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…

The U.S. Department of Education defines physical restraints as a restriction that immobilizes or reduces the ability to move torso, arms, legs, or head freely. Because of the inherent dangers of physical restraints, their use is strictly regulated in most hospitals, prisons, and public law enforcement settings. Although students have died in…

Racial disproportionality in special education and school discipline remains a persistent social justice issue in the U.S. education system. Drawing from a 4-year-long school-community-university partnership within an Anishinaabe Band of Ojibwe in northern Wisconsin, we propose a theoretical and practical framework called "decolonizing…

In this study, we identified the specific discipline decision situations (i.e., vulnerable decision points [VDPs]) that contribute most to racial discipline disparities from a sample of 2020 schools across the United States. We also examined how much VDPs contributed to overall discipline disparities and the extent which there was similarity among…

Black youth overwhelmingly experience excessive discipline and exclusionary practices in schools, which contribute to the growing achievement and opportunity gaps between Black and White students. This study examined 915 teacher education students' (TES') interpersonal attributions of classroom behaviors of elementary age Black and White girls,…

The problem addressed in this study is the disproportionality in office discipline referrals (ODRs) for Black students at a Northeast Florida Middle School despite the implementation of School-wide Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (SWPBIS). The purpose of this qualitative case study was to understand middle school teachers'…

Teachers' sense-making of student behavior determines whether students get in trouble and are formally disciplined. Status categories, such as race, can influence perceptions of student culpability, but the degree to which teachers' initial identification of student misbehavior exacerbates racial disproportionality in discipline receipt is…

Teachers' sensemaking of student behavior determines whether students get in trouble and are formally disciplined. Status categories, such as race, can influence perceptions of student culpability, but the degree to which teachers' initial identification of student misbehavior exacerbates racial disproportionality in discipline receipt is unknown.…

In response to patterns of educational inequity, many schools implement system-wide behavioral frameworks to reduce exclusionary discipline. School-wide positive behavior supports (SWPBS) is one such framework that supports socially appropriate behavior by enhancing the capacity of schools to implement research-validated practices. However, there…

This Program and Practice article provides a comprehensive overview of a university-school mentoring program specifically designed to address the school-to-prison pipeline by supporting youth in a disciplinary alternative school setting. The purpose of this article is to offer a detailed description of the program's structure, components, and…

The school discipline literature has expanded rapidly in recent decades, yet the conceptualization and measurement of school discipline patterns remains overlooked. In this paper, we present a comprehensive analytic framework to examine school discipline patterns that encompasses school-level metrics that capture the prevalence and disparity in…

This qualitative study used BlackCrit theory to elucidate how white supremacist thinking plays out in Black teachers' perceptions of and practices with students with chronic disciplinary patterns. Black teachers' perceptions of Black students are critical to understand because Black students experience disciplinary actions, classroom push-outs,…

Research suggests that a cycle of misbehavior can escalate quickly from corrections over minor rule infractions to threats of serious disciplinary consequences. There is also evidence that Black youth may be especially at risk for these escalations due to subtle or implicit racial bias, or cultural mismatches that may lead teachers to believe that…

There are large differences in expulsions and suspensions on the basis of race starting in preschool and divergent explanations for their cause. The current study explores how developmental methodology can shed light on this vexing issue. We leverage two measures: (1) childcare provider complaints about children's behavior and their recommended…

The purpose of this study was to examine the Problem of Practice (POP) to determine if Restorative Practices (RP) can have an impact on the disproportionality of out of school suspensions (OSS) for Black and Multi-Race students at Eastern High School. RP has emerged as a promising intervention to mitigate racially disproportionate practices in…