Doctor of Education (EdD), Ohio University, 2022, Educational Administration (Education)

Challenging student behavior is a concern for teachers and administrators across the United States, and the situation in West Virginia is no different. In response to these behaviors, principals often use an exclusionary approach to discipline, including detentions, suspensions, and expulsions. While research indicates a functional approach to discipline is a highly effective strategy, teachers rarely utilize this approach, and little is known about if and when principals do. This qualitative study explored how principals define challenging behavior and make discipline decisions, identify which discipline practices they use, and determine if they apply the Circumstances View of Behavior (attributing a person's behavior to learning history and/or their environment) or a functional approach to discipline (considering why a behavior is happening) when making decision-related decisions. This was accomplished using discipline vignettes, semi-structured interviews, post-interview surveys, and document analysis within a Reflexive Thematic Analysis framework with a Multimethod Research design. This study synthesized a more comprehensive definition of challenging behavior for the participants and outlined traditional disciplinary practices along with an alternate approach expressed by one participant. The findings indicate that nearly all participants only partially subscribe to a Circumstances View of Challenging Behavior and a Functional View of Behavior and that partial subscription was not enough to shift their disciplinary decision-making away from progressive, exclusionary practices.

Committee: Charles Lowery (Committee Chair) Subjects: Behavioral Sciences; Early Childhood Education; Education; Educational Leadership; Educational Psychology; Educational Theory; Elementary Education; School Administration; Special Education; Teacher Education

EDD, Kent State University, 2023, College of Education, Health and Human Services / School of Foundations, Leadership and Administration

This study aimed to identify what school staff at a career-technical education high school believed about school discipline. The study employed Q Methodology to answer the research question regarding what school staff thought about discipline in schools. Participants completed a Q-sort and post-sort questionnaire to provide data. Qualitative and quantitative data analysis methods were used to interpret the results. The analysis revealed three factors: teachers expressed interest in using more proactive, positive approaches to discipline; teachers emphasized that context and background were important in making discipline-based decisions; and teachers believed that the school's culture suffered from an overemphasis on punitive measures along with other organizational concerns. The author identified several important areas the school could address to improve discipline policies and practices, and improve school culture, such as implementing PBIS, improving educational leadership, and providing more shared leadership opportunities.

Committee: Brian Barber (Committee Chair); Bridget Mulvey (Committee Member); Jennifer Schneider (Committee Member) Subjects: Education; Educational Leadership

Doctor of Education, Ashland University, 2023, College of Education

The problem of exclusionary discipline and the negative impact on students of color has been documented in the literature for many years. This pragmatic, qualitative dissertation examined teachers' and school administrators' practices and interventions they utilized to avoid exclusionary discipline. A structured interview process was used to interview eight teachers and two administrators from an urban school district in the Midwest. Teachers and administrators were asked what daily behavioral challenges they faced and what actions they took to avoid exclusionary discipline. Key findings from the research indicated efforts by school personnel to prevent disciplinary actions and exclusions. Interventions were built around relationship building, clear communication of expectations, and creating an inclusive school culture that is proactive versus reactive. There are also implications for teacher and administrator training, in creating caring, communities built around positive relationships.

Committee: Dr. Judy Alston (Advisor) Subjects: Education

PhD, University of Cincinnati, 2018, Education, Criminal Justice, and Human Services: Criminal Justice

Maintaining order in the classroom is one of the most important responsibilities of a teacher. Historically, during the colonial era in America, educators often relied upon the harsh practice of corporal punishment to enforce discipline in accordance with religious tradition. Following the end of the eighteenth century, however, the spread of progressive values led many scholars to challenge its ethical appropriateness in the classroom. As a useful replacement, suspension was employed to removal particularly troublesome students from the school temporarily and, failing that, permanent expulsion. Moreover, rising juvenile crime rates during the early 1900s began to foster a close bond between schools and the criminal justice system. This complementary relationship would eventually lead to the formation of what is now known as the “school-to-prison pipeline”—a metaphorical process by which socially disadvantaged or minority youth are removed from the positive influences of the school and further criminalized. Unfortunately, despite this rhetoric, there has been a lack of detailed research conducted to ascertain how exclusionary discipline operates, why it is used, and the typical characteristics of suspended or expelled students. Using a sample of serious adolescent offenders, this study examines the long-term consequences of school exclusion over a seven-year period on various measures of criminal offending. The findings suggest that the influence of a single suspension is relatively weak, that expulsion is generally detrimental, and that only excessive amounts of cumulative suspensions show a persistent longitudinal effect. Accordingly, a synthesis is provided in an attempt to resolve the conflict between student disciplinary procedures and the fundamental objectives of the school in modern society. Finally, these results are incorporated into a wider body of literature that recognizes the pervasive danger of antagonistic or physically violent children and the damag (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: John Wright Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Brian B. Boutwell Ph.D. (Committee Member); J.C. Barnes Ph.D. (Committee Member); Joseph Nedelec Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Criminology

