Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Abstract

The comments teachers write when sending students to the office have the potential to increase our understanding of how bias may contribute to longstanding racial disparities in school discipline. However, large-scale analysis of open text has traditionally had a prohibitive cost. Through natural language processing techniques, we examined over 3.5 million office discipline records from national samples of more than 4,000 schools for whether teachers’ linguistic patterns differed when describing incidents depending on the race/ethnicity and gender of the students. Results of such analyses consistently showed that teachers wrote longer descriptions and included more negative emotion when disciplining Black compared to White students, especially for Black girls. In conjunction with psychology of language theory, the patterns suggest that teachers may perceive and process student behavior differently depending on student identities. Implications of the findings and potential for research on naturally occurring language data in education are discussed.

Keywords

diversity equity language processes textual analysis

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Allport

G. W.

(1954). The nature of prejudice. Addison-Wesley.

Annamma

S. A.

Anyon

Joseph

N. M.

Farrar

Greer

Downing

Simmons

(2019). Black girls and school discipline: The complexities of being overrepresented and understudied. Urban Education, 54(2), 211–242. https://doi.org/10.1177/0042085916646610

Ash

T. L.

Maguire

S. C.

(2023). A scoping review of diversity training for teachers: The potential for school psychology. School Psychology Review. https://doi.org/10.1080/2372966X.2023.2175585

Barden

Maddux

W. W.

Petty

R. E.

Brewer

M. B.

(2004). Contextual moderation of racial bias: The impact of social roles on controlled and automatically activated attitudes. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 87, 5–22. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022–3514.87.1.5

Bartoń

(2020). MuMIn. https://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/MuMIn/index.html

Ben Shahar

T. H

. (2017). Educational justice and big data. Theory and Research in Education, 15(3), 306–320. https://doi.org/10.1177/1477878517737155

Bishop

J. H.

(1989). Why the apathy in American high schools? Educational Researcher, 18(1), 6–42. https://doi.org/10.3102/0013189X018001006

Boyd

R. L.

Schwartz

H. A.

(2021). Natural language analysis and the psychology of verbal behavior: The past, present, and future states of the field. Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 40(1), 21–41. https://doi.org/10.1177/0261927X20967028

Bradshaw

C. P.

Mitchell

M. M.

O’Brennan

L. M.

Leaf

P. J.

(2010). Multilevel exploration of factors contributing to the overrepresentation of black students in office disciplinary referrals. Journal of Educational Psychology, 102, 508–520. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0018450

10.

Butz

D. A.

Plant

E. A.

(2009). Prejudice control and interracial relations: The role of motivation to respond without prejudice. Journal of Personality, 77(5), 1311–1342. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467–6494.2009.00583.x

11.

Chin

M. J.

Quinn

D. M.

Dhaliwal

T. K.

Lovison

V. S.

(2020). Bias in the air: A nationwide exploration of teachers’ implicit racial attitudes, aggregate bias, and student outcomes. Educational Researcher, 49(8), 566–578. https://doi.org/10.3102/0013189X20937240

12.

Darling-Hammond

Ruiz

Eberhardt

J. L.

Okonofua

J. A.

(2023). The dynamic nature of student discipline and discipline disparities. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 120(17), e2120417120. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2120417120

13.

Dovidio

J. F.

Gaertner

S. L.

Pearson

A. R.

(2017). Aversive racism and contemporary bias. In Sibley

C. G.

Barlow

F. K.

(Eds.), The Cambridge handbook of the psychology of prejudice (pp. 267–294). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781316161579.012

14.

Educational & Community Supports. (2021). School-wide Information System (SWIS) Suite. www.pbisapps.org

15.

Fabelo

Thompson

M. D.

Plotkin

Carmichael

Marchbanks

M. P. I.

Booth

E. A.

(2011). Breaking schools’ rules: A statewide study of how school discipline relates to students’ success and juvenile justice involvement. Council of State Governments Justice Center.

16.

Fazio

R. H.

Olson

M. A.

(2014). The MODE model: Attitude-behavior processes as a function of motivation and opportunity. In Sherman

J. W.

Gawronski

Trope

(Eds.), Dual-process theories of the social mind (pp. 155–171). The Guilford Press.

17.

Girvan

E. J.

(2016). Wise restraints?: Learning legal rules, not standards, reduces the effects of stereotypes in legal decision-making. Psychology, Public Policy, and Law, 22, 31–45. https://doi.org/10.1037/law0000068

18.

Girvan

E. J.

(2019). The law and social psychology of racial disparities in school discipline. In Bornstein

B. H.

Miller

M. K.

(Eds.), Advances in Psychology and Law: Volume 4 (pp. 235–276). Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978–3–030–11042–0_8

19.

Girvan

E. J.

Gion

McIntosh

Smolkowski

(2017). The relative contribution of subjective office referrals to racial disproportionality in school discipline. School Psychology Quarterly, 32, 392–404. https://doi.org/10.1037/spq0000178

20.

