Too Important To Fail Summary

I. Introduction

Education plays a critical role in the life opportunities accessible to children. To pursue a more equitable and just society, all students must share the right to a high quality education in a safe and supportive learning environment. However, each year millions of students are pushed out of public schools as a result of zero-tolerance policies and the discriminatory enforcement of school rules. Additional factors like unprepared teachers, inadequate resources, and low expectations also contribute to the disproportionate suspension and expulsion of students of color. These students are often pushed from schools to the margins of society where they are more likely to be impoverished, unemployed, and incarcerated. Suspensions

increase the likelihood of dropping out and going to prison, a chain of events commonly known as the “school to prison pipeline” (Gregory, et al. 2011; Christensen 2012).
Like other trends in the juvenile justice realm, suspension, expulsion, police interventions, and arrests in schools have been on the rise over the past few decades. In 2006, over 3 million students across the country were suspended and over 100,000 expelled (Office for Civil Rights 2006). Not only are these practices ineffective for improving school culture and deterring misconduct, the trend towards more punitive measures directly conflicts with efforts to improve dropout rates and close the achievement gap. Research consistently shows a strong positive correlation between time engaged in academic learning and student achievement (Brophy, 1988; Fisher et al., 1981; Greenwood, Horton, & Utley, 2002).
The aim of this research paper is to examine the roots of increasingly punitive school discipline, racial disparities in implementation, and an analysis of both existing data and alternative programs. A significant discussion of policy recommendations will follow an examination of the current problems surrounding school discipline disparities. Several factors are believed to influence school punishment, including age, parental socioeconomic status, delinquent behavior, academic performance, and urban environment. Interestingly, one of the most frequently cited potential explanations, racial differences in parental education and income, has been shown to make very little contribution to accounting for the racial disparity (McCarthy & Hoge 1987; Skiba et al., 2002: Wallace et al. 2008).
The negative association of skin tone exists in addition to the known discrepancy in suspensions between African Americans and other racial groups. Ultimately, my hope is that this research and more importantly, these recommendations find their way to students, parents, teachers, community members, school board members, superintendants, and school officials. The overlap between school discipline and the achievement gap, the juvenile justice system, and broader socioeconomic inequality is significant. Those who are informed of the consequences of our current system are more likely to be active participants in monitoring and changing it to better reflect ideals of hope, equality, and a genuine belief in the prosperity of our children.

II. Current Landscape

Significant research and data reveal a trend of disproportionate discipline of minority youths. For purposes of analyzing the research and statistics cited throughout this paper, it is important to clearly identify each subgroup that will be referenced for comparative purposes: “White” is defined as a person having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe. “Latino” is defined as a person of Latin American origin or descent. “Black” is defined as a person having origins in any of the black racial groups of Africa. “American Indian” is defined as a person having origins in any of the indigenous peoples of North America, including Alaskan Natives. And from the IDEA definition, “disabled student” is defined as having an intellectual disability, a hearing impairment (including deafness), a speech or language impairment, a visual impairment (including blindness), a serious emotional disturbance (referred to in this part as “emotional disturbance”), an orthopedic impairment, autism, traumatic brain injury, an other health impairment, a specific learning disability, deaf-blindness, or multiple disabilities, and who, by reason thereof, needs special education and related services (IDEA § 300.8 2004). Black students are 3.5 times more likely, Latino students twice as likely and American Indian students 1.5 times more likely to be expelled than white students (Office of Civil Rights, 2008). On average, 5% of white students are suspended, compared to 16% of black students. American Indian students are also disproportionately suspended and expelled, representing less than 1% of the student population but 2% of out-of-school suspensions and 3% of expulsions (Office for Civil Rights 2014). Although Black students made up just 17 percent of all students in public schools in 2006, they represented 35.6 percent of all students who experienced corporal punishment, 37.4 of all students who were suspended, and 37.9 percent of all students who were expelled (Children’s Defense Fund 2006: Portraits of Inequality). Students with disabilities are more than twice as likely to receive an out-of-school suspension (13%) than students without disabilities (6%). Unsurprisingly, the report states, “The overrepresentation of poor, disabled, and minority children in grade retention, out-of-school suspensions, and special-educational classes” contributes to student discouragement, low self-esteem, and general disengagement from school. (Children’s Defense Fund 2006: Portraits of Inequality). The removal of kids of color from our schools has a profound impact on the way schools function.
The dual-tracks of treatment take hold in forms that demean and inhibit the progress of students of color.

