Years ago, a groundbreaking review of student data from the 2013-2014 school year indicated that Black students were overrepresented among those experiencing punishment in a variety of contexts. In the intervening decade, new data has emerged, schools have implemented policies to reduce racial disparities, researchers have highlighted new methods…

This article presents a new approach to understanding higher rates of punitive discipline utilized against Black students and in Black schools by combining the theoretical construct of antiblackness with Robert Emerson's last resort sanctions to create the framework of Antiblackness in Last Resort Sanctions. This article is the first to apply last…

In this essay, we draw on the extant literature to demonstrate the entrenchment of a "reform" paradigm in school discipline policy, research, and practice. We argue that the slow pace of school discipline reform has not served Black children and youth and compels a stronger stance on ending exclusionary discipline once and for all. So…

School exclusion reduction in Scotland--and especially in the city of Glasgow--has received substantial media and policy attention in recent years. In London in particular, multiple governmental agencies have explicitly expressed a desire to replicate the exclusion reduction which recently occurred in Glasgow, often citing the connection between…

In the majority of South African schools, maintaining discipline remains a challenge -- a situation which commands the attention of departmental officials both locally and internationally. When negative disciplinary approaches were prohibited in schools in this country, positive disciplinary measures were recommended in the form of a code of…

How should universities handle cases of student misconduct? While universities cannot make decisions about whether a criminal offence has been committed, they can judge whether there has been a breach of their own code of conduct. This guidance, building on a UUK and Pinsent Mason publication from 2016, sets out principles and practical case…

Rangel, Beulah S. J., At Risk, Punished, and Pushed out of School: Leadership Practices Utilized by School Administrators for Discipline Consequences in South Texas Schools. Doctor of Education (Ed. D.), May 2024The purpose of this study was to examine leadership practices utilized by school administrators for discretionary discipline consequences…

Corporal punishment (CP), or inflicting pain through spanking, hitting, and paddling, is still legally sanctioned and exercised in U.S. schools. We use critical discourse analysis and draw on state policy documents and data from the Office of Civil Rights to investigate which discourses pervade policy texts and how CP is practiced. These sources…

Persistent racial disparities in students' disciplinary outcomes have been one of the most concerning educational policy and equity topics for decades. Despite the hypervisibility of Black students in school discipline conversations, research and practice evade a focus on anti-Black racism. In this essay, we draw from Black Critical Theory…

Many urban school districts are adopting restorative practices (RP) as a means to reduce suspensions and resolve racial discipline gaps. In this study, we use a sensemaking framework to examine educators' beliefs about discipline and their perceptions of RP and its implementation. We draw on survey responses (N = 363) administered after educators…

Problem behavior disrupts classrooms across the United States, impacting student learning. Despite the adverse consequences, teachers often exclude disruptive students from school as a punitive and default response to problem behavior. Alternatives to exclusion are becoming increasingly popular in many school districts to improve behavior and keep…

Schools in New Zealand (NZ) have a range of disciplinary options when dealing with challenging behaviours, one of which is excluding students by way of stand-downs, suspensions, exclusions or expulsions. Following marginal downward trend from 2006 to 2015, the numbers of stand-downs and suspensions have been on the rise again since 2016 despite…

The purpose of this study was to understand one type of restorative discipline, collaborative conversations, which uses a structured dialogue process between an adult and a student to address disciplinary incidents. This study presents existing literature on restorative discipline and the benefits of a one-on-one model like the one discussed in…

Research Findings: Students perceived as struggling to regulate their emotions and behavior are at risk for experiencing classroom and school exclusion beginning in preschool. In this preliminary and exploratory secondary data analysis study, we examined teachers' self-reported use of classroom-based soft exclusionary discipline practices with…

Purpose: Racial inequality in school discipline is an important challenge facing educational stakeholders. There is little research on how educators exercise discretion in navigating the disciplinary process from perceived misbehavior to disciplinary consequences. Research Methods/Approach: This study draws primarily on semistructured interviews…