Girvan

E. J.

McIntosh

Santiago-Rosario

M. R.

(2021). Associations between community-level racial biases, office discipline referrals, and out-of-school suspensions. School Psychology Review, 50(2–3), 288–302. https://doi.org/10.1080/2372966X.2020.1838232

21.

Goff

P. A.

Jackson

M. C.

Di Leone

B. A. L.

Culotta

C. M.

DiTomasso

N. A.

(2014). The essence of innocence: Consequences of dehumanizing Black children. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 106, 526–545. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0035663

22.

Gregory

Skiba

R. J.

Noguera

P. A.

(2010). The achievement gap and the discipline gap: Two sides of the same coin? Educational Researcher, 39(1), 59–68. https://doi.org/10.3102/0013189X09357621

23.

Hagiwara

Slatcher

R. B.

Eggly

Penner

L. A.

(2016). Physician racial bias and word use during racially discordant medical interactions. Health Communication, 32(4), 401–408. https://doi.org/10.1080/10410236.2016.1138389

24.

Hodson

Dovidio

J. F.

Gaertner

S. L.

(2002). Processes in racial discrimination: Differential weighting of conflicting information. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 28(4), 460–471. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167202287004

25.

Huang

F. L.

(2020). Prior problem behaviors do not account for the racial suspension gap. Educational Researcher, 49(7), 493–502. https://doi.org/10.3102/0013189X20932474

26.

Ispa-Landa

(2018). Persistently harsh punishments amid efforts to reform: Using tools from social psychology to counteract racial bias in school disciplinary decisions. Educational Researcher, 47(6), 384–390. https://doi.org/10.3102/0013189X18779578

27.

Lafond-Brina

Pham

B.-T.

Bonnefond

(2023). Initiative apathy trait underlies individual differences in the ability to anticipate and expend cognitive effort in cost-benefit decision-making tasks. Cerebral Cortex, 33(12), 7714–7726. https://doi.org/10.1093/cercor/bhad074

28.

Larrimore

Jiang

Larrimore

Markowitz

D. M.

Gorski

(2011). Peer to peer lending: The relationship between language features, trustworthiness, and persuasion success. Journal of Applied Communication Research, 39(1), 19–37. https://doi.org/10.1080/00909882.2010.536844

29.

Liu

Hayes

M. S.

Gershenson

(2022a). JUE Insight: From referrals to suspensions: New evidence on racial disparities in exclusionary discipline. Journal of Urban Economics. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jue.2022.103453

30.

Liu

Penner

Gao

(2022b). Troublemakers? The role of frequent teacher referrers in expanding racial disciplinary disproportionalities. In EdWorkingPapers.com. Annenberg Institute at Brown University. https://www.edworkingpapers.com/ai22–616

31.

Losen

D. J.

Martinez

Shin

G. H. R.

(2021). Disabling inequity: The urgent need for race-conscious resource remedies. The Center for Civil Rights Remedies at the Civil Rights Project.

32.

Markowitz

D. M.

(2022). Gender and ethnicity bias in medicine: A text analysis of 1.8 million critical care records. PNAS Nexus, 1(4), pgac157. https://doi.org/10.1093/pnasnexus/pgac157

33.

Markowitz

D. M.

(2023). Instrumental goal activation increases online petition support across languages. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 124(6), 1133–1145. https://doi.org/10.1037/pspa0000333

34.

Markowitz

D. M.

Slovic

(2020a). Communicating imperatives requires psychological closeness but creates psychological distance. Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 39(5–6), 598–625. https://doi.org/10.1177/0261927X20902816

35.

Markowitz

D. M.

Slovic

(2020b). Social, psychological, and demographic characteristics of dehumanization toward immigrants. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 117(17), 9260–9269. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1921790117

36.

McIntosh

Ellwood

McCall

Girvan

E. J.

(2018). Using discipline data to enhance equity in school discipline. Intervention in School and Clinic, 53(3), 146–152. https://doi.org/10.1177/1053451217702130

37.

McIntosh

Frank

J. L.

Spaulding

S. A.

(2010). Establishing research-based trajectories of office discipline referrals for individual students. School Psychology Review, 39(3), 380–394. https://doi.org/10.1080/02796015.2010.12087759

38.

McIntosh

Girvan

E. J.

McDaniel

S. C.

Santiago-Rosario

M. R.

St. Joseph

Fairbanks Falcon

Izzard

Bastable

(2021). Effects of an equity-focused PBIS approach to school improvement on exclusionary discipline and school climate. Preventing School Failure: Alternative Education for Children and Youth, 65(4), 354–361. https://doi.org/10.1080/1045988X.2021.1937027

39.

Morgan

P. L.

Farkas

Hillemeier

M. M.

Wang

Mandel

DeJarnett

Maczuga

(2019). Are students with disabilities suspended more frequently than otherwise similar students without disabilities? Journal of School Psychology, 72, 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsp.2018.11.001

40.

Okonofua

J. A.

Eberhardt

J. L.

(2015). Two strikes: Race and the disciplining of young students. Psychological Science, 26(5), 617–624. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797615570365

41.

