principally concerned with an achievement gap perspective, whereas a substantial portion of the most recent active scholars have engaged with critical pedagogy and social justice perspectives on equity in education. Empirically, there exists a lack of congruence between equity in education as conceptualized in the SDG 4 agenda and the structure of the scholarship on the issue. A situation that did not exist under the previous international education agenda. This in turn indicates that there exist grounds for academics to withhold legitimacy beliefs towards the SDG 4 agenda, potentially eroding its authority and putting its success at risk. Furthermore, the methodological design that was employed in the present study demonstrates the potential to combine scope and depth by integrating computational approaches with qualitative analyses in positivistic approaches to studying global governance in education.
... perceived teacher fairness (gottfredson, 1984;Toldson & ebanks, 2012;welsh, 2001). perceived rule fairness (Burrow & Apel, 2008;Kupchik & ellis, 2008;Peguero, 2012;Randa & wilcox, 2010). ...
Empirical research in education has largely adopted quantitative approaches to measure teachers’ and students’ perceptions of fairness and justice in classroom contexts. The purpose of this study is to understand the validity evidence of fairness and justice instruments including how fairness and justice have been conceptualized in measures. Through a systematic review method, 96 quantitative studies were identified and their measurement instruments were analyzed based on five validity criteria: (a) framework and conceptualization of construct, (b) response processes, (c) internal structure, (d) internal consistency reliability, and (e) relationship to other variables. Results showed that most studies conceptualized classroom fairness and justice from organizational and social psychological theories with only a few conducting rigorous statistical analyses to support their validity interpretations. Findings are critically discussed and point to the need to develop a theory of fairness and justice rooted in classroom contexts.
Impact Statement
By reviewing the quality of classroom fairness instruments, this study provides guidance to school psychologists, teachers, and educational researchers with the choice of reliable instruments to promote fairer school culture and climate that supports students’ academic engagement and motivation as well as mental health at schools.
... Value is an individual or group idea about something that is good, right and wise, so that the idea has value and quality and feasibility as a guide in human life (7). "Students who excel in school and participate in extracurricular activities experience more equity than other students" [8]. Therefore, activities outside the classroom are the dominant factors affecting students' ability to study in higher education. ...
... It is also pertinent to examine whether propensity to possess weapons, especially at schools, vary by race/ethnicity and the role of perceived lack of safety in this context. Prior research has revealed a higher likelihood of minority students being punished and/or suspended, in general, compared with non-Hispanic white students (Kupchik & Ellis, 2008;Morris & Perry, 2016). Although these findings were not specific to weapons-carrying, it is intriguing that stereotypical perceptions of minority youth as perpetrators of violence persist despite high profile incidents of shootings and/or other acts of violence perpetrated by non-Hispanic White male youth. ...
... It is also pertinent to examine whether propensity to possess weapons, especially at schools, vary by race/ethnicity and the role of perceived lack of safety in this context. Prior research has revealed a higher likelihood of minority students being punished and/or suspended, in general, compared with non-Hispanic white students (Kupchik & Ellis, 2008;Morris & Perry, 2016). Although these findings were not specific to weapons-carrying, it is intriguing that stereotypical perceptions of minority youth as perpetrators of violence persist despite high profile incidents of shootings and/or other acts of violence perpetrated by non-Hispanic White male youth. ...
There is limited, if any, prior research exploring the potential link between adolescents’ safety concerns and their predisposition to possess weapons has been limited. This study aimed to examine the relationship between high school students’ perceived lack of safety and their weapons carrying behavior in a multiyear nationally representative sample of high school students. Information on self-reported weapons carrying in past month and gun carrying in past year, perceived lack of safety at school or during commute, being bullied and/or threatened, involvement in physical fights, and demographic characteristics were retrieved from Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance Survey data for 1991-2017. Generalized linear mixed models were used to address data clustering by survey year. Sampling design and sample weights were accounted for. Of a total number of 195,280 respondents with valid responses during 1991-2017, 18%, 7%, and 5%, respectively, carried weapon(s) in general, weapon(s) to school, and gun. On an average, 5% skipped school due to safety concerns. Missing ≥2 school days was associated with weapon (adjusted odds ratio [AOR]: 2.25; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.94 -2.61) and gun (AOR: 3.18; 95% CI: 1.81 -5.58) possessions, as well as weapons possession in school (AOR: 2.47; 95% CI: 1.96 -3.12). Experiences of weapons-induced injury(ies) or threat(s), and involvement in physical fights were other significant covariates in adjusted analyses. Compared with non-Hispanic whites, students of other racial/ethnic groups had significantly lower odds of possessing weapons. Perceived lack of safety emerged as a potential determinant of weapon carrying, a behavior with far-reaching public health concerns. While future research looking into the psychological motivations of possessing weapons is recommended, our findings offer a unique opportunity to address the crucial problems of school absenteeism induced by experiences of aggression and fears for safety as well as preempt the consequences of weapons-possession by adolescents.
