First Advisor
Hess, Robyn
First Committee Member
Athanasiou, Michelle
Second Committee Member
Meyers, Kristin
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy
Document Type
Dissertation
Date Created
8-2024
Department
College of Education and Behavioral Sciences, School Psychology, School Psychology Student Work
Abstract
The racial discipline gap between Black and White students has been pervasive for decades. To date, limited research has been conducted on the possible role that principals’ implicit racial biases may play in this gap. As such, the purpose of this study was to explore how high school principal’s implicit racial biases may influence the severity of consequences given to Black students during subjective discipline situations. A non-experimental quantitative approach was used to explore the possible impact of high school principals’ pro-White implicit racial biases during subjective disciplinary decisions with Black students. It additionally examined whether the number of hours of diversity training a principal has engaged in might be a mitigating factor for pro-White biases during discipline with Black students. To conduct this study, 166 high school principals completed an online survey during which they responded to three disciplinary vignettes with either a common White name, a common Black name, or a name that is common across races. They were then asked to estimate the hours of diversity training they had completed over the past three years followed by the completion of a name-based implicit association test (IAT). The latter information was used to answer the following three research questions: Q1 After accounting for hours of diversity training, is principal implicit bias a significant predictor of discipline severity on Black student vignettes? Q2 Do differences exist between the severity of consequences assigned to Black and White student vignettes? Q3 Do differences exist between the severity of consequences assigned to Black and White student vignettes accounting for hours of diversity training? Results indicated that implicit racial biases were not a predictor of the discipline severity of the hypothetical Black student. Additionally, the amount of diversity training a principal reported was not predictive of lesser consequences for the hypothetical Black student either. After analysis of the findings, it was hypothesized that name-based measures (i.e., vignettes and IATs) may not be sufficiently activating enough to elicit participant responses that are reflective of real-life subjective disciplinary scenarios.
Abstract Format
html
Extent
129 pages
Local Identifiers
Reshel_unco_0161D_11252.pdf
Rights Statement
Copyright is held by the author.
Recommended Citation
Reshel, Bailey R., "Combating the Racial Discipline Gap: Does Diversity Training Mitigate Implicit Bias in the Discipline Decision- Making Process?" (2024). Dissertations. 1105.
https://digscholarship.unco.edu/dissertations/1105