1.NATIONAL FORUM OF EDUCATIONAL ADMINISTRATION AND SUPERVISION JOURNALVOLUME 26, NUMBER 3, 2009-2010 THE ROLE OF PRINCIPALS ETHNICITYAND GENDER IN THE SUSPENSION OFAFRICAN AMERICAN STUDENTS Patricia Hoffman-Miller Prairie View A&M UniversityABSTRACTThe overrepresentation of African American students in suspensions and expulsions isnot a new phenomenon. Frequent disciplinary practices in public schools result inbehavioral and cognitive problems as early as kindergarten. In the current era ofaccountability and testing, school districts cannot afford to exclude significant groups ofchildren. Urban districts are the losers in this accountability paradigm, with repeatedout of school suspensions disproportionately affecting student achievement. There isirrefutable congruence between student attendance and academic performance. Previousresearchers established a positive correlation between suspension rates and studentethnicity. Research is vague as to the ethnicity and gender of principals responsible forsuspensions. This research sought to determine if there were relationships between theethnicity and gender of principals and student suspensions in a small urban schooldistrict in Pennsylvania.T he exclusion of African American students, through legalmeans such as suspension and expulsion, presents aninteresting paradox as school districts across the countryattempt to meet the mandates of No Child Left Behind. Thislegislation mandates accountability in instruction through standards-based curricular reform, with clearly delineated expectations for allstudent achievement. Student and student sub-groups attendingschools in urban and rural areas must master proficiency across allcurricular areas, irrespective of ethnicity, gender, language, orhandicapping condition. Although all District and State Boards ofEducation must adhere to the requirements of this legislation, studentachievement in Title I Schools must meet Average Yearly progress(AYP) or risk substantive sanctions from the State and Federalgovernments.62

2. 63 NATIONAL FORUM OF EDUCATIONAL ADMINISTRATION AND SUPERVISION JOURNAL__________ Of particular concern to educational policy makers is theperceived inability of African American and Hispanic students toachieve parity on standardized tests. Closing the achievement gap is arequirement of all school districts irrespective of boundaries or wealth.No Child Left Behind Requires that districts report all data, withstudent test scores disaggregated according to a set of predeterminedvariables. Variables such as socio-economic status (SES), race andgender, represent a portion of the assessment, and contribute to thedistricts report card. Nationally, a number of affluent suburban andsuburban-fringe school districts were unable to improve studentachievement, as reflected through State assessment measures.For urban districts dependent upon the receipt of Title I funds,the consequences of this inability is complete loss of local control,State takeover of district operations, and/or re-structuring. Publiclyelected policy makers, facing increased criticism and scrutiny from thepublic acquiesced to school administrators looking for a quick fix,through the adoption of research-based programs that failed to offerprescriptive solut8ions to the districts problem. Many districts, indesperation, substituted curricular solutions aimed at instantaneousreform, despite the fact that these solutions were incapable ofaddressing contextual inertia and dysfunction. The problem of inertia,coupled with an inordinately high rate of suspensions among African-American students, presents a complex set of problems for manyschool districts. Unfortunately, as the number of African Americanstudent suspensions increases in many districts, the goal of closing theachievement gap and improving student achievement becomes lessand less attainable.Inherent in the No Child Left Behind statute is the safe schoolrequirement, a product of zero-tolerance legislation enacted inresponse to school violence. After the first school shooting in 1988,the American public demanded safe school initiatives designed topunish and remove offenders. Harsh disciplinary sanctions were theresults of this public outcry, as the Congress passed the Safe and DrugFree Schools Act in 1994. The images of Columbine further solidified 3. Patricia Hoffman-Miller 64the public and elected officials perception of school based violence inpublic education. These perceptions resulted in an over-reaction tominor student misconduct with little if any differentiation betweenviolent and non-violent student actions by district administrators.Student suspensions increased dramatically during this period.The burden of suspensions rested primarily on AfricanAmerican students. Research determined that African Americanstudents consistently received more severe school discipline for lessserious behavior (MacFadden, 1992) with a strong correlation betweenracial disparities in student discipline and perceived studentinfractions. African American students are continually subjected todisproportionate out of school suspensions (Boyd, 2000; Casella,2003; Costenbader & Markson, 1998; Gadlin & Morales, 1999;Garibaldi, 1992; Garibaldi, Blanchard & Brooks, 1997; Hall, 2000;Morrison & DIncau, 1997; Richart, Brooks & Soler, 2003; Short,1994; Skiba, Michale & Nardo, 2000; Skiba, Peterson & Williams,1997; Townsend, 2000). Zero tolerance policies adopted by schooldistricts appear to have exacerbated minority overrepresentation in theapplication of discipline. While these policies initially focused onthose egregious actions considered dangerous, recent application ofthese policies by administrators demonstrates little congruencebetween serious violent actions embodied in the initial legislation andless serious offenses. Less serious offenses, such as defiance,disrespect and chronic lateness, certainly do not constitute actionswarranting out of school suspension (Townsend, 2000). Manypublicized reports suggest that the majority of African Americanstudents receive suspensions for actions that are subjective in nature. In contrast, serialized school violence embodies the breadthand intent of the original zero tolerance legislation. Serialized schoolviolence occurs primarily at rural, suburban and suburban-fringedistricts, committed by White adolescent males. One may differentiateserialized school violence from school based violence in that it 4. 