Campus Access Only
All rights reserved. This publication is intended for use solely by faculty, students, and staff of University of the Pacific. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, now known or later developed, including but not limited to photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the author or the publisher.
Date of Award
1997
Document Type
Dissertation - Pacific Access Restricted
Degree Name
Doctor of Education (Ed.D.)
Department
Special Education
First Advisor
Hugh McBride
First Committee Member
Robert Morrow
Second Committee Member
Thomas Young
Third Committee Member
Kathleen Sadao
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between teacher ethnicity and student ethnicity as it might affect teacher decisions to refer the student for suspension, expulsion, or special education. One hundred, thirty-seven elementary and secondary school teachers read a case history vignette in which student ethnicity was varied. Teachers were asked to respond to a series of questions. Responses were grouped into three subscales, measuring the respondent's tendency to refer the student for suspension, expulsion, or special education, respectively. Data were analyzed with three sets of one-way analyses of variance, one for each of the three subscales. In each set of analyses, student ethnicity was held constant, with teacher ethnicity constituting the grouping variable. Tukey post-hoc comparisons were used to detect mean differences when overall F's were significant. The analyses indicated a trend (p =.08) for white teachers to refer for suspension. Post hoc analyses revealed that white teachers were more likely to refer white students for suspension than were African-American teachers. Significant main effects were also found for the expulsion variable in Asian students (p =.02) and the special education variable in Hispanic students (p =.04). White teachers were more likely than Asian teachers to refer Asian students for expulsion, and less likely than African-American teachers to refer Hispanic students to special education. Subsidiary analyses in which teacher ethnicity was held constant with student ethnicity constituting the grouping variable revealed that African-American teachers were more likely to refer Hispanic students to special education than African-American students. Asian teachers were more likely to refer Hispanic students for expulsion than Asian students. A trend (p =.06) emerged in the tendency of white teachers to refer white students more often than Asian students for special education. Hypothesis 1, hypothesis 2, and hypothesis 3 were only partially supported. The study did not reveal bias toward African American male students. However, there appears to be some relationship among teacher ethnicity bias, student ethnicity, suspension, expulsion, and special education.
Pages
84
ISBN
9780591727487 , 059172748X
Recommended Citation
Thrasher, James Frank. (1997). Teacher-student ethnicity, suspension/expulsion, and referrals to special education: Implications for African-American males. University of the Pacific, Dissertation - Pacific Access Restricted. https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/uop_etds/2750
To access this thesis/dissertation you must have a valid pacific.edu email address and log-in to Scholarly Commons.
Find in PacificSearch Find in ProQuestIf you are the author and would like to grant permission to make your work openly accessible, please email
Rights Statement
In Copyright. URI: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s).