Author: Benjamin W. Fisher
Abstract:
This research focused on two studies of different school
factors linked to increased rates of exclusionary discipline: school resource
officers (SROs) and zero-tolerance approaches to discipline.
The SRO study provided evidence that implementing SROs led
to decreases in schools’ overall suspension rates, as well as rates for Black
students. However, it was not associated with changes to White students’
suspension rate or changes within-school racial disparities in suspension
rates. It also indicated that school context variables were predictive of
school’s suspension rates and racial disparities.
The findings from the zero-tolerance study indicated that
schools with a higher zero-tolerance approach to discipline tended to have
higher overall rates of exclusionary discipline, providing no evidence that
this orientation toward discipline had a deterrent effect on students’ problem
behaviors. Moreover, this relationship did not depend on the presence of SROs,
suggesting that across all schools in the sample, the impact of schools’
zero-tolerance approach to discipline on overall rates of exclusionary
discipline was consistent across schools with and without SROs.
The study also found that when schools were characterized by
higher levels of racial/ethnic minority students or other measures of
disadvantage, the combination of a high zero-tolerance approach to discipline
and SRO presence was predictive of higher overall rates of exclusionary
discipline. However, when schools were characterized by lower levels of
disadvantage, this combination was associated with lower rates of exclusionary
discipline.
Together, these studies suggest that SROs and zero-tolerance
approaches to discipline may not be universally appropriate mechanisms for
reducing rates of exclusionary discipline. Instead, school context is an
important consideration when forming strategies to reduce student exclusions.
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