Beating the school discipline odds: conceptualizing and examining inclusive disciplinary schools in New York City

Racial inequality in school discipline is a salient challenge in the United States. Using New York City as a case, this study examines inclusive disciplinary schools (IDS) or schools that have “beat the school discipline odds”. IDS, median disciplinary schools (MDS), and high disciplinary schools (HDS) have vastly different exclusionary discipline rates for Black and Latinx students (both suspensions and office discipline referrals). The schooling environments of IDS differ from those of HDS and MDS. IDS have greater teacher and school leader diversity, more experienced teachers and school administrators, and a more positive school climate than HDS. Poverty and unemployment rates, crime rates, education levels, and the proportion of Black and foreign-born residents vary significantly across the neighborhoods of IDS, MDS, and HDS. These results remain largely consistent across limiting IDS to predominantly Black schools, predominantly Latinx schools, or predominantly low-income schools. Implications and directions for future research are discussed.