Doctor of Education (Ed.D.), University of Findlay, 2017, Education

While many studies exist on the impact of parenting discipline styles, few exist in the area of school administrator discipline styles. This study investigated if school administrator discipline styles impact middle school students' standardized test scores and school climate from the middle school teachers' perspective. Participants included 239 teachers from 21 middle schools. Grade 6-8 Language Arts and math state standardized test passage percentage results were analyzed and the Delaware School Climate Survey was conducted with teachers through an online format. Results indicate no significant difference between school administrator's discipline style and students' standardized test scores. A significant difference was found between school administrator's discipline style and school climate. The authoritative discipline style positively impacts schools. School leaders should work to implement this school discipline style over authoritarian, permissive, and disengaged discipline styles.

Committee: Rahman Dyer Ph.D (Committee Chair); Michael Scoles Ed.D (Committee Member); John Cindric Ed.D (Committee Member) Subjects: Education; Education Philosophy; Educational Leadership; Educational Tests and Measurements; Educational Theory; Middle School Education; School Administration

Master of Arts in Education, University of Akron, 2015, Educational Foundations-Social/Philosophical Foundations of Education

Education is never neutral. Education always serves one of two ends. It is either an instrument of liberation or one of oppression. If the education system is not actively supporting the process of liberating the oppressed, it is necessarily, through integration, supporting the current oppressive regime (Freire, 1970). The above quote, written by Richard Shaull in the forward to Paulo Freire's Pedagogy of the Oppressed, summarizes well Freire's theory of education's two possible purposes. The question asked and answered in this study is as follows: which of these mutually exclusive ends does the system of education, in the United States of America, currently serve? Is it a system operating for liberation, or is it supporting the continuation of racial oppression through a racial caste system? In this study, I will examine how the funding gap, the achievement gap, and the discipline gap existing in K-12 schools have acted as one arm of a racial caste system that actively oppresses people of color, especially Black males, in this country. The second chapter in this study will begin with an exploration of three foundational concepts; Critical Race Theory, multiple forms of racism, and racial caste. Critical Race Theory (CRT) will be the lens through which this study is conducted. CRT's foundational concepts will establish a framework of ideas which will then be drawn upon as content is presented. Next, the chapter will explore the concepts of multiple forms of racism, individual versus systemic racism and provide a working definition of racism for the study. Finally, chapter two is dedicated to understanding racial caste, what it means, how it operates, and the history of education under its previous two manifestations in society, slavery and Jim Crow Law. Chapters three through five examine the three previously mentioned racial gaps through which the current racial caste system operates; the funding gap, the achievement gap, and the discipline gap. Chapter six, the (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Suzanne Mac Donald Dr. (Advisor); Huey-Li Li Dr. (Committee Member); Zachary Williams Dr. (Committee Member) Subjects: African American Studies; Black Studies; Education; Education History; Education Philosophy; Education Policy

Doctor of Education , University of Dayton, 2023, Educational Administration

Various research studies illustrate that Black students are targeted disproportionately when it comes to discipline in the public-school system. The focus of this research included determining the root causes of and providing solutions for the disproportionality of discipline referrals between Black and White students at Rocky Run Middle School (RRMS), a pseudonym for a middle school in rural Georgia. An action research design was used along with a phenomenological approach to identify perceived root causes of racial discipline disparities at RRMS and to provide potential solutions to the administrative team. Semi-structured interviews and a student focus group were conducted. Based on a Critical Participatory Action Research (CPAR) design, each participant provided feedback for the final action research plan. Study findings, a brief outline of the action plan, and the logic model informing the action plan are provided in the second section of the study. A detailed action plan is provided in the final section of the study.

