Citation

Skiba RJ, Peterson RL, Williams T. Educ. Treat. Child. 1997; 20(3): 295-315.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1997, West Virginia University Press)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

While school discipline and student behavior represent major concerns to the public and to the schools, surprisingly little research has been completed on the disciplinary referrals of students for discipline or inappropriate behavior. This report, consisting of two studies conducted in two Midwestern cities (one across multiple schools, and the other in a single school), examines a variety of descriptive issues related to school discipline as documented in archived office disciplinary referral data. These were analyzed in order to examine the reasons for the referral, circumstances of the situation, the extent of use of various disciplinary response options, the rate of student suspension, and other characteristics of the disciplinary incidents. Behaviors that led to office referral were primarily not those that threaten safety, but those that indicate noncompliance or disrespect. In both studies, about 40% of all students receive at least one office referral in the middle school during the school year.

RESULTS indicated that most disciplinary referrals originate in the classroom, and provided little evidence of a consistent relationship between seriousness of offense and severity of consequence. Finally, these studies show a pattern of disproportionality in the administration of school discipline based on race, SES, gender and disability.

Language: en