Vanderbilt professor’s new book guides school leaders to reform discipline practices

By Jenna Somers

Suspended Futures: Transforming Racial Inequities in School Discipline is a new book that guides K-12 education decision-makers in reducing racial disparities in school discipline.  Written by Richard Welsh, associate professor of education and public policy at Vanderbilt Peabody College of education and human development and founding director of The School Discipline Lab, and published by Harvard Education Press in May, Suspended Futures offers insights into the disproportionalities arising from how educators perceive and respond to student behaviors and how district and school leaders can leverage research evidence in charting a new path in school disciplinary systems.

Black, Latino, and other minoritized students are disproportionately affected by school systems’ exclusionary discipline policies, resulting in short- and long-term consequences, including missed learning time, low academic achievement, and incarceration. This book is intended to support the work of superintendents, school administrators, and other K-12 leaders who have the power to make a difference in system-wide disciplinary practices and policies. Teachers and school psychologists who play critical roles in disciplinary processes could also benefit from the book’s guidance.

“This book is for who I call my disruptive decision makers. I want my audience to be inspired by actionable insights,” Welsh said. “As you read, I want you to be jotting down notes on how you can take bits and pieces and incorporate them into your daily practices. And then also, to be inspired that we can disrupt discipline disparities, and there is a path to do it.”

Welsh analyzes data from the Civil Rights Data Collection and New York City Public Schools to understand why students misbehave and to develop solutions that are educator focused. Rather than blame educators, Welsh offers both student-focused and educator-focused approaches that support teachers and administrators with the goal of improving school climate and creating inclusive learning environments.

Additional recent publications

In May, Welsh published a policy brief with the National Education Policy Center at the University of Colorado Boulder School of Education. The brief, co-authored with Kathryn McGraw, a Ph.D. student in the Department of Leadership, Policy, and Organizations at Peabody College, addresses the historical and contemporary relationships between student behavior, school discipline, and school safety, especially in the post-COVID era, and offers evidence-based recommendations for policymakers in federal and state governments as well as district and school leaders. These recommendations include funding mental health support for students and educators, funding professional development and coaching for educators, and defining the role of school resource officers as well as when they should not engage in disciplinary processes.

Earlier this year, Welsh also published two papers:

• The first paper, co-authored with McGraw and published in Frontiers in Education, offers a theory of change for equity-centered research-practice partnerships (RPPs).
• The second paper published in Sociology of Education, investigates the link between demographic composition of schools (both students and staff) and the likelihood of being referred to the office and suspended. The paper was co-authored with Luis Rodirguez and Blaise Joseph of New York University.