Committee: James Olive (Committee Chair) Subjects: African Americans; Black Studies; Education; Educational Leadership; Middle School Education

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Bowling Green State University, 2022, Sociology

In the United States, school discipline remains a central fixture in the lives of students, teachers, administrators, and (by extension) families, peers, and romantic partners. Previous work has shown a robust association between exclusionary school punishment (i.e., suspensions, expulsions) and a variety of negative immediate and long-term outcomes. Much of the previous work, however, fixates on the punished individual, forgoing the role that key network actors outside of delinquent peers play in attenuating or exacerbating these pathways from school punishment to offending. This re-conceptualization lends support from the life course perspective and the potential role that “linked lives” play alongside turning points in altering individual life trajectories. Using the Toledo Adolescent Relationships Study (TARS), this dissertation examines the connection of formal punishment experiences from family and romantic partners (both school punishment and arrest/incarceration) to both immediate and long-term consequences stemming from individual school punishment experiences. Analyses begin with using regression techniques to test how family punishment experiences impact school attachment in adolescence, exclusionary school punishment, and adult criminal justice contact. Next, analyses focus on the role of romantic partner punishment experiences and test how relationship punishment matrices influence deviance amplification across adolescence and relationship quality. Finally, analyses tests the connection between cumulative network punishments and offending as it differs across race/ethnicity and gender. Full results indicate partial support for this reconceptualization of viewing punishment outside of the individual context. Formal punishments for parents and siblings have the potential to influence the process of detachment from school and criminal justice contact across adolescence and into adulthood. However, romantic partners' school discipline and arrest histo (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Monica Longmore PhD (Advisor); Peggy Giordano PhD (Committee Member); Paul Schauer PhD (Other); Thomas Mowen PhD (Committee Member); Wendy Manning PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Criminology; Sociology

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2020, Educational Studies

The Guns Free School Act of 1994 led to the overuse of zero tolerance discipline policies and practices in public schools. Policy evaluations, empirical studies, and the Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights found pervasive racial and gender disparities in school discipline in the decades following. When disaggregating discipline data for female students by race, Black girls consistently faced the highest rates of exclusionary punishments compared to any other racial group (regardless of other identifiers such as socioeconomic, disability, etc.). Despite this alarming trend, there is comparatively less scholarship and education policy focus on Black girls' educational experiences with school discipline. This sequential explanatory mixed-methods study used school and district-level data to investigate school discipline for female students in elementary, middle, and high-school in a Midwestern state. This study incorporated Black girls' voices to consider solutions by gathering their perspectives concerning current high school experiences related to discipline and effective alternatives and supportive resources for their schools.

Committee: Karen Beard Ph.D. (Advisor); Ann Allen Ph.D. (Committee Member); Minjung Kim Ph.D. (Committee Member); Kisha Radliff Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Black Studies; Education; Education Policy

Doctor of Education, Ashland University, 2019, College of Education

The purpose of this study is to bring information to urban middle school principals and teachers that come from urban black church leadership to show what leadership style and recommendations can better address urban black middle school behaviors. This study investigates challenges that urban middle school teachers and principals face in motivating urban middle school students to exhibit positive behaviors al outcomes. Additionally, this study examines a unique group of urban middle school students who were once behaviorally challenged in the classroom, but began attending an urban black church and as a result encountered and began to work with and be mentors by three types of leaders within the urban black church (Senior Pastor, Youth Pastor, and Musical Director) and began displaying positive behaviors not only within the urban black church but also within the urban middle school for which they attended. This study examines the leadership styles of urban black church leadership to provide recoomendations to both urban middle school teachers and principals on ways in which to help urban middle school students achieve positive behavioral gains within urban middle schools.

