ABSTRACT
Since the last version of this chapter in 2014, national events, including and most especially the murder of George Floyd, have created a virtual sea change in our national understanding of race and racism. Scholarly research is not, and cannot be, unaffected by this shift. In this chapter, we review recent research on racialized disciplinary disparities in light of America’s “racial reckoning,” specifically using the lens of structural racism. We explore previous descriptions of the term to develop a working definition, and examine the extent to which exclusionary discipline serves as a key mechanism in a network of structural racism, supporting a racialized hierarchy that reproduces inequity and disadvantage. Arguing that a color-blind ideology is the central belief system undergirding structural racism in the twenty-first century, we discuss its components in relationship to recent research regarding exclusionary school discipline. Examining current approaches to disparity reduction in this light makes it clear that a race-neutral approach to addressing disciplinary discipline has not worked, and cannot work, since it mis-identifies the locus of the problem as within-child, rather than within systems. We conclude by offering recommendations for disciplinary reform, moving away from strategies that consciously or unconsciously maintain racial hierarchy, and toward a model of discipline and classroom management prioritizing nurturing, relationship-building, and compassion for all students.
