"Unequal Treatment: Do At-Risk Students Receive Stiffer Disciplinary Responses?"

AERA 2018 Annual Meeting: “The Dreams, Possibilities, and Necessity of Public Education”
April 13-17, 2018
New York
 
Title: "Unequal Treatment: Do At-Risk Students Receive Stiffer Disciplinary Responses?"
Author: NaYoung Hwang (PhD Alumna)
 
Abstract

Using administrative data from the Oregon Department of Education, I examine whether and what extent at-risk students in elementary and middle school students receive stiffer disciplinary actions. I find that after controlling for infraction type and school difference, racial/ethnic minority students do not receive more punitive responses than their white counterparts. However, the results suggest that students from low-income families, students enrolled special education, and low-achieving students have an elevated risk of receiving stiffer and longer disciplinary responses.
​