Okonofua

J. A.

Walton

G. M.

Eberhardt

J. L.

(2016). A vicious cycle: A social–psychological account of extreme racial disparities in school discipline. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 11(3), 381–398. https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691616635592

42.

Pennebaker

J. W.

(2011). The secret life of pronouns: What our words say about us. Bloomsbury Press.

43.

Pennebaker

J. W.

Boyd

R. L.

Booth

R. J.

Ashokkumar

Francis

M. E.

(2022). Linguistic inquiry and word count: LIWC-22. Pennebaker Conglomerates. https://www.liwc.app

44.

Riddle

Sinclair

(2019). Racial disparities in school-based disciplinary actions are associated with county-level rates of racial bias. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 116(17), 8255–8260. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1808307116

45.

Shi

Zhu

(2022). Equal time for equal crime? Racial bias in school discipline. Economics of Education Review, 88, 102256. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.econedurev.2022.102256

46.

Skiba

R. J.

Chung

C.-G.

Trachok

Baker

T. L.

Sheya

Hughes

R. L.

(2014). Parsing disciplinary disproportionality: Contributions of infraction, student, and school characteristics to out-of-school suspension and expulsion. American Educational Research Journal, 51(4), 640–670. https://doi.org/10.3102/0002831214541670

47.

Skiba

R. J.

Horner

R. H.

Chung

C.-G.

Rausch

M. K.

May

S. L.

Tobin

(2011). Race is not neutral: A national investigation of African American and Latino disproportionality in school discipline. School Psychology Review, 40(1), 85–107. https://doi.org/10.1080/02796015.2011.12087730

48.

Skiba

R. J.

Michael

R. S.

Nardo

A. C.

Peterson

R. L.

(2002). The color of discipline: Sources of racial and gender disproportionality in school punishment. The Urban Review, 34(4), 317–342. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1021320817372

49.

Smolkowski

Girvan

E. J.

Mcintosh

Nese

R. N. T.

Horner

R. H.

(2016). Vulnerable decision points for disproportionate office discipline referrals: Comparisons of discipline for African American and White elementary school students. Behavioral Disorders, 41(4), 178–195. https://doi.org/10.17988/bedi-41–04–178–195.1

50.

Stephan

W. G.

Stephan

C. W.

(1985). Intergroup anxiety. Journal of Social Issues, 41(3), 157–175. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540–4560.1985.tb01134.x

51.

Sullivan

A. L.

Klingbeil

D. A.

Van Norman

E. R.

(2013). Beyond behavior: Multilevel analysis of the influence of sociodemographics and school characteristics on students’ risk of suspension. School Psychology Review, 42(1), 99–114. https://doi.org/10.1080/02796015.2013.12087493

52.

U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights. (2021). Civil rights data collection. https://ocrdata.ed.gov/resources/downloaddatafile

53.

Voigt

Camp

N. P.

Prabhakaran

Hamilton

W. L.

Hetey

R. C.

Griffiths

C. M.

Jurgens

Jurafsky

Eberhardt

J. L.

(2017). Language from police body camera footage shows racial disparities in officer respect. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 114(25), 6521–6526. https://doi.org/10.1073/PNAS.1702413114

54.

Warikoo

Sinclair

Fei

Jacoby-Senghor

(2016). Examining racial bias in education: A new approach. Educational Researcher, 45(9), 508–514. https://doi.org/10.3102/0013189X16683408

55.

Welsh

R. O.

(2022). Schooling levels and school discipline: Examining the variation in disciplinary infractions and consequences across elementary, middle, and high schools. Journal of Education for Students Placed at Risk (JESPAR), 27(3), 270–295. https://doi.org/10.1080/10824669.2022.2041998

56.

Welsh

R. O.

Rodriguez

L. A.

(2023). The plight of persistently disciplined students: Examining frequent flyers and the conversion of office discipline referrals into suspensions. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis. https://doi.org/10.3102/01623737231155155

57.

Wun

(2016). Against captivity: Black girls and school discipline policies in the afterlife of slavery. Educational Policy, 30(1), 171–196. https://doi.org/10.1177/0895904815615439

58.

Yeager

D. S.

Purdie-Vaughns

Hooper

S. Y.

Cohen

G. L.

(2017). Loss of institutional trust among racial and ethnic minority adolescents: A consequence of procedural injustice and a cause of life-span outcomes. Child Development, 88(2), 658–676. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.12697

59.

Yzerbyt

Schadron

Leyens

J.-P.

Rocher

(1994). Social judgeability: The impact of meta-informational cues on the use of stereotypes. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 66(1), 48.

Supplementary Material

Please find the following supplemental material available below.

For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.

For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.

0.00 MB

0.36 MB

Taking Note of Our Biases: How Language Patterns Reveal Bias Underlying the Use of Office Discipline Referrals in Exclusionary Discipline

Abstract

Keywords

Get full access to this article

References

Supplementary Material