Racial and Ethnic Segregation of School Teachers and its Impact on Exclusionary School Discipline

Policies that have been made in an effort to make schools safer over time have done just the opposite. Instead of creating a more supportive environment, zero tolerance policies have contributed to a disproportionate rate of discipline towards students of color. Exclusionary school discipline (ESD), including suspensions and expulsions, disproportionately denies students of color a supportive learning environment where they can create an equal path to success. While previous research has found that exclusionary school discipline leads to less engagement and higher rates of dropout and juvenile delinquency in students, there has been no research on the affect that segregation of educators has had on the use of exclusionary school discipline. This research will look to identify the racial and ethnic segregation of teachers at a district level, and how it affects the use of exclusionary school discipline within the district. Data will be collected using OSPI resources to identify if there is a relationship between racial and ethnic segregation of teachers and exclusionary school discipline. Winner, Outstanding Poster Presentation, College of the Sciences