A Multilevel Analysis of Black Male Secondary School Student Discipline and Achievement in Relation to Violence Exposure

1 online resource (363 pages) : PDF

2017

University of North Carolina at Charlotte

This study examined school outcomes for Black male secondary school students in relation to neighborhood violence, focusing on Disproportionality in out of school suspension and below-proficiency achievement on selected standardized tests. Grounded in trauma and strain theories, student aggressive response to violence is attributed in part to post-traumatic stress disorder as triggered by traumatic experience but also as anger and frustration over unjust treatment. The study hypothesized neighborhood violence as moderator between Black males and disparities among the selected outcomes as advocacy for trauma-sensitive practices in lieu of exclusionary discipline.Relative risk ratios calculated discipline and achievement disproportionality, while spatial and multi-level modeling methods examined statistical significant impacts of neighborhood violence exposure on student behavior (suspensions) and learning (test proficiency), considering also significance with individual, level-1 variables on special education, homelessness, arrest and unexcused absence. A neighborhood trauma vulnerability index (TVI), established via geographic information system, formed the level-2 variable in modeling of violence exposure on student outcomes. Conclusions are that violence clearly serves as a moderator in the observed positive relationship between Black males and suspensions, and that future modeling include school-level moderator effects on discipline and achievement. Additionally, TVI model improvements are suggested to address violence specifically affecting Black males, including indices of racial injustice as traumatic experience. Homelessness is recommended for inclusion in monitoring of discipline disproportionality, with suggested further study of traumatic occurrences uniquely encountered by Black males who undergo homelessness. Finally, results advocate for schools to incorporate trauma-sensitive practices responsive to Black male experience.

doctoral dissertations

Special education
Education
Mental health

Ph.D.

Black Male
Discipline Disparities
Multilevel Modeling
Special Education
Trauma
Violence Exposure

Curriculum & Instruction

Lewis, Chance

Butler, Bettie
Abrams, Lyndon
Delmelle, Eric

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of North Carolina at Charlotte, 2017.

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Garo_uncc_0694D_11352

http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.13093/etd:275