School Attachment and Discipline Rates and Disparities Among African-American Youth

Gina DelCorazon , Princeton University

Persistent, widespread school achievement gaps between African-American and white students are well known. Recent work has demonstrated differences in how connected Black and white students feel to their schools, which is a predictor of achievement, school persistence, and reduction in risky behavior. Lower attachment to school among Black students may account for part of the observed differences in achievement and completion. At the same time, growing attention has been paid to school discipline disparities, with Black students significantly more likely than white to face suspension or expulsion. There is evidence that students are aware of these disparities and that they impact the ways students feel about their schools in terms of equity, fairness and belonging. This paper examines whether African-American adolescents are less connected to schools with higher levels of discipline and larger racial disparities in within-school discipline rates, controlling for a variety of individual, family, and school characteristics.

See paper

 Presented in Session 124. Flash Session: Causes and Consequences of Educational Inequalities