A social work professor found in a new study that black middle school students receive fewer warnings from their teachers about misbehavior, giving them fewer opportunities to correct their behavior on their own before the consequences escalate to exclusionary punishments such as office referrals and expulsion.

«While at first glance, disparities in teacher warnings seem less concerning than being expelled or sent to the principal’s office, warnings represent opportunities for students to correct their behavior before the consequences escalate and they’re removed from the learning environment,» said University of Illinois social work professor Kate M. Wegmann, who led the study.

Wegmann and her co-author, graduate student Brittanni Smith, examined data from more than 4,100 students at 17 schools. The students were sixth- through ninth- graders at schools in two North Carolina communities.

Students were surveyed about the various types of misconduct they had engaged in at school over the prior 30 days — including tardiness, turning in homework late, arguing with teachers and physical fights with other students — and the frequency of these infractions.

Students also were asked about the types of discipline they received, including verbal warnings from their teachers, written warnings sent to their homes or phone calls to their parents. They also reported on exclusionary forms of discipline they may have experienced, such as being sent to the principal’s office and school suspensions.

Although the researchers found as hypothesized that black students were more likely than their white peers to experience exclusionary forms of discipline, some of the most significant differences were in black students’ likelihood of receiving written or verbal warnings.

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