Teacher Referrals of African American Male Students: A Study of Disproportionate Disciplinary Actions, 2019

African-American students, particularly males, receive an Office Discipline Referral (ODR) more than other students. The problem with exclusionary school discipline is that most students affected by the practice are African American. This study showed that exclusionary discipline practices could unfairly and unnecessarily place African-American students at risk of being outside of the classroom. This study further examined the application of disproportionate discipline and examined the influence between the independent variables (teachers' perceptions, cultural awareness, comfort levels, teachers' expectations, or preconceived beliefs) and the application of discipline. The current study examined predictors of teacher referrals for disciplinary actions in middle school, potential predictors of teacher referrals for disruptive behavior, and if there is an influence in referrals of discipline based on this study's selected independent variables. The selection of a voluntary respondent's population for this research were teachers that currently teach middle school in the state of Georgia. A set of 83 descriptive coefficients were used to summarize the data representative of the sample population. The teacher variables in this study were the teacher's race or ethnicity, gender, age, grade taught, and preservice training. Sixteen County School districts were contacted to disseminate this survey for research. However, only two counties agreed to participate. This study found that 80% teachers in Georgia are White, female, 36 or older, and have received pre-service training. The study determined that Teachers' Perceptions, Cultural Awareness, Comfort Level, Teachers' Expectations, and Preconceived Beliefs attribute, together or separately, to the disparity of discipline of African-American males