Reflective Discipline: Reducing Racial Disparity in Referrals and Suspensions

Why does racism, conscious and unconscious, remain a persistent issue in American society? From blackface worn by public officials to a school district’s forcing of the removal of a Black History Month display. Beliefs and opinions related to racism are pervasive and widespread in the collective American mind. America’s racist legacy cannot and will not be changed until historically entrenched beliefs are confronted, challenged, and changed.

While focusing on the specific issues that educators face in addressing and eliminating racial disparity in disciplinary perceptions and referrals, the reflective exercises provided in this book are valuable to any reader who wishes to examine programmed unconscious beliefs that can lead to racist behaviors. This is a book that helps the reader to understand the source, purpose, and ways in which stereotypical beliefs and images have been and continue to be reinforced in our present society.

Reflective Discipline is a timely and especially significant book for this time in American life. The exercises can be utilized not only in educational but in other environments, i.e. law enforcement, social service, etc. in which understanding the forces that perpetuate racist beliefs in our society are important to ensuring fair and equitable treatment of all.

Martha R. Bireda, Ph.D., has over thirty-five years’ experience as a diversity trainer/consultant. She is the author of Cultures in Conflict: Eliminating Racial Profiling (1st and 2nd editions) and Schooling Poor Minority Children: New Segregation in the Post-Brown Era. Her website is: www.equityintheclassroom.