Despite decades of civil rights legislation and educational reform efforts, Texas K-12 schools continue to exhibit systemic inequities in disciplinary practices, with economically disadvantaged students and English Language Learners facing significantly higher rates of exclusionary discipline than their peers.
Objective: The primary goal of this quantitative study was to examine whether student demographic characteristics—including race, socioeconomic status, disability status, and English Language Learner (ELL) status—predict both the likelihood of receiving exclusionary disciplinary actions and the duration of time spent in exclusionary settings within Texas public K-12 schools. The research specifically aimed to identify statistically significant patterns in discretionary discipline decisions that may differentially affect marginalized student populations.
Methods: This study employed a quantitative, non-experimental ex post facto design using data from the Texas Education Agency for the 2018-2019 academic year. The researchers drew a stratified random sample of 1,000 students from a dataset containing 1,048,575 students in grades 1-12, with stratification based on race and ethnicity to ensure demographic representativeness. The study utilized multiple linear regression analysis to examine predictive relationships for Research Question 1, investigating how student characteristics influenced the likelihood of receiving in-school suspension, out-of-school suspension, and placement in Disciplinary Alternative Education Programs (DAEP). For Research Question 2, one-way ANOVA was employed to analyze differences in time spent in exclusionary settings across racial and ethnic groups. The theoretical framework was grounded in Bernard Weiner's Attribution Theory, supported by Critical Race Theory, the Shifting Standards Model, and Implicit Social Cognition Theory to understand how administrative decision-making processes may be influenced by implicit bias and systemic inequities.
Key Findings: The study revealed several significant patterns in exclusionary discipline practices. Contrary to some expectations, race and disability status did not demonstrate significant predictive power for exclusionary disciplinary outcomes in the regression models. However, economically disadvantaged students and English Language Learners showed substantially higher likelihood of receiving out-of-school suspensions while being less likely to receive in-school suspensions compared to their peers. This finding suggests that these student populations may face more severe disciplinary consequences when infractions occur. The research also indicated that despite the lack of statistically significant predictive relationships for race and disability in the models, the patterns observed still suggest underlying systemic inequities in disciplinary practices. The study found evidence supporting the influence of implicit bias and subjective decision-making in administrative disciplinary choices, aligning with the theoretical framework's predictions about how unconscious biases may affect educational outcomes for marginalized students.
Implications: This research contributes significantly to the field of educational equity and discipline policy by providing empirical evidence of ongoing disparities in disciplinary practices within one of the largest state education systems in the United States. The findings underscore the persistent nature of educational inequities despite decades of legal and policy reforms, from Brown v. Board of Education through contemporary initiatives. The study's results have direct implications for educational leaders and policymakers, suggesting an urgent need for comprehensive reforms in disciplinary policies and practices. The research supports the implementation of culturally responsive training programs for administrators and educators, the development of policies explicitly grounded in equity principles, and the adoption of restorative justice approaches as alternatives to exclusionary disciplinary measures. The findings also highlight the importance of examining intersectionality in educational outcomes, as students with multiple marginalized identities may face compounded disadvantages in disciplinary processes.
Limitations: The study acknowledges several important limitations that may affect the generalizability and interpretation of findings. The research was conducted using data from a single state (Texas) and a single academic year (2018-2019), which may limit the broader applicability of results to other geographic regions or time periods. The stratified random sampling approach, while methodologically sound, resulted in a relatively small sample size of 1,000 students from over one million in the original dataset. Additionally, the study's reliance on existing administrative data meant that researchers could not control for potentially confounding variables such as specific behavioral infractions, school climate factors, administrator characteristics, or community contexts that might influence disciplinary decisions. The ex post facto design, while appropriate for the research questions, limits the ability to establish causal relationships between student characteristics and disciplinary outcomes. The study also noted that data from extremely small school districts were excluded for privacy protection, potentially affecting the representativeness of rural or smaller community perspectives.
Future Directions: The research identifies several critical areas for future investigation that could advance understanding of disciplinary equity in educational settings. Future studies should expand the geographic scope beyond Texas to include multi-state analyses that could reveal regional variations in disciplinary practices and policies. Longitudinal research designs would provide valuable insights into how disciplinary experiences affect students' long-term academic trajectories, graduation rates, and post-secondary outcomes. The researchers recommend investigating the effectiveness of specific intervention strategies, such as implicit bias training for administrators, restorative justice programs, and culturally responsive disciplinary approaches. Additional research should examine the intersection of multiple identity factors to better understand how students with overlapping marginalized characteristics experience disciplinary processes. Future work should also incorporate qualitative methodologies to capture student, educator, and administrator perspectives on disciplinary experiences and decision-making processes, providing richer context for quantitative findings.
Title and Authors: "Examining Exclusionary Discipline Practices in K-12 Education and Its Impact on Marginalized Students in Texas" by Andrew Coleman.
Published On: August 2025
Published By: Texas A&M University-Texarkana, College of Arts, Sciences and Education, Education Leadership Program (Doctoral Dissertation)