Are you knowledgeable in quantative research design?

Schept, Wall, & Brisman (2015) stated that the implementation of zero tolerance on school grounds with the growing number of presence of police in schools have led to the criminalization of school discipline. Schools districts nation- wide began to increase the use of school resource officers on campus, particularly in inner city schools. Also, hardline discipline measures were implemented. In other words, a zero-tolerance approach toward student misconducted became the norm, hence the process criminalization versus education of poor, minority youth. Many studies conducted have shown a clear link between school expulsion in the form of outdoor suspension and juvenile detention. For instance, Skiba, Horner, Chung, & Rausch (2011) stated that an overrepresentation in out-of-school suspension and expulsion appears to place African American students at risk for poor academic performance and involvement in the juvenile justice system. When students are placed on outdoor suspension, too often they are left without any adult supervision which leads to an increase likelihood of them engaging in criminal behavior.

Many experts have proposed alternative school discipline policies in an effort to reduce the outdoor suspension rate, which ultimately reduces the criminalization of today’s youth. Mallet (2012) suggest that one way to eliminate school-to-prison (STP) phenomenon is to incorporate social workers to work with high risk groups along with early identification of special education students in the juvenile courts. Social workers should be working with at risk youth and their families. Social workers could be instrumental in ensuring students are benefiting from programs that would foster their social skills and meeting their basic needs; food and shelter. However, early identification of special education students in juvenile courts means that they have already been exposed to the criminalization versus education process. The goal is to deter students away from this entirely. In the article, “The Wise Arrest Diversion Program” the authors analyze the WISE arrest program. The WISE diversion Program offered academic support, mentoring, and daily progress monitoring to students who committed nonviolent crimes on campus. Students were enrolled in the program instead of being arrested when they committed a non-violent offense. In the article, ‘Critical Incidents in Sustaining School-Wide Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports”, the authors discuss a tiered school-wide behavioral intervention plan. This behavioral plan focuses on positive reinforcement for adults and students. The WISE program is more of a comprehensive plan that addresses multiple needs of the student versus just the behavior aspect that the multi-tiered intervention addresses. A multi-tiered plan can be incorporated into any school model. An alternative behavioral plan needs to be in place, however that’s only a part of the solution. Academic support for a curriculum that is relevant to the students has to encompass.

Addressing the needs of the at risk youth group should be foremost. “The Learning Disability to Juvenile Detention Pipeline: A Case Study discusses the correlation between teens diagnosed with learning and/or emotional disability and the juvenile court system. This study clearly identified minority, special education students from lower socio economical background as the group mostly represented. The question that educators must address is how do these students learn best. How to incorporate appropriate social and problem solving skills into their daily curriculum. At-Risk youth must see the relevancy in the lesson to their lives, a connection must be made. Also, as a veteran teacher, I’ve noted that sitting in rows with no movement or interaction simply does not fit the needs of special education students. Their brains are wired for hands on learning and regular movement. I would even go as far as to suggest a curriculum that centers around their reality. This would allow students to connect to the stories, hence connecting to the class and less likely to misbehave. Wilson (2013) states that due to the disproportionate number of special education students, administrators and teachers that academic and behavior support is in place for this sub group.

Statement of the Problem

The school-to-prison pipeline is a phenomenon that describes at risk youth who are over represented in the juvenile justice system. Several factors cause at-risk youth to transition from the school system to juvenile system. Cramer, E. D., Gonzalez, L., & Pellegrini-Lafont, C. (2014) conducted research which indicated that African American males that have been diagnosed with a learning disability are the highest risk group to be subjected to this phenomenon. The second highest at risk group are Latino males. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics (2011), both African American and Latino males also make up the majority of the prison population and dropout rate. This correlation has been studied and proven to be an effect of the criminalization of at risk youth, usually for non-violent offenses. Many studies conducted have shown a clear link between school expulsion in the form of outdoor suspension and juvenile detention. According to Cuellar, A. E., & Markowitz, S. (2015) Outdoor suspension may increase criminal offending behavior by problem youth, more than doubling the probability of arrest. Wilson, H. (2014) also argues the same point that school expulsion and suspensions is the leading contributor to school-to prison pipeline phenomenal. Skiba, R. J., Arredondo, M. I., & Williams, N. T. (2014) suggest that there is a direct correlation between an increase of student suspension, which doubled from 1974 to 2010, to the creation of the school-to-prison pipeline. When students are placed on outdoor suspension, too often they are left without any adult supervision which leads to an increased likelihood of them engaging in criminal behavior. It is the engagement of the criminal behavior while out of school that propels youth into the pipeline. The problem is that poor, minority students who are classified under special education are over represented in the school-to-prison pipeline phenomenon.

The purpose of the quantitative study is to examine the relationship between students’ ethnicity and disciplinary consequences. The researcher seeks to identify any trends that suggest African American, males who fall under special education are placed on outdoor suspension at a higher rate for the same action versus white counterparts. The study’s variables include race, gender, age, socioeconomically factors, special education status. The school’s discipline policy as well as the behavior infraction will also variables in the study. The study will be conducted in a large urban school setting in South Florida. The participants will be African American, Latino, and White middle school students, ages 11-16; who received a referral for a discipline infraction.

Q1. Do African American males have a higher rate of outdoor suspension compared to other ethnicities?

Q2. Are African American males referred to administration by classroom teacher for non-violent disciplinary infractions at a higher rate compared to other ethnicities?