65 NATIONAL FORUM OF EDUCATIONAL ADMINISTRATION AND SUPERVISION JOURNAL__________involves serialized violent actions against an entire school population.One or more students, armed with weapons and/or explosives,generally commit these actions, with the intent of inflicting bodilyharm or injury upon all students, teachers and administrators.Despite the fact that the actions representing serialized schoolviolence are committed by White males, the burden of suspensionsfalls heavily on minority students. While the actions of White maleshastened the implementation of mandated zero-tolerance policies, theeffects of zero-tolerance cannot be generalized across racial lines,particularly among White male adolescents.For African American students, the impact of these policies ispolitically and economically catastrophic. Increasing numbers ofchildren find themselves removed from school by exclusionarypolicies heretofore reserved for the most egregious offenses. Thesedraconian measures have effectively denied millions of children theopportunity to participate in a just and equitable education. The resultsof our collective failure to deal with the impact of student exclusionwill become even more apparent as increased percentages of urbanschools fail to make Adequate Yearly Progress and graduation cohortrates decline propitiously.Administrators, Teachers and School Climate Students do not fail simply because they are black or poor or pregnant or from a single-parent home. They fail, in part, because schools are not responsive to the conditions and problems accompanying these personal and SES (sic) conditions (Wehlage, Rutter, Smith, Lesko & Fernandez, 1989). A negative school climate may have a deleterious effect onschool behavior and engagement. When students feel alienated fromschool, behavior and academic achievement declines substantially. thesense of not belonging to the school contributes to alienation and a 5. Patricia Hoffman-Miller 66lack of interest in school activities (Eckstrom, 1986). Researchdiscloses that when a significant difference exists between thestudents culture and the schools culture, teachers can easily misreadstudents aptitudes, intent and abilities as a result of the difference instyles of language used and interactional patterns (Delpit, 1995).This cultural disconnect often places minority students inconflict with expected school norms, exacerbating alienation andacademic achievement. Poor attitudes about school appear to correlatewith low academic achievement as well as behavioral problems.Eckstrom (1986) determined in a national study that, not likingschool was a primary reason for dropping out.Numerous school factors contribute to student engagement andsuccess. The role of teachers and administrators, particularly wherediscipline is concerned, should not be underestimated and warrantsfurther scrutiny. School disciplinary actions represent the most viableset of practices, procedures and attitudes which, when they gounchecked, can be devastating (Coppock, 1984). School officials andteachers may knowingly or unknowingly provoke and exacerbatestudent misbehavior through the interaction between adults andchildren in the school (Dupper, 1996).Teachers, through verbal or non-verbal communication, rejectthe presence of certain children, based on either race and/or gender;establish the foundation for student disaffection and disciplinaryproblems. Inconsistencies in the application of disciplinary policies bybuilding administrators are powerful determinants of student behavior,particularly at the secondary level.Research in out of school suspensions determined that AfricanAmerican and other minority students receive suspensions for trivialoffenses (Dupper, 1996) such as disruption of school, or defiance ofauthority. These subjective labels reflect the true nature ofstudent/teacher/ administrator interaction, particularly where racialprejudice or profiling exists. 6. 67 NATIONAL FORUM OF EDUCATIONAL ADMINISTRATION AND SUPERVISION JOURNAL__________The Center for Evaluation and Education Policy examinedsuspensions and expulsions in Indiana (Rausch & Skiba, 2004).Ninety-five percent of all out of school suspensions in Indiana werethe result of two categories: disruptive behavior and other. These twocategories also represented 70% of all expulsions. African Americanstudents account for a suspension rate that is two and one half timesthat of White students (Rausch & Skiba, 2004).Rausch and Skibas research reflects sobering attitudes towardout of school suspensions and expulsions by building principals.Strong relationships were identified in this research between rates ofstudent suspension and expulsion and student achievement. Schoolswith higher rates of out of school suspensions and expulsions hadlower than average passing rates on the Indiana State Test ofEducational