ABSTRACT
Students of color are disproportionately affected by school discipline policies, which can permanently alter their academic and life trajectories. And while the alarming rate at which students of color are severely and frequently disciplined has been on the educational policy radar for some time now, the lived realities of students of color have not improved as they are still more likely to be the victims of exclusionary practices at some point during their time in the PK-12 education system. Exclusionary discipline is referred to as any form of disciplinary practice that results in removing or excluding a student from their usual educational setting. In this chapter, we examine the racial implications of exclusionary discipline practices, focusing on two specific policy issues: zero tolerance policies and the role of policing and criminalization of students of color in school. We discuss how strategies such as Response to Intervention (RTI) and Positive Behavior Intervention Supports (PBIS), while intended to be more humane options to exclusionary discipline practices, instead may maintain white norms for student behavior and therefore still increase the likelihood that students of color will continue to be disciplined at harsher rates. We conclude the chapter with recommendations for more anti-racist alternatives to exclusionary discipline practices.