... Temporary (e.g., suspension) and permanent (e.g., expulsion) removal from school has become an enduring feature of American schools (Kupchik & Ellis, 2008;Losen & Martinez, 2013;Matjasko, 2011). In 2009 to 2010, one in nine secondary school students were suspended (Losen & Martinez, 2013). ...
We apply the theory of collateral consequences and a social stress process framework to school discipline to examine whether exclusionary school discipline policies are associated with the mental health and wellbeing of adolescents who have never been suspended or expelled and whether this association varies across race/ethnicity. Data are from 8,878 adolescents in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health. Hierarchical linear models examined associations between discipline policies and adolescent depressive symptoms and school-connectedness, and modification by race/ethnicity. Schools had high levels of exclusionary discipline for both violent and non-violent infractions. More exclusionary policies were associated with higher levels of depressive symptoms (b = 1.03, 95% CI: 0.15, 1.91, p < .05). Sense of school-connectedness was not associated with disciplinary policies. Neither association was modified by race/ethnicity.
... For some Blacks, problems with police and discrimination start while in primary or secondary school. Research consistently finds that compared to their White peers, Black minors are more likely to be investigated and punished by police and other school authorities, as well as to perceive school safety practices as less fair (Ferguson 2000;Kupchik 2016;Kupchik and Ellis 2008;Morris 2005;Skiba et al. 2011;Skiba et al. 2002;Wallace et al. 2008). Moreover, secondary and primary schools with predominantly Black student bodies have higher levels of surveillance and punishment (Kupchik 2009;Kupchik and Ward 2014;Irwin, Davidson, and Hall-Sanchez 2013;Payne and Welch 2010). ...
... With parents appearing to cite religious and moral concerns and a better academic environment as primary justifications for choosing private schooling (Bukhari and Randall 2009;Catt and Rhinesmith 2016), there is a growing public belief that such schools have stronger discipline practices than public schools (e.g., Kennedy 2017). These arguments are supported by abundant literature highlighting public schools' complexities of discipline (e.g., Bracy 2011;Geldenhuys and Doubell 2011;Kupchik and Ellis 2008;Luiselli et al. 2005;Mayworm and Sharkey 2014;Roch, Pitts, and Navarro 2010;Sanchez, Yoxsimer, and Hill 2012;Thornberg 2008;USDE 2014;Wallace et al. 2008;Wun 2018). ...
Widespread neoliberal approaches to education consider schools increasingly accountable for self-management and 'client' recruitment , encapsulating economic ideologies that assume privatisation is essential for social progress. With an ever-shifting landscape of market-driven policies and the increasing growth of private education settings, more research is needed to cast light on emerging or under-researched aspects of autonomous schools. Located within a U.S. state that has strict constraints on tax subsidies for religious K-12 education, this paper investigates how an extensive form of decentralisation corresponds with schools' discipline and ethical environment. It analyses teacher interviews and web documents from faith-based, autonomous schools in a state that has devolved power and authority for decision-making to parents and other independent 'agents', having a distanced relationship with its non-state 'actors'. The paper follows Foucault's use of the metaphor of the panopticon and adopts his power analysis to examine the nature of parental control and its influence on disciplinary and ethical practices. Evidence suggests that these autonomous schools are driven by a 'mini-public' ideology that constrains educators' autonomy and generates particular disciplinary norms; entangling ethical, educational, and social ramifications, including teacher resistance and teacher demoralisation. Implications for policy are discussed in this context of control. ARTICLE HISTORY
... State that value is the idea of a person or group about something that is good, right and wise, so that the idea is valuable and has quality and feasibility as a guide or guide in human life [11]. "Students who do well at school and participate in extracurricular activities experience more justice than other students" [12] Therefore, activities outside the classroom are a dominant factor that influences the ability of students to learn at the university. Values and morality are very important for human life, because both are important for human life [13]. ...
... After documenting persistent racial disparities, several scholars studied how Black students' perceived school discipline. Drawing from data collected in the 2001 School Crime Supplement Survey, Kupchik and Ellis (2008) studied Black and Latino students' attitudes regarding school discipline. In this study, Black students reported significantly lower ratings in comparison to their White counterparts on questions regarding the fairness of school rules and rule enforcement. ...
... As with arrests outside of school, racial disparities exist for the consequences of zero-tolerance practices, with the suspension rate of African American students three times higher than that of white students (Browne-Dianis 2011; Wald and Losen 2003). Scholars have documented how these policies create an atmosphere of criminalization at school, especially for young men of color (Ferguson 2000;Kupchik 2010;Kupchik and Ellis 2008;Rios 2011Rios , 2017, though Morris (2016) detailed how African American girls are criminalized in schools. ...