Progress (ISTEP). Controlling for student socio-economicstatus (SES), the percent of African American student enrollment,school size, type and location, poor student achievement waspositively correlated with out of school suspensions (Rausch & Skiba,2004).Previous research demonstrated the existence of over-representation of African American students in school suspensions.Skiba, Peterson & Williams (1997) and Wu, Pink, Cram & Moles(1982) found that SES was a powerful determinant in studentsuspensions. In addition, membership in a minority group positivelycorrelated with the rate of student suspensions. Despite the mandatedand discretionary power bestowed upon building administrators, therelationship between principal race and gender and studentsuspensions remains largely unexplored. The purpose of this researchwas to explore this relationship. 7. Patricia Hoffman-Miller 68 MethodologyParticipantsThis research involved an analysis of all disciplinary actions byadministrators resulting in out of school suspensions of students in asmall urban school district in Pennsylvania. The school district served8,628 students, with 78.3% of the student population classified asAfrican American. The remainder of the student population consistedof 8.1% White, 11% Hispanic, and 2.6% other. Table 1 reflects thedistribution of the student population by ethnicity.Table 1 Distribution of Student Population by Race 1999-2000Race N PercentageAfrican American 675778.3%White070308.1%Hispanic 094511.0%Other022302.6% Total 8628100% During 1999-2000, there were 4,498 cases of suspension in thedistrict. As a percent of total enrollment, suspensions accounted for52.7% of the entire school population. Of the total studentsuspensions, African American students represented the largestnumber of students suspended, accounting for 3,858 cases ofsuspension or 85.8%.Those students suspended in the school district during the1999-2000 school year were the sample and population for thisresearch. Therefore, all student suspensions in the district, irrespectiveof grade level (K-12) became the population and sample. Data werenot disaggregated insofar as regular or special education students wereconcerned. Each suspension constituted one case of suspension. Building administrators represented the following racial andgender composition: five African American females; four African 8. 69 NATIONAL FORUM OF EDUCATIONAL ADMINISTRATION AND SUPERVISION JOURNAL__________American males; three White males; five White females; and, oneHispanic female. Data regarding administrator age, level of educationand years of experience were not a part of the analysis. The Superintendent of the school district granted permission toconduct this research and provided access to district records for thispurpose. Procedures The disciplinary data were collected from the monthlysuspension report submitted by each building administrator. Datagenerated from this report consisted of building number, administrator,teacher, date of incident, student name, age, race, gender, infractioncode, number of days suspended and a short narrative describing thestudent behavior resulting in out of school suspension. Children received referrals to building principals by classroomteachers for actions demonstrating a violation of School Board policy.Once a child was referred, a building principal or Assistant Principalassumed the responsibility for assigning in school or out of schoolsuspension, based on the districts disciplinary infraction code. Thedistrict considered thirty-six possible violations of its disciplinary codewhen assigning disciplinary action. Building administrators haddiscretion in the application of disciplinary policies, provided theaction of a student did not endanger the health, safety, and well-beingof students and/or faculty and did not interfere with the educationalprocess. The districts disciplinary policy encouraged progressivediscipline, based on the nature and severity of the infraction.Data from the monthly suspension report was coded andsubsequently analyzed at the incident and building level. Personal datapertaining to student name, address and any other identifyinginformation was redacted in keeping with the districts request foranonymity. 9. Patricia Hoffman-Miller 70Design The researcher used descriptive statistics to ascertain whetheror not there was a relationship between the variables. Independentvariables pertaining to student race, gender, infraction and grade levelwere incorporated as part of the research. Dependent variablespertaining to principal race, gender, duration of suspension, schoollevel, infraction code and building location were analyzed todetermine if there was a relationship between variables. PearsonsCorrelation measured the linear association between dependent andindependent variables, assuming that the identified variables werenormally distributed. The data was entered and analyzed usingStatistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS).This study analyzed all student suspensions and administratordisciplinary actions for the school year 1999-2000. The independentand dependent variables in this research were repeated on eachsubject. All suspensions were considered, despite the fact that therewere multiple cases of suspensions for different students.Organismic variables for principals and students assigned weresimilar in coding. Non-organismic variables included codeassignments related to time (duration of suspension), grade andinfraction code. Only those students committing disciplinaryinfractions resulting in out of school suspensions were part of thesample.The primary purpose of this research was to ascertain whetheror not there was a relationship between the gender and ethnicity ofbuilding principals, the type of student infractions and the suspensionrate of students. 