Key points:
- The jump in racial gaps caused by top referrers is largely driven by referrals issued for more subjective reasons
- Repeated disciplinary actions can hurt student engagement, achievement, and long-run success
- See related article: Addressing the digital divide’s effects on education and the workforce
The top 5 percent of teachers most likely to refer students to the principal’s office for disciplinary action do so at such an outsized rate that they effectively double the racial gaps in such referrals, according to new research from the American Educational Research Association (AERA).
These gaps are mainly driven by higher numbers of office discipline referrals (ODRs) issued for Black and Hispanic students, compared to White students. The study, published in Educational Researcher, a peer-reviewed journal of AERA, was conducted by Jing Liu at the University of Maryland, College Park, Emily K. Penner at the University of California, Irvine, and Wenjing Gao at the University of Maryland, College Park.…Read More