The authors examine how youth in Baltimore experience criminalization in their everyday routines in two key social settings, schools and neighborhoods, and how this can affect their transition to adulthood. Respondents are African Americans between the ages of 15 and 24 who have spent some of their childhood in Baltimore’s poorest neighborhoods. The authors conducted qualitative, semistructured, in-depth interviews with 150 respondents. Many of the daily routines of low-income young African Americans are shaped by a punitive culture of formal social control that often results in exposure to microaggressions, which can act as a chronic stressor and negatively affect the transition to adulthood. This analysis adds to our understanding of how daily routines influence the activities, perceptions, and transitions to adulthood of youth who have grown up in poor neighborhoods.
... Despite declines in both school violence and the use of exclusionary discipline practices in general (Musu-Gillette et al., 2018;, scholars have demonstrated that exclusionary discipline practices are disproportionately applied to minority racial and ethnic groups (Kupchik & Ellis, 2007;Skiba & Peterson, 2000;Wallace, Goodking, Wallace, & Bachman, 2008;Welch, 2017). Specifically, scholars have found that Black and Hispanic students are punished more harshly than their White counterparts across suspensions, expulsions, and school penalties (Gregory & Weinstein, 2008;Peguero & Shekarkhar, 2011;Shollenberger, 2015;Skiba et al., 2011;. ...
This research tests two potential explanations of school disciplinary responses: minority threat hypothesis and prisonization of schools. Data from the Arizona Safe and Drug Free Schools (SDFS) survey and Arizona Youth Survey (AYS) are analyzed using OLS regressions. Findings demonstrate that the percentage of black, Hispanic, and Native American students was not associated with exclusionary responses to school misconduct, but was linked to decreases in mild and restorative disciplinary practices. Findings support the hypothesis that minority threat reduces access to mild and restorative disciplinary responses. Although, further research is needed on the roles of mental health professionals and counselors in school disciplinary procedures to better guide policy and school administrator expectations.
... Ondanks een aanzienlijke daling van delinquent gedrag in en rond scholen, zien we sinds het begin van de 21e eeuw een versnelde invoering van veiligheidsmaatregelen, zoals het implementeren van maatregelen inzake bewaking en toezicht, samenwerking met politie en een toenemend gebruik van straffen of zero-tolerantiebeleid (Kupchik & Ellis, 2008;Kupchik & Monahan, 2006). De opkomst van vele preventie-en veiligheidsmaatregelen in scholen komt niet uit het niets. ...
Jongeren kennen in de periode van adolescentie een verhoogde kans op het stellen van storend, antisociaal of delinquent gedrag. Aangezien jongeren een aanzienlijk deel van deze periode binnen de schoolmuren doorbrengen, is het niet verwonderlijk dat veel van deze gedragingen zich voordoen binnen of in de context van de school. Om probleemgedrag bij jongeren tegen te gaan kunnen scholen alle richtingen uit. Men kan inzetten op diverse preventie-initiatieven, sleutelen aan het sanctioneringsbeleid, of bijvoorbeeld werken aan het algemeen leefklimaat of aan sterkere leerkracht-leerlingrelaties. De vraag stelt zich welke aanpak het meest kans heeft om daadwerkelijk delinquent gedrag tegen te gaan. Uit eerder onderzoek weten we dat als leerlingen een sterke sociale binding hebben met de school de kans op delinquent gedrag in belangrijke mate afneemt. In dit onderzoek willen we daarom nagaan wat de impact is van diverse schoolpraktijken op de sociale binding van leerlingen. Aan de hand van interviews met leerkrachten, leerlingbegeleiding en directie wordt de schoolpraktijk in zes scholen in kaart gebracht. Een survey in dezelfde scholen bij de leerlingen uit het eerste jaar middelbaar onderwijs brengt aan het begin en aan het einde van het schooljaar in kaart hoe hun sociale binding evolueert. Ten slotte wordt geanalyseerd of bepaalde elementen van de schoolpraktijk kunnen gerelateerd worden aan betere sociale bindingen bij leerlingen.
... Research suggests that a diminished sense of disciplinary fairness can weaken children's trust in school authorities and, in turn, increase rule-breaking and bullying (Kupchik 2016, Yeager et al. 2017. Transferring discretion to uniform disciplinary codes and trained law enforcers may indeed diminish perceived favoritism (Kupchik & Ellis 2008), forging a positive correlation between perceived strictness and perceived fairness (Cornell et al. 2015). However, fair discipline also entails punishments commensurate with offense severity (i.e., proportionality)-a principle that zero tolerance expressly violates-and disciplinary procedures that uphold the dignity and rights of the individual (i.e., procedural justice). ...
This review focuses on recent advancements along two lines of criminological inquiry. The first examines how schools unintentionally influence off-campus delinquency, especially through their effects on social bonds and strain. The second examines the effects of intensified school punishment and policing on both school safety and off-campus offending. The key variables of interest to both fields of inquiry are fundamentally endogenous, which has led to some theoretical stagnation in the field. However, studies that employ quasi-experimental methods have improved causal inferences regarding the effects of additional schooling (especially in good schools) and the criminogenic effects of school exclusion. The effects of school failure and educational expectations are ripe for similar analyses. A rigorous interdisciplinary research agenda is proposed to assess the impact of decriminalizing school discipline and expanding therapeutic and restorative disciplinary alternatives to better inform the efforts underway across the United States to dismantle the school-to-prison-pipeline while maintaining school safety. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Criminology Volume 1 is January 13, 2018. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.