10. 71 NATIONAL FORUM OF EDUCATIONAL ADMINISTRATION AND SUPERVISION JOURNAL__________Three major research questions were identified to formulatethis research: 1. What relationship existed between the ethnicity ofprincipals and the suspension rates of students in asmall, urban Pennsylvania school district? 2. What relationship existed between the gender of theprincipal and the time (duration) of studentsuspensions? 3. What relationship existed between the ethnicity of theprincipal, the type of student infractions and thenumber of suspensions? ResultsThis researcher sought to determine whether there was arelationship between principal race and gender, the number of days(duration/time) assigned to students in out of school suspension andthe type of student infractions assigned according to principalethnicity. The research analyzed all student suspensions in the districtfor the school year 1999-2000. Table 1 reflects the distribution ofstudent population by race during the 1999-2000 school year. Principal Race and Duration/Time of SuspensionsThis portion of the research sought to determine whether therewas a relationship between the race of the principal and the duration(time) of suspensions. Analysis of the data using Pearson Correlationyielded significant results, supporting a strong relationship betweenthe race of the principal and the duration (time) of student suspensions. African American principals were responsible for an unusuallyhigh rate of suspensions at each time interval. Time of suspension ateach interval was substantially higher for African American principals 11. Patricia Hoffman-Miller 72than for White and Hispanic principals, with a duration of three daysas a preferential choice. Students assigned to out of school suspensionby African American principals received higher suspension rates in thethree, five and ten-day suspension category, irrespective of studentrace and gender.African American principals assigned 1073 individualsuspensions in the three day category, compared to 234 cases ofsuspensions by White principals in the same category. Studentsreceiving three-day suspensions were four times more likely to receivethree-day suspensions from African American principals than fromWhite principals. African American principals were responsible for87.3% of all five-day suspensions in the district. There were 402 casesof five-day suspensions in the district with African Americanprincipals assigning 351 cases of suspensions as compared to 31 byWhite principals and 20 by the Hispanic principal. In the ten-day timecategory, African American principals were responsible for 84.2% ofthe districts ten-day suspensions. There were 165 cases of ten-daysuspensions in the district with 139 cases assigned by AfricanAmerican principals, eleven by White principals and 15 by the oneHispanic principal. Table 2 reflects the results of this analysis.Table 2Duration of Student Suspensions by principal Race N=4498Principal Duration of Suspension in DaysRace 10 135African 04481073351139AmericanWhite 11860234031011Hispanic01240094020015 12. 73 NATIONAL FORUM OF EDUCATIONAL ADMINISTRATION AND SUPERVISION JOURNAL__________ Principal Gender and Duration/Time of Suspensions Analysis of the data in this district revealed a relationshipbetween the gender of the principal and the duration (time) of studentsuspensions. Female principals were more likely to assign three, fiveand ten-day suspensions than their male colleagues. Conversely, maleprincipals were more likely to assign one-day suspensions than theirfemale colleagues were. The results of these findings are depicted inTable 3.Table 3Distribution of Student Suspensions by principal Gender and Durationof Suspension in Days. N=4498Principals Duration of Suspension in DaysGender 10 1 35Female800876 324151Male958525 078014 Female principals assigned 876 cases of three-day suspensionsor 63% of all three-day suspensions. Female principals assigned themajority of five-day suspensions. There were 324 cases of suspensionor 81%, assigned by female principals. Female principals assigned92% of student ten-day suspensions. Conversely, male principalsassigned the majority of one and two-day suspensions in the district,representing 958 cases of one-day suspensions (54%) and 414 cases oftwo-day suspensions (57%). Principal Race, Student Infraction and Number of Suspensions Students within the district were more likely to receivesuspensions from White principals for simple assault (fighting), 13. Patricia Hoffman-Miller 74cutting class, lack of respect to staff, disruptive classroom behavior,and classroom disturbances. White principals suspended students forpossession of drugs and/or alcohol. African American principalsassigned suspensions for simple assault (fighting), disruptiveclassroom behavior, other (student actions lacking a definitiveinfraction), and running or wandering in the halls. The Hispanicprincipal assigned suspensions for cutting class, other, and simpleassault (fighting). Table 4 reflects these findings.Table 4Distribution of Suspensions by Select Infraction/Suspension Codesand principal Race. N=3792 Suspension CodesPrincipal Race 101 104 106 206 207 208301303 501African American 111 053 144 281 185 074867000 223White123 030 010 162 257 188659012 120Hispanic 017 005 006 008 104 001071000 084Note: Infraction codes as approved by School Board and implementedby District principals. This data represents the most frequentlyassigned suspensions by building Administrators accounting for 84.3%of all student suspensions.101Classroom Disturbance104Abusive language106Running or Wandering in Halls206Disruptive Classroom Behavior207Cutting Class208Lack of Respect to Staff301Assault and Battery Simple (includes fighting)303Possession/Use of Unauthorized Substances (Drugs/Alcohol)501Other 14. 