H10. African American males are disproportionally disciplined compared to other ethnicities due teacher’s inability to develop a positive relationship with this population.

H1a African American males are not disproportionally disciplined compared to other ethnicities due teacher’s inability to develop a positive relationship with this population.

H1a. African Americans have a higher percentage of students compared to other ethnicities who come from poor, high stress environments which causes students to have distress.

H1a African Americans do not have a higher percentage of students compared to other ethnicities who come from poor, high stress environments which causes students to have distress.

In my quantitative study, I will utilize Causal-comparative/quasi-experimental research design. According to Baltimore County Public Schools (2013) This type of design attempts to establish cause and effects relationships among variables. The study’s purpose is to seek the cause and effect relationship of ethnicity and school disciplinary actions. The researcher will examine if different variables such as: race, age, gender, and poverty causes a higher rate of African American students being disciplined compared to other ethnicities. The researcher will analyze the school’s disciplinary documents to identify trends in who was disciplined and in what manner which they were disciplined. Researcher will identify, analyze and conclude whether independent variables impact discipline actions and if so, which ones.

1. Construct/Variable 1. Categorical Variable- Usually an independent or predictor variable that contains values indicating membership in one of several possible categories. The study will have several independent variables with assigned numerical value. The first, Ethnicity-Black (1), Hispanic (2), White (3), Other (4). Second independent variable, Gender-Male (0) or Female (1). Third independent variable, Socio Economic Status- Eligible for free or reduce lunch, yes (1) or no (2). Fourth, Age-11-16. Fifth, positive feeling toward school- Low, medium, high. And lastly, Special Education (ESE) Yes (1) or No (2)

Construct/Variable 2. Dependent variable- The presumed effect in an experimental study. The values of the dependent variable depend upon another variable, the independent variable. Disciplinary Action is the study’s dependent variable. The study will investigate if the independent variables effect how the student is disciplined by teachers and/or school administration.

Data Collection

The data collection will be from multiple sources. One-to-one structured interviews, classroom observation, and school’s discipline and academic documents will be used. Researcher will meet with parents or guardians to discuss the details of the study. Parents will be informed of their right to withdraw their child at any point in the study. Also, parents will be required to give informed consent. A total of 20 at-risk youth will participate in the study: 12 African American, 8 Hispanic, 16-males. 4-females. The study will take place over a nine-month period, September-May. The interviews will last 25-30 minutes. To protect the identity of the participants, the researcher will assign numbers to each participant. Participants will be asked 15-20 questions, for example: “What is your favorite class?”, “What do you like best about your favorite class?” Data will be stored on a flash drive. Only the researcher will have access to flash drive.

Data Analysis

Analysis of the data which includes data from interviews and school’s records will begin by coding. Researcher will utilize a computer program that will identify key words and phrases in participants’ interviews. Researcher will use a computer program such as HyperRESEARCH. Green (2011) explains that HyperRESEARCH allows researchers to code, retrieve, build theories and conduct analysis. HyperRESEARCH codes all kinds of sources; audio, video and notes.

Validity and Reliability

Krathwohl (2009) states that validity refers to the degree to which evidence and theory can support the interpretation of the tests. The study’s validity will be ensured by comparing the discipline actions of the various independent variables. In other words, examining if students’ ethnicity increased or decreased odds of out of school disciplinary actions. Krathwohl (2009) states that Stability Reliability is how consistent outcome is over a period of time. The research will compare discipline actions among the different independent variables at the end of each grading period: 1st nine weeks, 2nd nine weeks, 3rd nine weeks and 4th nine weeks. The same outcome at the end of each nine weeks will show the degree of reliability in the study. The study is made credible by the respondents answers and observation made in participants natural academic setting.

Krathwohl (2009) states that leaving a clear audit trail is a way of helping to assure that you attended to dependability and consistency. The study’s dependability will be ensured by accurate recording of respondent’s responses and classroom interactions. The researcher has no bias in the study. The researcher does not have a preference of classroom student engagement or school-wide behavioral modification plans.

References

Baltimore County Public Schools (2013). Key elements of a research proposal: Quantitative design.

Cramer, E. D., Gonzalez, L., & Pellegrini-Lafont, C. (2014). From classmates to inmates: An integrated approach to Cramer, E. D., Gonzalez, L., & Pellegrini-Lafont, C. (2014). From classmates to inmates: An integrated approach to break the school-to-prison pipeline. Equity & Excellence In Education, 47(4), 461-475. doi:10.1080/10665684.2014.958962

Cuellar, A. E., & Markowitz, S. (2015). School suspension and the school-to-prison pipeline. International Review Of Law & Economics, doi:10.1016/j.irle.2015.06.001

Krathwohl, D. (2009). Methods of educational and social science research: The logic of methods. Long Grove, IL: Waveland Press

Mallett, C. A. (2015). The school-to-prison pipeline: A critical review of the punitive paradigm shift. Child & Adolescent Social Work Journal, doi:10.1007/s10560-015-0397-1

Wilson, M. G. (2013). Disrupting the Pipeline: The Role of School Leadership in Mitigating Exclusion and Criminalization of Students. Journal Of Special Education Leadership, 26(2), 61-70.

Schept, J., Wall, T., & Brisman, A. (2015). Building, staffing, and insulating: An architecture of criminological complicity in the school-to-prison pipeline. Social Justice, 41(4), 96-115. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.proxy1.ncu.edu/docview/1713975672?accountid=28180