Research Summary
The increasing presence of armed security personnel in schools has led to concerns about the criminalization of students. While many schools use sworn law enforcement (e.g. school resource officers or SROs), many schools also use security guards who are not sworn law enforcement. Recent policy changes in a number of states and political pressures resulting from acts of mass school violence have led policymakers to face decisions between the use of SROs and security guards. This study informs this policy debate by empirically examining the relationships between security guards and SROs with rates of student behavior, discipline, and arrest using nationally representative data from the Civil Rights Data Collection. Controlling for observable covariates and school district fixed effects, we find that, in contrast to SROs, the use of security guards in schools is not systematically related to student arrest or suspension rates. The findings suggest that non‐sworn security guards may provide a form of security personnel that minimizes the criminalization of students relative to SROs.
Policy Implications
As school districts nationwide grapple with how to respond to school shootings and other acts of school violence, policymakers have frequently turned to the use of school security personnel, including SROs and security guards, as a response. Doing so, however, has been contentious given concerns about the overcriminalization of students. This study provides evidence to inform these policy debates by demonstrating the relationships between security guards and SROs and a number of outcomes. The results suggest that the use of security guards as a policy response may minimize arrests and exclusionary discipline relative to the use of SROs.
This qualitative study explores Black and Latinx high school girls’ experiences with
school discipline while also examining their sense of belonging and its potential to mediate behaviors and disciplinary outcomes. Historically, discipline rates for minoritized students exceed those of white students, leading to many negative outcomes that are detrimental to minoritized students. We investigate how school discipline is experienced by students of intersectional identities. Preliminary results reveal that many participants had no discipline problems when they exhibited a strong sense of belonging. Thus, sense of belonging can serve as a protective factor against disciplinary outcomes. Nonetheless, these students often witnessed and were impacted by their peers’ disciplinary encounters. Findings from this study will inform schools’ disciplinary policies and practices.
Youth are more likely to succeed when they feel safe at school and have access to caring relationships with adults. Systemic racism interrupts access to these assets. Within schools, racially/ethnically minoritized youth encounter policies rooted in racism, leading to decreased perceptions of school safety. Having a teacher mentor may mitigate some of the harmful effects of systemic racism and discriminatory practices. Yet, teacher mentors may not be accessible to all students. In this study, the authors tested a putative explanatory hypothesis for differences between Black and white children's access to teacher mentors. Data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health were used. Linear regression models were used to predict access to teacher mentors, and a mediational analysis was conducted to determine the effect of school safety on the relationship between race and teacher mentor access. Results indicate that students from higher SES backgrounds and those with parents who have greater educational attainment are more likely to have a teacher mentor. Furthermore, Black students are less likely than white students to have a teacher mentor, and school safety mediates that relationship. The implications of this study suggest that challenging institutional racism and structures may improve perceptions of school safety and teacher mentor accessibility.
Currently, there is a national level debate on security-based school safety policies and practices, particularly in relation to the presence of police in schools. Decisions about school safety are discussed at the district level by administrators and board of education members who may not be aware of the importance of utilizing local data to ensure these decisions are data driven and beneficial to all the stakeholders they represent in diverse, urban districts. Research on security, policing, and social-emotional and school climate-based strategies are discussed, as is research on district-level decision-makers (boards of education and administrators) and decision making. This paper provides local school stakeholders, policy makers, and school safety researchers with a framework for collaborative work to ensure that evidence-based violence prevention programming and local data drive district-level decision making about school safety.
School‐based policing has become common practice, but there is limited qualitative research examining what meanings students make of police presence in their schools. This study sought to understand how students construct narratives of police presence in their schools based on their experiences with school resource officers (SROs). Drawing on constructivist grounded theory methodology with a sample of 17 students, this study found that students are continuously integrating multiple conflicting narratives about SROs: students experience SROs as an established yet ambiguous presence, which produces mixed feelings of reassurance, wariness, and intimidation. Students manage the conflicts between these narratives by positioning school‐based police as a fixed structure with pitfalls and positives but no alternatives. Additionally, students experience SROs as being available to them in relational capacities. The primary recommendations from this study are for schools and communities to (1) reconsider the appropriateness of SRO programs with student perspectives at the center of dialogue, and (2) invest in non‐law enforcement school‐based professionals who students experience as available and relational.
