Three Strikes and They're Out: African American Boys and American Schools' Responses to Misbehavior

ABSTRACT This article examines summary data from a recent U.S. Office for Education civil rights survey of American schools in terms of three specific types of school responses to children's misbehaviors: corporal punishment, suspension from school, and placement in Special Education for the Behaviorally Disordered. Extremely large disparities in rates for African American boys versus those for girls and boys of other race/ethnicity groups were often found. The shear magnitude of the differences suggests that selectivity may be operating vis-a-vis punitive/exclusionary measures taken by schools when responding to children's behaviors. Speculations as to these dynamics are offered.