From Perception to Policy: Defining Willful Disobedience through the Experience of Classroom Teachers in Louisiana

As long as teachers have the option of writing students up for subjective infractions, there will always be a question about whether the student's behavior earned a disciplinary referral or if a teacher is less tolerant of certain behaviors and is arbitrarily punishing certain students (Theriot & Dupper, 2009b). In Louisiana, "willful disobedience," is an undefined offense but one often seen in documented school suspension data. Theriot and Dupper (2009b) claim this subjective infraction may be widening the school discipline gap between Black and white students in Louisiana. The purpose of this research focused first on examining school discipline disparities overall in Louisiana's schools. By assessing publicly available school discipline data and school discipline records, this research revealed the propensity of Black students to be suspended more than their white classmates. A second purpose of this research was to document the classroom management strategies of practitioners as these strategies relate to willful disobedience. A third and overriding purpose of the research was to produce an evidence-based and race-neutral definition of willful disobedience for use in teacher training programs throughout Louisiana and beyond.