Inequities in the Number of Days Assigned to an Exclusionary Discipline Consequence by the Ethnicity/Race of Texas High School Girls: A Statewide, Multiyear Investigation

Abstract

Ascertained in this analysis was the extent to which inequities existed in the number of days that Texas Grade 9, 10, and 11 students were assigned to an exclusionary discipline consequence (i.e., in-school suspension, out-of-school suspension) by the ethnicity/race for the 2015-2016, 2016-2017, and 2017-2018 school years. Inferential statistical procedures revealed the presence of statistically significant disparities in all three school years and at all three grade levels. At every grade level and school year, Black girls were assigned to more days in an in-school suspension than were Hispanic girls and White girls. For out-of-school suspensions across all three school years, Black girls were assigned to an out-of-school suspension statistically significantly more days than Hispanic girls and White girls, and Hispanic girls were assigned statistically significantly more days than White girls with the exception of Grade 10 in 2016-2017, and Grade 11 in 2016-2017 and 2017-2018.