The use of school security measures has increased over the last two decades. Yet prior research suggests school security measures have a deterrent effect on student misbehavior. Existing studies often focus on school-level comparisons in security as opposed to examining how students within a given school differ in their interaction with security measures (i.e., within-school differences). To address this gap in the literature, the current study estimates the association between individual students' engagement with security and multiple forms of maladaptive student behavior in school. In particular, this study is guided by two research questions: 1) What is the relationship between students' engagement with school security measures and their engagement in problem behaviors; and, 2) To what extent do the relationships between engagement with security and student behavior problems differ by student race and ethnicity? Longitudinal data were collected from students at two separate time points in one academic year (N=359) across eight schools in one urban school district. Using a series of models to examine how students' engagement with school security measures is related to their perpetration of student behavior, findings highlight negative associations between engagement with school security and non-serious violent and weapons-related crime. While the school security change score and students' engagement in problem behaviors was no different for Black students than it was for students who were non-Black or non-Hispanic, the negative association between engagement with security and behavior indicated a stronger deterrent effect for Hispanic students. Findings suggest that engagement with school security should be examined at the within-school level and with consideration that racial and ethnic differences might vary from student to student within any given school. Moreover, long-term programming goals should be established when developing process for securing schools with emphasis on how security measures might influence individual students differently within the school setting.
Authoritarian school safety measures have become commonplace in efforts to promote safety in today’s schools. This paper attempts to examine the effects of student engagement with authoritarianism in schools using self-report survey data from students (N= 359) across eight high schools in one large, urban school district in the greater New York City area. With consideration of various frameworks for conceptualizing authority in schools, authoritarianism in schools is operationalized by student self-report of engagement between two time points in (1) random sweeps for contraband; (2) surveillance cameras; (3) metal detector searches; and (4) interaction with authority (i.e., school police). Findings suggest those who have increased engagement with authoritarianism in schools throughout the year report increased occurrence of engagement in maladaptive behavior. Concurrently, exposure to authoritarianism over the course of one school year is associated with student behavior, academic performance, and attendance in ways that vary for different racial and ethnic groups. Findings call for educators and administrators to consider and continually assess the effects of authoritarian practices on student performance when developing and implementing safety protocol in their schools.
School resource officer (SRO) presence in K–12 public schools is becoming increasingly popular in an effort to help ensure stakeholder safety and protect against unsuspecting acts of school violence. Despite the rise in SRO popularity, over the last 3 decades, research on the perceived impact of SRO presence in schools is mixed and generally relies on student reports. The current study, employing survey methodology, sought to contribute to and update the existing literature on SRO influence on teacher perceptions of safety and security. Nearly 4,000 (N = 3,970) teachers from one Midwestern state completed the survey. Approximately 63% (n = 2,483) of teachers in the study reported SRO presence in their school buildings. Results of the current study suggest that teachers positively associate SRO presence with feelings of safety and security, but they perceive students to be more fearful and less secure in buildings employing SROs. These findings draw attention to the importance of future research on SRO presence in schools in an educational era where budgets are tight and educational stakeholder safety and security is a national priority.
Impact Statement
Teachers (N > 3,800) overwhelmingly denounced the idea that schools are dangerous places and the majority reported that they, along with their students, feel safe at school. Teachers positively associated SRO presence with feelings of safety and security, but they perceive students to be more fearful and less secure in buildings employing SROs.
Do school security policies affect how safe parents perceive schools to be, and do they influence parental choice behavior? We address these questions using data from a survey that asked U.S. parents to evaluate hypothetical schools whose security systems and student body racial composition were systematically varied, along with other school characteristics. Results indicate that parents identify schools with intensified security measures as less safe. Furthermore, parents are less willing to enroll their children in schools perceived as unsafe, schools with heightened security, and schools with high black enrollment. We discuss the implications of these findings for educational policy.
This article examines qualitative data obtained from 66 Black college students about perceptions of their interactions with municipal police (MP) and campus police (CP). Participants described MP and CP as acting severely, but only attributed racial bias to MP. These findings are explored with respect to theories of procedural justice and legitimacy. They help to explain why participants viewed MP’s actions as racially biased, though it is less clear why CP’s actions were not perceived as such.
The use of security measures within schools has increased dramatically over the past few decades. These proliferations are often touted by teachers, school administrators, politicians, and the public as necessary for improving student safety. Though research in this area is growing, we know little about how increased use of school security measures relates to both student and parental perceptions of school safety. Using data from wave one of the 2002 Educational Longitudinal Study, the current study investigates the relationship between the use of security measures in schools and student and parent assessments of safety. Findings from multi-level models indicate that school security measures are, generally, related to decreased perceptions of safety by both parents and students. Implications of these findings are addressed.
This chapter focuses on the relatively recent phenomenon of body-worn cameras being worn by school personnel in the United States of America (USA) and the United Kingdom (UK), situating them in broader analysis of the numerous surveillance technologies and techniques that are used in schools around the world. The justification for body-worn cameras (worn by teachers, school resource officers, and principals) is generalized into two broad categories: (1) prevention (to deter poor student behaviour) and (2) evidence (to capture footage should any misbehaviours, illegal or otherwise, occur for the purposes of disciplinary action). The analysis unpacks these explanations in the context of existing evidence and scrutinizes what is thus far known about the impacts and effects of body-worn cameras and school surveillance more broadly.
