The relationship between academic tracking and exclusionary discipline actions has only been studied in a limited number of empirical studies. By placing students at the lower strata, schools deprive them of the educational opportunities, widening the educational opportunity gap in a process we define as "opportunity stratification."…

Research has shown that students of color continue to lag behind their White peers on standardized test scores and rates of college graduation (Gardner-Neblett et al., 2023) and that exclusionary discipline practices have contributed to this disparity and create negative outcomes for students (Bottiani et al., 2023; Cruz et al., 2021). Subjective…

Accounts of educational opportunity gaps for Black boys are overwhelmingly focused on later years of development. Achievement and discipline disparities are evident across their lifespan. Life course and intersectionality theories were used to develop a framework for understanding obstacles Black boys face during their preschool through high…

Relationships matter in the classroom. The connections elementary school teachers build with their students throughout the school year can affect learners as they move to secondary education. African American boys in third through fifth grade receive discipline consequences that remove them from classroom instruction, negatively impacting success…

School leaders must make decisions and implement strategies to improve a school climate and student achievement, and it benefits them to understand which areas of school climate have the greatest impact on student achievement. The State of Georgia measures school climate and student achievement with its school accountability measure, the College…

The gap in achievement and discipline between White and Black students is a significant problem in education across the nation. The objective of this study was to determine if the achievement gap increases once schools decrease suspension rates and offer alternatives to out-of-school suspension. The purpose of this study was to determine the…

Discipline disproportionality in education has been a topic of conversation for years. African American male students are suspended at much higher rates than their White peers. Although Black students represent less than half of the school population in the United States, they account for a majority of out-of-school suspensions and expulsions.…

The school-to-prison pipeline has been an ongoing phenomenon for many decades that disproportionately and negatively impacts students of color. Due to research suggesting school principals play a critical role in the student disciplinary decision-making process, the present study aimed to better understand how principals make discipline decisions…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between (a) beliefs and actions of a culturally responsive school leader and (b) opportunity gaps for Latinx students in a predominantly Latinx school. The study was conducted at a Title I suburban elementary school in the Southeastern Region of Texas. Using a qualitative case study…

School leaders across the state of California seek tools to reduce the use of exclusionary discipline and improve school climates. Research suggests that restorative practices (RPs) have the potential to achieve these ends, particularly when staff throughout the school implement, and students throughout the school experience, these practices.…

Student behavior is one of the top concerns for classroom teachers (Freiberg & Reyes, 2008). Student discipline has been a historic problem for teachers and schools alike. Students who misbehave tend to obstruct learning outcomes for students and negatively impact the efficacy and well-being of teachers (Tschannen-Moran & Woolfolk Hoy,…

Although developing a positive relationship between teachers and students is important for students to thrive in school, white teachers frequently fail to do this with their Black students. The failure of white teachers to connect with their Black students contributes to inequities such as disparities in academic achievement, the…

In this bibliometric review of the research landscape on achievement gaps, we analyze temporal trends and geographic distributions, identify key scholars and publications, and uncover the intellectual structure and thematic focus of achievement gap research. By examining 1,607 achievement gap studies between 1937 and 2023, we find that the…

In California, Black students have markedly lower academic achievement than their White peers and Black students are also more likely to experience exclusionary discipline, such as suspensions (Cano, 2020, Losen & Martinez, 2020). What can be done to mitigate these racial disparities in schools? In this brief, we investigate whether increasing…

Low levels of teacher diversity in U.S. elementary and secondary schools represent a wasted opportunity to narrow achievement gaps. Evidence from other states suggests that students of color have better outcomes in the classrooms of teachers of color, but the teaching workforce remains predominantly white. Teachers of color are underrepresented at…