Historicizing Disadvantage: What Does “Controlling for Poverty” Really Mean?

Abstract In this manuscript and in commemoration of the 1975 Children’s Defense Fund Report, we critique the use of “controlling for poverty” on racial disparities in school discipline in educational research, contending that this method problematically minimizes the role of systemic racism and historical inequities. To ground this argument, we utilize the backdrop of the economic disadvantages deeply intertwined with race due to centuries of racial oppression. To provide a more accurate and nuanced understanding of educational inequities, we advocate for re-evaluating poverty as a proxy for historical racism through including both current systemic factors and historical racism in analyses.