Does discipline only skim the surface? The relationship between teachers' races and student discipline in elementary and secondary schools

Black students have been shown to receive disproportionally more discipline in schools than their White peers. At the classroom level, differences in teacher characteristics could influence the rate at which discipline referrals are written. Classroom management skills vary between teachers based upon the strengths and weaknesses individual teachers bring to the classroom. Teachers may also have differences in their ability to relate to students from other cultures. One area that has not been explored quantitatively is the effect of female teachers' races on the number of discipline referrals written for students of different races. This study explored the number of discipline referrals written for Black and White male students in the context of the race of the female teacher writing the referral. The purpose of this quantitative study of archival records was to relate Black and White female teachers' races to the average number of referrals for Black and White male students. There was no significant difference between Black and White female teachers in terms of the number of referrals written for all male students or for Black male students. Both Black and White female teachers wrote significantly more referrals for Black male students than for White male students.