African American Girls: Out-of-School Suspensions' Hidden Route to Educational Inequity

Background

Racial disparities in out-of-school suspensions (OSS) is a persistent social justice issue. Suspensions involve excluding children from school for up to 10 days for behaviors such as noncompliance and fighting. Nationally, Black boys are suspended at a rate three times higher than White boys, but Black girls are suspended at a rate six times higher than White girls. The apparent vulnerability of Black girls to harsh disciplinary practices has become an area of increased local and national concern. From a larger study of Black students, parents, and educators’ experiences of OSS, we explored the research question, “What are the unique experiences of Black girls with OSS” from a Black Feminist Lens.

Methods

The site of this ethnographic study was a large, urban school district in the Midwest. All students (aged 11-17) who received an out-of-school suspension during the 2012-2013 school year, their caregivers and educators were referred by school administrators. Of the 30 cases, 11 Black girls along with their caregivers and educators, agreed to participate. Researchers conducted in-depth, semi-structured, individual interviews in a private location in participants’ homes or schools. Interviews were audiotaped and lasted 15-45 minutes. They were conversation-like and began with story starters such as, “Tell me what happened to cause your suspension?”

Interviews were transcribed verbatim. 

Transcriptions from recorded interviews were read repeatedly to induce a coding scheme that captured experiences prior to, during and after the OSS. Initial coding revealed underlying causes, relevant history and contributing factors, and consequences of the misdeed. Selective coding focused on the prior experiences of girls that led directly to the OSS. Informed by concepts from Black Feminist theory, three co-authors independently coded transcribed interviews. Analyses focused on variations within and across the experiences of girls, their parents and educators.  Disagreements were resolved through discussion.

Results

Girls described sexual harassment by peers as a context for their misbehaviors that led to their suspensions, including their disruptive behavior, use of profane language and physical aggression. Some also described harm to their reputations as “good” girls when they returned to school. The most common behaviors for which Black girls were disciplined are defiance, inappropriate dress, using profane language, and physical aggression, which parallel stereotypic images of Black women as hypersexual, angry, and hostile.

Conclusions and implications

These data are consistent with the literature indicating that Black girls are sexualized at early ages and subjected to intense sexual harassment and even sexual assault in school. Given that throughout U.S. history, Black children have been depicted as more mature than their White peers and provided with less adult protection, it is conceivable that educators might not intervene effectively in the sexual harassment of Black girls. Instead, they may punish the girls for defending themselves, or trivialize their responses as “Black girl drama”, which calls for social workers to intervene at all levels to deter the social injustice currently being experienced by Black girls.