Suspended Again: The Racialized Consequences of a 9th Grade Suspension on Future Suspension Patterns

• NCJ Number: 304323
• Author(s): B. W. Fisher; Et Al
• Date Published: 2021
• Grant Number(s): 2016-CK-BX-0017
• Agencies: NIJ-Sponsored
• Award: School Climate, Student Discipline, and the Implementation of School Resources Officers

Annotation

Since little is known about how being punished in school predicts future school-based punishment, this study examined the extent to which being suspended in 9th grade predicted subsequent suspensions within the same school.

 

Abstract

Using stereotype congruence theory as a framework, the study examined differences by race (Black versus white) and household income. The data were drawn from three cohorts of four-wave annual administrative data from a large urban school district in the Midwestern USA (N = 11,006). Findings indicate that being suspended in 9th grade is associated with higher odds of subsequent suspension and a greater number of subsequent suspensions, but not a greater number of days per suspension. Black students suspended in 9th grade were particularly likely to experience more subsequent suspensions. Further, these racial differences were not driven by household income measures. These findings indicate that racially disparate school punishment practices have cascading effects for Black students. (Publisher Abstract)