South Carolina Discipline Policies as a Source of Racial Inequity

School discipline has been documented as a source of racial disparity in schooling in the United States. Black students are often referred for discipline infraction due to subjective offenses such as persistent disrespect, disruption, or misbehavior. These subjective policies lead to Black students having increased office discipline referrals and ultimately exclusionary discipline outcomes. This qualitative critical policy analysis examines 75 district policies in South Carolina to understand how these policies may contribute to the overrepresentation of Black students in exclusionary discipline. This study finds three major themes: tight coupling, open ended and subjective policies, and reliance on assumptions. This study is driven by critical race theory and our findings help to demonstrate the ways in which policies discursively construct what is considered “good behavior” based on White logics.