Policy Beats Bias? An Evaluation of the Impact of Operational Definitions on Disproportionate Disciplinary Outcomes for Black Students
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Date
2020-09-24
Authors
Boulahanis, Kara
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of Oregon
Abstract
Office discipline referrals (ODRs), suspensions, and expulsions are exclusionary disciplinary practices commonly used in U.S. schools that are associated with decreased student achievement and a host of negative school and life outcomes. This study examined the impact of operational definitions, race, behavior class, level of behavior concern, and cultural context on disproportionate disciplinary outcomes through an evaluation of educators’ consistency with experts in rating problem behavior using a randomized control, pre-test/post-test intervention study. It was hypothesized that more consistency with experts may reduce disproportionality in disciplinary outcomes due to more accurate identification of problem behaviors requiring out of classroom disciplinary practices. Participants’ consistency with expert ratings of students’ misbehaviors was examined by measuring participant responses pre- and post-test on four questions regarding their reaction to a series of video vignettes depicting student misbehavior selected by the researcher. No discernable impact of operational definition condition, race or level of behavior concern on participants’ accuracy in rating student problem behavior was found. Behavior class, that is objective vs subjective behaviors, explained 33% of the variance in participants’ consistency with expert ratings of student misbehavior. Participants were more consistent with experts in rating video vignettes depicting behaviors classified as subjective such as defiance or disrespect than they were in rating videos depicting behaviors classified as objective such as physical aggression or smoking. Implications and future directions are discussed.
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Keywords
Discipline Policy, Disproportionality, Operational Definition, PBIS