Learning Forward
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A new way of thinking about reducing racial disparities in discipline
By Jason Okonofua
August 2024
About 1 in 20 K-12 students are suspended from school each year. For many years of my education, I was one of them. As a Black boy growing up in Memphis, Tennessee, I excelled at my schoolwork but struggled with school discipline. I once stood up for another kid who was about to get paddled in front of the class. I said it wasn’t right. The teacher said that I would get paddled next. I refused, so I was sent to the principal’s office. With each incident like this, my sense of frustration and unfairness mounted, and so did my disciplinary record. By 10th grade, I had attended a half-dozen schools, getting suspended four times and expelled once. Students from marginalized groups — including Black
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References
Okonofua, J.A., Goyer, J.P., Lindsay, C.A., Haugabrook, J., & Walton, G.M. (2022). A scalable empathic-mindset intervention reduces group disparities in school suspensions. Science Advances, 8(12).
Okonofua, J.A., Paunesku, D., & Walton, G.M. (2016). Brief intervention to encourage empathic discipline cuts suspension rates in half among adolescents. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 113(19), 5221-5226.
Paluck, E.L., Porat, R., Clark, C.S., & Green, D.P. (2021). Prejudice reduction: Progress and challenges. Annual Review of Psychology, 72(1), 533-560.
Spencer, K.B., Charbonneau, A.K., & Glaser, J. (2016). Implicit bias and policing. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 10(1), 50-63.
Vincent, C.G., Sprague, J.R., Pavel, M., Tobin, T.J., & Gau, J.M. (2015). Effectiveness of schoolwide positive behavior interventions and supports in reducing racially inequitable disciplinary exclusion. In D.J. Losen (Ed.), Closing the school discipline gap: Equitable remedies for excessive exclusion. Teachers College Press.
Wu, S.C., Pink, W., Crain, R., & Moles, O. (1982). Student suspension: A critical reappraisal. The Urban Review, 14(4), 245-303.
Jason Okonofua (jason_okonofua@brown.edu) is associate professor in the Department of Cognitive and Psychological Sciences at Brown University. His research focuses on processes by which racial stereotypes can shape outcomes of high-stakes relationships and on scalable means to mitigate those effects in various institutions and organizations. His work has been featured in popular press such as MSNBC, Wall Street Journal, and the New York Times. Â
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