Committee: James Olive PhD (Committee Chair); Judy Alston PhD (Committee Member); Rosaire Ifedi EdD (Committee Chair) Subjects: Educational Leadership; Middle School Education; School Administration

Doctor of Philosophy, University of Akron, 2017, Sociology

The relationship between educational attainment and involvement in the criminal justice system is one of the strongest and most consistent findings in sociological literature. Contributing to the relationship between school failure and criminal justice involvement is the increased use of exclusionary discipline in schools. However, the use of suspension and expulsion is disproportionately applied to ethno-racial minorities, with black youth experiencing the highest rates of exclusionary discipline. The link between exclusionary discipline and eventual involvement in the criminal justice system has been aptly named the “school-to-prison pipeline.” This dissertation extends the school-to-prison pipeline literature by examining the pathways from school exclusion to criminal offending with a particular focus on ethno-racial differences. In addition, this project addresses a major gap in the school-to-prison pipeline literature by identifying protective mechanisms, such as school and family attachment, that work to buffer the impact of exclusionary discipline on negative life outcome as well as if those protective effects vary across ethno-racial group. Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (Add Health), generalized path analytic techniques were used to determine the pathways from school exclusion to criminal offending across white, black, and Hispanic youth. As hypothesized, there were significant ethno-racial differences in the impact of exclusionary discipline on the pathways to future delinquency, dropout, and criminal offending. In addition, the effect of suspension/expulsion was conditioned by the student's level of attachment to school and family. Results also suggest significant variation in the protective effects of school and family attachment across ethno-racial group.

Committee: Valerie Callanan (Committee Co-Chair); Robert Peralta (Committee Co-Chair); Juan Xi (Committee Member); Tiffany Bergin (Committee Member); Delila Owens (Committee Member) Subjects: Criminology; Educational Sociology; Sociology

Master of Arts (MA), Bowling Green State University, 2017, Sociology

There has been a substantial increase in the use of school sanctions over the past several decades due to the adoption of “zero tolerance” policies (Hutchinson & Pullman, 2007). Research on the school to prison pipeline suggests that school sanctions are associated with negative outcomes in adolescence and adulthood. The literature has not yet explored the relationship between exclusionary discipline experiences and neighborhood attainments. The current study uses The National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health) to examine the relationship between school sanctions and neighborhood poverty, with incarceration and adult transitions as potential mediators of this relationship. Prior research has found that experiencing exclusionary school discipline is particularly harmful to black students (Wolf & Kupchik, 2017) and therefore, I explore the roles of race and ethnicity as potential moderators in this relationship. I have four hypotheses about the nature of the relationship between school sanctions and neighborhood attainment: 1) suspension and expulsion will predict a higher level of neighborhood poverty in adulthood; 2) this relationship will be mediated by incarceration; 3) the relationship will be mediated adult transitions, including educational attainment, employment status, and family transitions; and 4) the relationship between school sanctions and neighborhood poverty will be strongest for black students who have experienced exclusionary school discipline. Partial support is found for hypotheses 1, 3, and 4, while hypothesis 2 is not supported.

Committee: Raymond Swisher Ph.D (Committee Chair); Stephen Demuth Ph.D (Committee Member); Danielle Kuhl Ph.D (Committee Member) Subjects: Sociology

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 1980, Graduate School

Committee: Not Provided (Other) Subjects: Education

Master of Arts (MA), Ohio University, 2016, Sociology (Arts and Sciences)

School Criminalization has emerged in the education system of the United States as an issue that students, especially minority students and students with disabilities, are confronted with. The concept emerged as a result of violent crimes being committed across the nation's schools. To combat the issue, schools adopted policies and methods to prevent further violent and criminal acts from occurring. Schools have increased reliance on law enforcement personnel, equipment, and policies to handle student misbehavior. The literature underlines the effects the shift has had on the handling of issues seen within the school environment. The shift has led to a change in the atmosphere of schools, emergence of racial disparities with school discipline, and a trend referred to as the “school to prison pipeline.” This study examines eight African-American university students' experiences with school discipline as high school students. The purpose of the study is not to just depict how participants dealt with the issue at hand, but how they managed to demonstrate resilience and earn an opportunity to pursue a college education. In-depth interviews were conducted which gathered data on participants experiences with discipline, relationships, involvement in various activities, and their college experiences. What the data illustrates are how some participants managed to avoid school discipline through a variety of means, while others had more difficult journey to navigate. Despite the differences, each participant graduated high school and earned the opportunity to pursue a college education. The factors that helped these individuals demonstrate resilience was found with the relationships they shared with important figures and their involvement in various activities. The findings of this study offer implications that indicate how vital relationships and involvement can help shape a student's educational experience in high school.