75 NATIONAL FORUM OF EDUCATIONAL ADMINISTRATION AND SUPERVISION JOURNAL__________ DiscussionThe purpose of this study was to determine if there was arelationship between the ethnicity and gender of principals in thesuspension of students in a small Pennsylvania school district.The research ascertained there was a strong relationshipbetween the ethnicity of the principal and the duration (time) ofsuspension. Students assigned to out of school suspensions received ahigher rate of suspensions in the three, five and ten-day category whenthe building administrator was African American. Sixteen hundred andforty (1640) three, five and ten-day suspensions were assigned byAfrican American principals, as compared to 405 three, five and ten-day suspensions by White and Hispanic principals. Female principals assigned more three, five and ten-daysuspensions. Conversely, male principals accounted for more one-daysuspensions than female principals. Suspensions by male principalsaccounted for 958 one-day suspensions, 525 two-day suspensions, 78five-day suspensions and 14 ten-day suspensions.African American principals were more likely to assign suspensionsfor fighting, disruptive classroom behavior, other and running orwandering in the halls. Students received more suspensions fromWhite principals for fighting, cutting class, lack of respect to staff,disruptive classroom behavior, classroom disturbances and possessionof drugs or alcohol. The Hispanic principal was responsible forassigning more suspensions in the categories of cutting class, otherand fighting. Despite the differing categories African American principalsassigned more frequent and longer student suspensions than White orHispanic principals despite parity in the distribution of buildingadministrators by race and gender. 15. Patricia Hoffman-Miller 76 The research findings of this study are seminal. Previousresearchers examined the overrepresentation of African Americanstudents without focusing on the ethnicity and gender of buildingadministrators. This researcher agrees with previous findingsdetermining that African American students were more likely toreceive suspensions than White students were. The question remainsas to why students received longer and more frequent suspensionsfrom African American principals.What factors contribute to the magnitude of studentsuspensions in a district where African American principalsconstituted 50% of building administrators? Were these administratorspracticing within-0race discrimination, class discrimination, self-imposed racial profiling, or a combination of these plus other factors? The implications of the findings in this research represent aparadox for educational policy makers. The findings cannot begeneralized insofar as all African American principals are concernedin their capacity as instructional leaders across the country. Perhapsthe socio-cultural environment of this particular communitycontributed substantially to the obsequious consent demonstrated bythis districts African American principals.The implications of this research demand further inquiry inother districts. The consequences of the actions of all principals,irrespective of race or gender, affect student achievement, particularlyin an era of increased accountability. These potential consequencesengender a plethora of questions that remain largely unanswered. (1) Do African American principals assign longer and more frequent suspensions as a method of insuring job security and career advancement? (2) Do African American principals envision suspensions as a method of taking charge and insuring building 16. 77 NATIONAL FORUM OF EDUCATIONAL ADMINISTRATION AND SUPERVISION JOURNAL__________control? (3)Are African American principals disenfranchised fromchildren residing in poor communities because ofincome, class and culture? (4)Are African American principals more concerned withthe resiliency of children, in preparation for adultchallenges? (5)Is Maslows Hierarchy of Needs, particularly thoseneeds associated with affiliation and security, morepronounced in African American principals? (6)Do African American and female principals receiveless respect from predominantly poor and minoritychildren? (7)Is acquiescence or fear a factor for White principalswhen assigning suspensions to predominantly poor andminority children? (8)Does the lack of suspensions by White principalsrepresent tolerance or other more pervasive culturalissues? (9)Are female principals less tolerant of studentmisbehavior than male principals? If this is the case,then why?Concluding Remarks In conclusion, further research is required to address social,cultural and psychological issues, particularly if African Americanchildren in this district are to achieve their educational and socialpotential. Student achievement is inversely related to the number ofout of school suspensions assigned by building administrators. Alldistrict policy makers must strive, therefore, to insure that the entireissue of out of school suspensions, student achievement and equitytranscends race, class and within-race issues. Only then will urbandistricts begin to improve student outcomes for all children. 17. Patricia Hoffman-Miller 78 REFERENCESBoyd, F. D. (2000). 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