Pitt study highlights discipline disparities
Blackstudents are suspended at seven times the rate of nonblack students in Allegheny County, Heinz Endowments president Grant Oliphant said at a news conference announcing a new study from the University of Pittsburgh Center on Race and Social Problems.
The report released Tuesday highlights new research on racial disparities in out-of-school suspensions at public schools in Allegheny County and cautions against on-site law enforcement.
Funded by the Heinz Endowments’ African American Men and Boys Initiative, the 40-page report by Pitt researchers not only spotlights the so-called “school-to-prison pipeline” by way of suspensions but also outlines the Just Discipline Model, which was implemented at Woodland Hills Intermediate School last year.
According to the report, schools in Allegheny County in 2015-16 suspended students at a combined rate of 13.7 suspensions per 100 students, above the state average of 9.7 per 100. Generally, districts that had higher numbers of black and low-income students had higher suspension rates.
In the Steel Valley School District, the black suspension rate was nearly eight times the rate of other students in 2015-16. Suburban districts saw some of the highest racial disparities in school suspensions.
Three developments have made the most substantial contributions to the prison
pipeline’s growth, the report said: a rise in zero-tolerance practices in school discipline, an increase of police presence in schools, and implicit bias demonstrated by tests that show 80 percent of white people and 40 percent of black people are negatively biased against black people. It was found that these factors lead to an increase in a student’s likelihood of interaction with the juvenile justice system.
The researchers used data from the Pennsylvania Department of Education’s Safe School Report between the 2012-13 and 2015-16 school years for 51 Allegheny County traditional public districts and charter school networks.
And while Wilkinsburg, Northgate and Highlands school districts saw substantial increases in black suspension rates in 2015-16, Propel Charter Schools and South Park and Chartiers Valley school districts had the most consistent increases in suspension rates for black and non-black students between 2012 and 2015.
Mr. Oliphant said Tuesday that the study documents the effects of bias: “We have national leaders who belittle the idea of implicit bias, who belittle the idea of structural racism. And structural racism, when you pull it apart, is really a simple thing. It’s any set of policies or practices that produce disparate outcomes for people based on the color of their skin.”
The report said that 41 percent of Allegheny County school districts — or 21 — were found to have reduced overall suspension rates between 2013 and 2016.
Officials also discussed the Just Discipline Model on Tuesday. It is used to counter long-used disciplinary practices, with a new system that incorporates restorative practices. This includes structural supports, more attention to race and social context, integrated behavioral systems, full-time staff, Just Discipline policies, strong relational committees, and schoolcommunity buy-in.
Since Woodland Hills Intermediate School put the new policies in place last year, there have been positive changes in school suspension rates, according to James P. Huguley, professor of social work at Pitt and one of the authors of the report. He said he believed the program could transform schools in the Pittsburgh region and said that “this is a much broader report than we’re typically used to seeing.”
Ruth Howze, a mother, community organizer at One Pennsylvania, former Pittsburgh Public Schools substitute teacher and school reform advocate, talked about the effects of discipline on students at the Tuesday news conference.
Twenty years ago, she said, she was frustrated with the Pittsburgh Public Schools over the frequent suspensions of one of her four daughters, who had been diagnosed with oppositional defiance disorder and placed in an Individualized Education Program. The girl was accompanied by a therapeutic worker every day at school and at home.
Despite her daughter’s special needs, Ms. Howze said, for a period of time, her daughter was suspended from school weekly.
Her children are now adults and all have graduated from college, but Ms. Howze said the problems she encountered made her realize that while children can be anything their hearts desire, that can happen only if they’re given the right support and nurturing.
Ms. Howze said that while the report is positive and necessary, she wants to see change.
“We cannot continue to study our kids, and their downfalls, and all the inequities that they suffer, and we know that they’re hungry and traumatized,” she said. “We know that they’re not getting equal education, but then do nothing about it.”