Committee: Charlie Morgan Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Debra Henderson Ph.D. (Committee Member); Elizabeth Lee Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Sociology

Doctor of Education (EdD), Ohio University, 2016, Educational Administration (Education)

This qualitative study will examine the Harmon City Alternative Education Center (AEC) through the lens of alternative schools in general and specifically alternative schools designed as discipline interventions for students who are expelled from school. This research provides a case study of the Alternative to Expulsion Program of the Harmon City Schools (HCS) and is located in a midwestern state in the United States. Very often during the data collection phase of a case study other issues emerge that may change the course of the study. The emerging subject for this study is the plight of Black males who seem to be overrepresented as clients of the AEC and other such schools. This research will investigate the reasons for the overrepresentation of Black males and their referrals regarding school discipline, look at how the AEC is perceived in the community, and determine whether or not attendance at this center effects student behavior once the student returns to the traditional school. This investigation will include a discussion of student discipline and the achievement gaps between races, the effect of socioeconomic status and race on discipline referrals as well as negative teacher attitudes and their effect on discipline. Critical Race Theory and Sociall Justice Theory are used as a backdrop for this study.

Committee: Dwan Robinson PhD (Advisor) Subjects: African Americans; Education; Gender

Doctor of Philosophy, Case Western Reserve University, 2014, English

This dissertation analyzes contemporary high school rhetorics and institutional discourse, with specific focus on attendance, discipline, and dress code policies. The analysis is employed through an embodiment reading of high school handbooks and high school buildings. A theoretical lens comprised of the work of Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Michel Foucault, and Sara Ahmed is utilized throughout the dissertation, and the primary methods of analysis are Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) and primary metaphor analysis. The dissertation suggests that a more thoughtful and informed approach to the development of educational discourse may have the power to radically change (for the better) the way we educate high school students. The core problem addressed is the existence of a rhetorical mismatch between author and audience; current educational discourse/rhetoric fails to connect with its target audience (high school students) on many counts and perhaps in some ways actively alienates them. The appropriate intervention must examine and interrogate that discourse/rhetoric and ultimately suggest alternative modes, tone, and content that might be more effective and productive in engaging the desired audience.

Committee: Kimberly Emmons Dr. (Committee Chair) Subjects: Composition; Education Philosophy; Education Policy; Rhetoric

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2012, Sociology

In recent decades, the transformation of school disciplinary climates with the passage of zero tolerance policies led to the expansion of punishment in schools in recent decades (Hirschfield 2008; Kupchik 2006). Mirroring the ideology of mandatory sentencing in the criminal justice system, zero tolerance policies mandate automatic suspension or expulsion for specific, pre-determined offenses. However, the impact of crime control tactics in school settings has not been felt equally by all students. Minority students, particularly black males are increasingly overrepresented in exclusionary forms of school discipline (Gregory and Weinstein 2008). Although black students' make-up only 17 percent of those enrolled in public schools, they account for 32 percent of all students suspended (Skiba 2002). Though researchers have consistently documented and described persistent racial gaps in school suspension, the examination of school context and its role in shaping individual punishment outcomes, has been nearly absent from the literature. To remedy that shortcoming, the present study investigates if school contexts, particularly school disciplinary climate and school composition matter for shaping individual likelihood of suspension and if the effects of school characteristics are moderated by student attributes. In other words, which aspects of school organization are associated with the likelihood of punishment? The school effects tradition contends that aspects of school organization are important for predicting student educational outcomes (Bryk and Lee 1992). Furthermore, racial threat theory argues that use of social control is intensified in places with larger black populations. Drawing from an intersection of sociological and criminological perspectives I examined several theoretically derived hypotheses to test relationships between school context, race and punishment. The results from the multi-level analyses demonstrate that students who attend schools that e (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Claudia Buchmann PhD (Advisor); Ruth D. Peterson PhD (Committee Member); Dana Haynie PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Criminology; Educational Sociology; Sociology

Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 1961, Graduate School

Committee: Not Provided (Other) Subjects:

Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 1960, Graduate School

Committee: Not Provided (Other) Subjects:

Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 1964, Graduate School

Committee: Not Provided (Other) Subjects: