The purpose of this quantitative, correlational study was to investigate the extent to which being labeled as an economically disadvantaged student contributed to the number of exclusionary discipline referrals in secondary schools belonging to three neighboring school districts in South Texas. The framework was based upon the Diamond et al. (2004) study which, like this research, was built on the idea that socioeconomic inequality is a key factor for disproportionality in student discipline. This study was conducted in South Texas with school discipline data being collected from three secondary campuses in the rural South Texas area. The three school campuses studied each have a population of approximately more than 60% of students on free and reduced lunch. Data for this research study was derived from student discipline reports and records provided by each school district through the Public Education Information Management System or PEIMS. The point-biserial application of Pearson (r[subscript pb]) was used to compute the correlation between the variables. The results of this study revealed that there was a positive, albeit weak correlation between a student's socioeconomic status and their behavior at school, as evidenced through the number of exclusionary discipline referrals received. Though there was a correlation among a student's socioeconomic status and exclusionary discipline referrals, educators must be careful to not assume that children living in poverty are ill-equipped to be successful in school. Given this knowledge and the findings of this study, administrators and teachers can communicate methods by which the school can create experiences and opportunities for this particular group of students. The findings provide prospects for additional exploration into why this population of students are more likely to receive exclusionary discipline sanctions. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com.bibliotheek.ehb.be/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]