This chapter examines the corporatization of school security, specifically the funding that is provided by governments to buy what is often military-grade equipment, the marketing of the equipment, and the attractiveness of the equipment for individuals who are enamoured with technology as a way of solving life’s problems. While companies and the security industry promote the equipment as a means of ‘saving lives’, this chapter demonstrates that the use of the equipment has little to do with effectiveness but rather with the appeal of high-tech equipment and the enticements that are made to urge school systems to buy into the school security regime.
Zero tolerance in schools is a philosophical approach to discipline that generally mandates predetermined punitive consequences—most commonly expulsion and suspension—for violations of particular school rules, regardless of circumstances or situational context (Stinchcomb et al. 2006; Teske 2011), with the apparent intent to deter and prevent undesirable behavior (APA Zero Tolerance Task Force 2008; Mallett 2016). In the USA, these policies can be traced to the federal Gun-Free School Act of 1994, which sought to restrict weapons in schools, but expanded to include non-weapon related and non-violent behaviors. Now used in most schools in all fifty USA states, this disciplinary orientation has also expanded to a number of additional countries, including Britain and Canada. While zero tolerance has been widely criticized for having unintended consequences, such as alarming disparities that negatively affect poor and minority students, original supporters advocated greater fairness toward students, more consistent discipline, and violence prevention (Gorman and Pauken 2003; Henault 2001). Research, however, has yet to produce any evidence that zero tolerance policies have achieved these objectives. In fact, ample evidence suggests wide-ranging harm to students, schools, and communities. In this chapter, we describe and evaluate these aspects of zero tolerance policies in schools and offer recommendations for productive and thoughtful disciplinary alternatives. Finally, we make some suggestions for future research that may enhance our understanding of the impact of zero tolerance in schools.
Though security strategies such as using SROs have become popular among school officials, growing evidence suggests they contribute to a number of negative outcomes (see Kupchik 2010 for overview). For example, schools enlisting such features experience lower levels of academic performance and engagement at the school and student level (Department of Education 2014; Elliot et al. 1998; Gottfredson 2001; Gottfredson et al. 2005; Gregory et al. 2010; Hazler 1998; Losen and Martinez 2013; Mowen and Manierre 2017). Additionally, while few studies report that more severe sanctions can reduce serious forms of violence through altering cognitive processes (Maimon et al. 2012), there is no clear evidence these measures reduce more common forms of rule infractions and misconduct (Addington 2009; Cook et al. 2010; Greene 2005; Pagliocca and Nickerson 2001; Skiba and Peterson 2000). Still further, security practices such as the use of SROs are disproportionately directed at students of color and used in schools serving larger percentages of racial/ethnic minorities (Gordon et al. 2000; Welch and Payne 2010). The result is greater social inequality whereby Black and Latino students receive higher arrest rates which leads to fewer life opportunities, lower success rates in education, diminished employment prospects, and future disenfranchisement (see Mowen and Brent 2016).
Beginning in the early 1990s, states and districts enacted zero-tolerance discipline policies that relied heavily on out-of-school suspensions. Recently, districts nationwide have revised these policies in favor of more tempered disciplinary responses. In 2012–2013, Philadelphia reformed its discipline policy to limit suspensions for non-violent student misconduct and granted principals greater discretion in responding to more serious occurrences of student misconduct. Employing a difference-in-differences approach, we find that Philadelphia's reform resulted in a modest decline in suspensions for non-violent infractions in the year of reform; however, total suspensions remained unchanged while serious incidents of student misconduct increased. Further, the truancy rate increased and district math and ELA achievement declined following the policy reform. These findings should inform policymakers and practitioners on the implications of district-level reforms for suspension usage and the potential consequences for student outcomes.
How does formal education matter for inequalities of political behavior across the citizenry? Most answers to this question focus on the things that schools allocate, such as skills, knowledge, and resources. By contrast, we draw on policy feedback research to resuscitate a more “Deweyian” appreciation for schools as sites where citizens have their earliest formative experiences with public authority and learn what it means to participate in a rule-governed community. Using nationally representative panel data, we conduct an intersectional analysis of how race, class, and gender combine to shape student experiences with school authority relations, and estimate how these experiences are associated with later citizen dispositions in young adulthood. We find strong evidence that negative school authority experiences depress young adult political engagement and trust in government. American schools, we conclude, function as powerful sites of experiential learning that tighten the bond between social hierarchies and civic inequalities.
