Statement of Purpose:  Although most educators express disapproval of racism in American schools, the racialized gaps in performance and discipline persist.  Racialized achievement gaps have been strongly connected to suspension gaps (Gregory, Skiba & Noguera, 2010; Arcia, 2006) and both testify to the endurance of racism in American education.  Even though academic gaps (and minor, inconsistent gains) for minoritized students has been widely discussed in educational reform literature (e.g., Darling-Hammond, 2007), racialized suspension gapshave never been centered in the national discourse on school achievement or equity.  The data, in fact, illustrates a deepening of the race-based suspension problem, and mirrors a number of damaging racialized trends in national incarceration and criminal justice data.  While it has been clear for some time that school attendance impacts school achievement (Roby, 2004), racialized suspension gaps as a factor that impacts achievement through low attendance, hostile school climates, or even eventual zero tolerance expulsions from school, is less often discussed.  This is not surprising because prior research shows that traditional bureaucratic responses of educational administrators often shy away from controversial issues such as discussions of race or racism (McMahon, 2007; Larson, 1997). In this paper, we address how districts reproduce racism by leaving racist practices unchallenged, or even worse, defend practices of racialized suspension disparities. 

            This research is grounded in two broad bodies of literature.  One, we look at the role of institutional racism, and how it is reproduced in schools and society.  And two, we look at organizational theory, and more precisely, and technical-rational organizational responses to external threats.  We first start by offering a incisive picture of the context surrounding school suspensions.  Much like incarceration rates, the suspension rates of students have dramatically increased in the last decade, and likewise so have the disparities in suspension rates increased depending upon race and SES.  Students who are living in poverty are more likely to be retained, suspended, and expelled from school (Wood, 2003) and the child poverty rate in the US is higher than that of most industrialized countries (Keegan-Eamon, 2002).  However, racialized groups are even more vulnerable to suspension policies.  Hirschfield (2008) notes that demographic factors such as income level account for part of the explanation of disproportionality, but not for all of it.  Being enrolled in a school with high rates of low-income students or coming from a low income family increases the likelihood of suspension, but even when SES is accounted for, a disparity between white and black student suspension still exists.  In fact, Rausch & Skiba’s (2004) study in Indiana found it worse for Blacks compared to Whites in suburban schools.  Latinos are not suspended as often as Black students, but they are suspended more than whites (NCES, 2003; US Department of Education, OCR, 2012).  However, findings in regard to Latinos are more variable depending upon the school and income level (Hirschfield, 2008). 

Akom, A. (2008). Ameritocracy and infra-racial racism: racializing social and cultural reproduction theory in the twenty-first century. Race, Ethnicity and Education, 11(3), 205-230. Blair, M. (2008). “Whiteness” as institutionalized racism as conspiracy: Understanding the paradigm. Educational Review, 60(3), 249-251. Bowles, S. & Gintis, H. (1976). Schooling in Capitalist America. New York: Basic Books. Christle, C. Nelson, C. M. Jolivette, K. (2004). School characteristics related to the use of suspension. Education & Treatment of Children, 27(4), 509-526. Conley, S. & Glasman, N. (2008). Fear, the school organization, teacher evaluation. Educational Policy, 23 (1), 63-85. Darling-Hammond, L. (2007). Race, inequality, and educational accountability: The irony of ‘No Child Left Behind,” Race, Ethnicity, & Education, 10(3) 245-260. D'Souza, D. (2008). Obama and the end of racism. Townhall. Retrieved from http://townhall.com/columnists/DineshDSouza/2008/09/01/obama_and_the_endof_racism. Fabelo, T., Thompson, M., Ploktin, M., Carmichael, D., Marchbanks, M., & Booth, E. (2011). Breaking schools’ rules: A statewide study of how school discipline relates to students’ success and juvenile justice involvement. New York: Council of State Governments Justice Center. Ferguson, A. (2001). Bad Boys: Public Schools in the Making of Black Masculinity. AnnArbor: The University of Michigan Press. Hirschfield, P. (2008). Preparing for prison? Theoretical Criminology, 12, 79-101. Keegan-Eamon, M. (2002). Effects of poverty on mathematics and reading achievement of young adolescents. The Journal of Early Adolescence, 22(1), 49-73. Kupchik, A. (2009). Things are tough all over: Race, ethnicity, class, and school discipline. Punishment and Society, 11(3), 291-317. McNeely, C. A., Nonnemaker, J. M., & Blum, R. W. (2002). Promoting student connectedness to school: Evidence from the national longitudinal study of adolescent health. Journal of School Health 72(4), 138–146. doi: 10.1108/09654280710827920 Minton, T. (2011). Jail inmates at mid-year 2010 – statistical tables. Washington DC: Bureau of Justice Statistics.