Educational Leadership Commons^™

Examining The Relationship Between Principal’S Beliefs And Attitudes Towards Discipline And Disproportionate Outcomes For Minorities In Public Schools, Valerie Ludley Nelson

Education Policy and Leadership Theses and Dissertations

Since the 1980’s, the current narrative for disparate outcomes faced by minorities in America’s public schools has been shaped by the fear of violence thus creating the increasingly punitive and exclusionary methodology for school discipline that still exists today (Noguera, 1995). The zero-tolerance ideology from The War on Drugs became the basis for addressing school discipline and the results have been catastrophic. A growing body of evidence has emerged over the past forty years for what happens when zero-tolerance policies shape and guide school discipline and are used as the sole means for creating a safe and secure learning environment- …