Latinos are a large, highly segregated minority group achieving less than whites in school, but the extent to which segregation is responsible for their relatively low achievement is not well known. The effect of proportion Latino on educational achievement is often assumed to be identical to the effect of proportion black. I use the NELS to test this assumption. Results reveal that segregation concentrates disadvantages for Latinos and blacks, but surprisingly, proportion Latino tends to positively influence test scores over the high school years. Proportion black, in contrast, does not affect test scores except for a negative effect for blacks in science. Integration of Latinos with whites would reduce some of the inequalities between schools, it would not hurt and in some areas would help the test scores of whites, but it would hurt Latinos unless some of the helpful features of predominantly Latina schools could be copied.
This article explores how schools reproduce race, class, and gender inequality through the regulation of students' bodies. Using ethnographic data from an urban school, I examine how assumptions guiding bodily discipline differed for different groups of students. First, adults at the school tended to view the behaviors of African American girls as not "lady-like" and attempted to discipline them into dress and manners considered more gender appropriate. Second, school officials tended to view the behaviors of Latino boys as especially threatening, and members of this group often received strict, punitive discipline. Third, school officials tended to view the behaviors of white and Asian American students as nonthreatening and gender appropriate and disciplined these students less strictly. To conclude, I discuss the importance of viewing race, class, and gender in schools simultaneously and the problems associated with disciplinary reform in education. © 2005 by Pacific Sociological Association. All rights reserved.
The author examines the relationship between accountability and militariza-tion of urban US schools and social and economic processes in cities. The focus is the role of education policies in the production of inequality and racial oppression in the context of a new geography of centrality and marginality in world cities. This analysis is developed through a case study of Chicago school policy, which has been presented as a model for US schools nationally. The analysis is grounded in critical policy scholarship and critical race theory and draws on qualitative studies of four Chicago schools and system-wide data. It is argued that Chicago's policies serve to regulate and marginalize African American and Latino youth and sort and discipline them for differentiated roles in the economy and the city. It is also argued that these policies establish racialized social control through direct force and internalized discipline. The author contends that in the new urban landscape, education policies rooted in accountability and militarization reinforce patterns of racial domination and help produce new, racist differentiations.
This study examined perceptions of differential treatment relating to school disciplinary practices in a racially and ethnically diverse sample (Black, South Asian, Asian, White, and other racial/ethnic background) of high school students (N = 1870). Participants completed detailed individual questionnaires assessing general perceptions of school disciplinary practices and various aspects of the school environment. Results indicated that racial/ethnic minority students are much more likely than White students to perceive discrimination with respect to teacher treatment, school suspension, use of police by school authorities, and police treatment at school. Multivariate analyses revealed that such perceptions are particular strong for Black students. In addition, a number of other variables such as gender, socioeconomic status, age of immigration, and views of school climate also predicted students' perceptions of differential treatment toward members of their racial/ethnic group. The implications of these findings are discussed, and suggestions for future research are outlined.
This paper advances a comparative conflict theory of racial and ethnic similarities and differences in youth perceptions of criminal injustice. We use HLM models to test six conflict hypotheses with data from more than 18,000 Chicago public school students. At the micro-level African American youth are more vulnerable to police contacts than are Latinos, who are more at risk than whites, and there is a corresponding gradient in minority group perceptions of injustice. When structural sources of variation in adolescents' experiences are taken into account, however, minority youth perceptions of criminal injustice appear more similar to one another, while remaining distinct from those of white youth. At the micro-level, Latino youth respond more strongly and negatively to police contacts, even though they experience fewer of them. At the macrolevel, as white students in schools increase cross-sectionally, perceptions of injustice among both African American and Latino youth at first intensify and then ultimately abate. Although there are again signs of a gradient, African American and Latino responses to school integration also are as notable in their similarities as in their differences. Reduced police contacts and meaningful school integration are promising mechanisms for diminishing both adolescent African American and Latino perceptions of criminal injustice.
Black adolescents are much more likely to run afoul of the juvenile justice system than are similar white adolescents, even
though the two groups self-report similar rates of offending. Within public schools we find the same differential pattern.
Using three waves of longitudinal data collected in schools we evaluate several explanations for the disparity. The greater
rates of punishment for blacks occur as a consequence of teachers' perceptions of the students' behavior, their knowledge
of students' recent academic performance, and their knowledge of students' past record of being sanctioned. Since black adolescents
in our sample received poorer grades and were rated as less well behaved in the past, they were more likely to have been sanctioned
and therefore to acquire a cumulative disadvantage. The punishment disparity is best understood as the result of a social
construction process.
This paper advances a comparative conflict theory of racial and ethnic similarities and differences in youth perceptions of criminal injustice. We use HLM models to test six conflict hypotheses with data from more than 18,000 Chicago public school students. At the micro-level African American youth are more vulnerable to police contacts than are Latinos, who are more at risk than whites, and there is a corresponding gradient in minority group perceptions of injustice. When structural sources of variation in adolescents' experiences are taken into account, however, minority youth perceptions of criminal injustice appear more similar to one another, while remaining distinct from those of white youth. At the micro-level, Latino youth respond more strongly and negatively to police contacts, even though they experience fewer of them. At the macrolevel, as white students in schools increase cross-sectionally, perceptions of injustice among both African American and Latino youth at first intensify and then ultimately abate. Although there are again signs of a gradient, African American and Latino responses to school integration also are as notable in their similarities as in their differences. Reduced police contacts and meaningful school integration are promising mechanisms for diminishing both adolescent African American and Latino perceptions of criminal injustice.
