Spectrum

Students of color, students who don’t know English well and LGBTQ students are “vastly over-represented among students who face school disciplinary actions,” says Dr. Lisa Harrison and Dr. Theda Gibbs-Grey of the Patton College of Education at Ohio University. This has led Dr. Harrison and Dr. Gibbs-Grey to launch a research study called “Black Girls Matter: Exploring the School Experiences of Middle School Black Girls Who Have Experienced School Suspensions.” Discipline rates of Black girls far exceed those of white girls in the same classes. “Instead of finding understanding, they get discipline,” says Dr. Harrison. This can have life-long impacts and contribute to high drop-out rates. Harrison and Gibbs-Grey currently are following the progress of eight middle school Black girls at an Ohio school. They are conducting “school observations, interviews with the girls and their parents, as well as documenting their school disciplinary records,” Dr. Gibbs-Grey noted. “We are also providing a year-long ment