Does racial consciousness impact how teachers react to students in discipline situations?

The research question addresses whether or not a teacher\u27s racial consciousness impacts their interactions with students in the classroom. As a novice teacher, the author noticed patterns of racially disproportionate discipline situations in two schools in which she worked. Further investigation of her observations revealed that this problem, termed the Discipline Gap, is widespread. While there are many suspected causes of this problem, researchers identify that teachers need to be fully aware of the impact of their own race in order to best meet the needs of all students. This capstone explores the relevant research of this topic as well as illustrates the author\u27s journey to examine her own racial identity. She describes the tools used to explore her own racial consciousness such as the Intercultural Development Inventory and The White Privilege checklist. The capstone also highlights examples of interactions with students that proved to be significant to the author\u27s growth during this project