This paper examines the routine disciplinary procedures of an inner-city high. The analysis shows that school policies and procedures encourage disciplinarians to use suspensions, transfers, and involuntary ''drops'' to ''get rid of'' students they deem ''troublemakers.'' The indicators disciplinarians use to identify ''troublemakers'' are the same factors that, according to educational research, place students ''at risk'' of dropping out. Because a disproportionate number of urban black and Hispanic students come from circumstances that interfere with attendance and attention or produce behaviors school workers define as insubordinate or disobedient, routine disciplinary practices that exclude ''troublemakers'' may be a mechanism through which the school helps perpetuate racial and class stratification in the larger society.
Using school, district, and county data from the State of Florida Department of Education and the U.S. Census, we examine the relationship between school segregation and the overrepresentation of black students among those suspended. We explore two competing hypotheses about the nature of this relationship: (1) an overall racial inequality hypothesis that suggests schools located in districts with relatively high levels of segregation among students also have the largest black suspension imbalances and (2) a resegregation hypothesis that suggests schools situated in relatively highly segregated districts have the lowest rates of black imbalances in suspension. Results from a multilevel analysis indicated that higher levels of school segregation corresponded with lower levels of the black suspension imbalance and provided support for the resegregation hypothesis.
Throughout the United States, schools most fre- quently punish the students who have the greatest academic, social, economic, and emotional needs. An examination of which students are most likely to be suspended, expelled, or removed from the classroom for punishment, reveals that minorities (especially Blacks and Latinos), males, and low achievers are vastly overrepresented. The enact- ment of zero tolerance policies related to disci- pline in school districts has contributed to a significant increase in the number of children who are being suspended and expelled from school. This article explains why this has occurred and puts forward an alternative approach to discipline that is aligned with the educational mission of schools.
In this article we consider how broad shifts in social relations over the past 30 years have given rise to new social control regimes in US public schools. We argue that the contemporary mechanisms of control engendered by mass incarceration and post-industrialization have re-shaped school disci-pline. To illustrate contemporary discipline in the 'New American School,' we discuss the emer-gence of police officers and technological surveillance in schools. These two strategies of school social control facilitate the link between courts and schools, and expose students to both the salience of crime control in everyday life and to the demands of workers in a post-industrial world. By incor-porating police officers and technological surveillance into the school safety regime, schools shape the experiences of students in ways that reflect modern relationships of dependency, inequality, and instability vis-à-vis the contemporary power dynamics of the post-industrialist labor market and the neoliberal state.
Drawing upon control theory, school climate theory, and social disorganization theory, this study examined the relative influence of individual, institutional, and community factors on misconduct in Philadelphia middle schools. Using U.S. census data, school district data, police department data, and school climate survey data obtained from the administration of the Effective School Battery to 7, 583 students in 11 middle schools, we examined the following predictors of student misconduct: community poverty and residential stability; community crime; school size; student perceptions of school climate (school attachment); and individual student characteristics (e.g., age, race, sex, school involvement and effort, belief in rules, positive peer associations). “Community” was conceptualized in two ways: “local” (the census tract around the school), and “imported” (aggregated measures from the census tracts where students actually lived). We used hierarchical linear modeling techniques (HLM) to examine between- and within-school factors. Individual-level factors accounted for 16% of the explained variance; school and community-level factors (both local and imported) added only small increments (an additional 4.1–4.5%). We conclude that simplistic assumptions that “bad” communities typically produce “bad” children or “bad” schools are unwarranted.
This study compared student-teacher perception of discipline; inquired if it were interpersonal, procedural, or substantive;
and examined how ethnicity, achievement, gender, and position influenced practice. Gay's (1981) theory about interethnic group
interactions, combined with perceptual disparity and cultural discontinuity, provided the conceptual framework. Data sources
were interviews, classroom observations, and school records. Students (N=16), African American, Chicano, European American, and Filipino, and teachers (N=9) from an urban high school participated. The data analysis revealed that interpersonal conflicts were more consequential
for students of color. Evidence of disparate perceptions among ethnically diverse students and teachers surfaced. The attitudes,
beliefs, and values of students and teachers differed and were associated with ethnicity, gender, and level of academic achievement.
Because there is little or no evidence of the efficacy of zero tolerance, schools and school districts need to explore preventive alternatives.
Moving beyond gender: Intersectionality and scientific knowledge
- P H Collins
Zero tolerance: Can suspension and expulsion keep schools safe?
- J A Browne
- D J Losen
- J Wald
Preventing school violence: Plenary papers of the 1999 conference on criminal justice research and evaluation-Enhancing policy and practice through research
- J F Sheley