In his book Too Important to Fail, Tavis Smiley discusses how Black students are systematically removed from schools for long periods of time. The “inconsistency in discipline” according to Vernon C. Polite, professor at Bowie State University and coeditor of the book African American Males in School and Society transcends any stereotypes or baseless arguments that Black students are committing more egregious violations than whites or are doing so more frequently than their white counterparts. Polite conducted a study and found that for the same offense, suspensions ranged from 2 days to 22 days longer for black students. Due to differing state and federal guidelines for suspensions and expulsions, large numbers of African American boys end up roaming neighborhood streets, increasing the likelihood of engaging in illicit activity and finding their way into the juvenile justice system when they’d be better served in schools (Smiley

2011).
The disparities also entail differential treatment based on gender. Among boys, Black, Native American and Hispanic students saw the highest suspension rates — 18, 10 and 7 percent, respectively, compared to 4 percent for white male students (Llopis-Jepsen, 2014). While Black males are suspended at the highest rate of all subgroups, data from the Department of Education point to significant racial disparities in the application of school punishment for African American females (Lewin, 2012). They are about three times more likely to be suspended than white females (Blake, Butler, Lewis, and Darensbourg 2011; Taylor and Foster 1986; Raffaele, Mendez, and Knoff 2003).
Another crossover between school culture at large and school discipline discrepancies is the disproportionate number of students of color in the special education system.

(Table 1). Disabled, Black students are restrained and secluded at alarming rates. Students with disabilities represent 12% of the student population, but 58% of those placed in seclusion or involuntary confinement, and 75% of those physically restrained at school to immobilize them or reduce their ability to move freely. Black students represent 19% of students with disabilities served by IDEA, but 36% of these students who are restrained at school through the use of a mechanical device or equipment designed to restrict their freedom of movement (Office for Civil Rights 2014). This is not a problem confined to Southern states where there may be a suspicion of heightened prejudice against students of color. In Minnesota, more than 4 percent of all Black students are identified as having emotional or behavioral disorders, a subjective catchall label for thousands of children considered disruptive. That rate is more than three times the national average for black students and higher than any other state in the country, according to the most recent federal data available. (Id.) Minnesota also maintains one of the largest discipline gaps in the United States. With a student sample size of 90% of all students, Minnesota ranked sixth in the nation for the largest Black/White suspension risk gap during the

2009-2010 school year (Losen, 2012). As an entire generation of students witness the difference skin color makes in justice in schools, it is increasingly important to explore potential causes for this treatment at the hands of school officials.
III. Causes and Consequences

Significant research has explored the way in which academic achievement correlates to different suspension rates by race (Gregory, Skiba and Noguera, 2010). While measures of academic performance, like family socioeconomic status, do affect disciplinary outcome, they don’t completely negate the association between being Black and the increased likelihood of being suspended. Even if it did account for the racial disparity, it would be difficult to interpret the effect, since racial discrimination within the context of education may produce both lower levels of academic achievement and higher levels of school suspension for African American students (Lewis et al. 2010). Recent work on this issue suggests that racial differences in, for instance, student behavior, academic performance, and socio-economic background explain only a modest portion of the racial disparity, and that discrimination likely plays an important role (Wallace et al. 2008; Skiba et al. 2011). Studies of the relationship between achievement and student discipline have shown that when taking into account grade point average, race remains a predictor of suspension (Wehlage & Rutter, 1986).
The discrimination cause should carry additional weight when considering that Black students are more frequently disciplined than whites for offenses that involve more subjectivity. White students tended to be referred for causes that were more objectively observable (vandalism, smoking, obscene language, leaving the room without asking, etc.), whereas referrals for Black students were more likely to occur in response to behaviors (disrespect, threatening, loitering) that are more subjective in nature (Skiba et. al 2002). Black males are especially at risk for receiving discipline sanctions, with one study showing that Black males were 16 times as likely as white females to be suspended (J. F. Gregory, 1997). In a study of the discipline of Black females Blake et al. (2011) reported that cases of “defiance,” “disobedience,” and “improper dress” made up the majority of disciplinary referrals. Blake et al. noted that their results were consistent with earlier qualitative research on how teachers reacted to assertive Black females (Evans 1988; Morris 2007; Ladner 1971). These infractions commonly include “unladylike” behavior like being loud (Morris 2007). Just as Black males face stereotypes such as being violent or dangerous, Black females are stereotyped by teachers and school officials in a way that increases the likelihood they will be disciplined. Again, skin color plays a critical role in the amount of sympathy students receive. In a fascinating sociological study of white women incarcerated in North Carolina, Viglione et al. found that Black men and women faced longer sentences than their white counterparts. Interestingly, the data showed that “darkness” mattered, even within the Black population. In the study, of over 12,000 Black women, lighter-skinned Black women received lesser punishments and served less time behind bars than darker-skinned Black women who were convicted of similar offenses (Viglione 2011: 252). This study reflects larger social conceptions of dangerousness, femininity, and redemption that could well play a role in how school officials determine who to discipline.