In an article in the journal Sociology of Education, David Ramey uses a large, multilevel data set to examine associations between school- and district-level racial/ethnic and socio-economic compositions and the criminalization and medicalization of student misbehavior. Schools criminalize behavior through zero-tolerance mandatory suspension and expulsion policies, employing on-campus law enforcement and arresting students on campus. At the same time, schools engage in medicalization by defining some misbehavior in medical or psychological terms and implementing behavior management based on therapy and rehabilitation. Ramey's analysis suggests that school racial composition and school- and district-level economic disadvantage interact to create potentially hyperpunitive environments that, in the pursuit of safe school environments, may inadequately consider the mental health needs of minority students. Schools and districts with relatively larger black and Hispanic populations tended to organize student disciplinary policies around the criminal justice system rather than the mental health system. However, the relationship between greater proportions of students of color at the school level and criminalized and medicalized discipline varies significantly across different concentrations of district-level disadvantage. Schools and districts with greater levels of economic disadvantage were more likely to implement formal disciplinary measures that require few local resources, i.e. criminalized school discipline policies. More

Source:  Public Education News Blast

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Los Angeles Education Partnership (LAEP) is an education support organization that works as a collaborative partner in high-poverty communities.