This study investigated teachers' perception of their school administrators as consistent enforcers of school code-of-conduct rules, and if their rating of consistency was associated with an increase or decrease in risk ratio for African American students in middle schools in North Carolina. Findings suggest that teachers viewed their school…

Nationwide, school principals are given wide discretion to use disciplinary tools like suspension and expulsion to create a safe learning environment. There is legitimate concern that this power can have negative consequences, particularly for the students who are excluded. This study uses linked disciplinary, education, and criminal justice…

Nationwide, school principals are given wide discretion to use disciplinary tools like suspension and expulsion to create a safe learning environment. There is legitimate concern that this power can have negative consequences, particularly for the students who are excluded. This study uses linked disciplinary, education, and criminal justice…

While a growing body of literature has documented the negative impacts of exclusionary punishments, such as suspensions, on academic outcomes, less is known about how teachers vary in disciplinary behaviors and the attendant impacts on students. We use administrative data from North Carolina elementary schools to examine the extent to which…

Black students account for 15.1% of public school students, yet represent 38.2% of out-of-school suspensions, 28.7% of referrals to law enforcement, and 31.6% of school arrests (U.S. Department of Education, 2021). Suspended and expelled youth are less likely to complete high school or attend college (Rosenbaum, 2020), and more likely to be…

Well-documented racial disparities in rates of exclusionary discipline may arise from differences in hard-to-observe student behavior or bias, in which treatment for the same behavior varies by student race or ethnicity. We provide evidence for the presence of bias using statewide administrative data that contain rich details on individual…

Youth social movements for racial justice, especially against police violence, are on the rise. And this broader policy landscape is reflective of how youth are addressing racism in policing in their local context. Therefore, by drawing upon scholarship related to Black Radicalism, activism, and social movements, this study examines how youth of…

While scholars have studied racial bias in the application of out-of-school suspension and its influence on arrest and incarceration for decades, the mechanism that produces juvenile delinquency remains unclear. Guided by general strain theory, this study considers racial group differences in the evaluation of suspension as discriminatory, and how…

Considerable research on African American males (AAMs) in American schools over the past ten years shows that they are underrepresented in every positive measure of educational outcomes, and overrepresented in every negative measure. Many educators have developed low expectations, deficit thinking, and implicit biases toward AAMs and their…

This handbook was produced as a resource for students and parents to explain the policies, rules, and regulations governing all students in the Wake County Public School System. Numbers that appear in some portions of the handbook refer to specific Board of Education policies. In some instances the entire policy is cited; at other times, only the…

Since 1970 suspension rates for adolescents have more than doubled across the nation. Numerous risk factors serve as determinants and are associated with such outcomes. However, presented with these alarming statistics advocates have called for an alternative to out of school suspension policies and practices. Embedded within this context is an…

Student discipline is an ongoing challenge for school administrators, and its importance has been magnified as accountability reporting and public concerns for school safety have come into play. School personnel are expected to maintain a safe school environment that focuses on student learning. Disciplinary interventions should be…

Purpose: A factor largely overlooked amid the press for greater security in schools is the extent to which law enforcement participates in search and seizure and the implications such actions carry for student civil liberties. As case law suggests, police engaged in school searches may be held to the probable cause standard or the more flexible…

Long-term suspended (LTS) students are barred from the school system for lengthy periods, leaving them at risk of academic failure and vulnerable from lack of services. A program in a North Carolina public school system provided counselors to work with each LTS student. Outcome data were analyzed to determine the effectiveness of counseling…

A review of court decisions indicates that schools may consider absence from class as a factor in overall academic evaluation and may impose academic penalties for absences due to truancy, suspension, or expulsion. However, academic penalties may not be imposed for misconduct that does not result in absence from class. (MLF)