Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Cops and Counselors: How School Staffing Decisions Relate to Exclusionary Discipline Rates and Racial/Ethnic Disparities

  • Published:
Race and Social Problems Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The presence of school-based law enforcement (SBLE) and school counselors is likely to shape how schools punish students. This study examines how schools’ addition or removal of both types of school staff shapes both out-of-school suspension rates and expulsion rates, with a particular focus on differences among white, black, and Hispanic students. It also examines how these relationships differ by school racial composition. Using the 2013–2014 and 2017–2018 waves of the Civil Rights Data Collection, (N = 81,933 schools), this study creates a two-wave panel data set to use a difference-in-differences approach to examine change over time. The results of a series of two-way fixed effects models indicated that changes in the presence of SBLE shaped exclusionary discipline rates—including racial disparities—in multiple, sometimes surprising ways, and that these effects were often strongest in schools with larger proportions of white students. Changes in the presence of school counselors had fewer and less consistent impacts.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Allen, Q., & White-Smith, K. A. (2014). “Just as bad as prisons”: The challenge of dismantling the school-to-prison pipeline through teacher and community education. Equity & Excellence in Education, 47(4), 445–460.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • American School Counseling Association (n.d.). The role of the school counselor. https://www.schoolcounselor.org/About-School-Counseling/School-Counselor-Roles-Ratios.

  • Annamma, S. A., Anyon, Y., Joseph, N. M., Farrar, J., Greer, E., Downing, B., & Simmons, J. (2019). Black girls and school discipline: The complexities of being overrepresented and understudied. Urban Education, 54(2), 211–242.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bowers, J., & Hatch, P. A. (2005). The ASCA national model: A framework for school counseling programs. American School Counselor Association.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bracy, N. L. (2010). Circumventing the law: Students’ rights in schools with police. Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice, 26(3), 294–315.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Canady, M., James, B., & Nease, J. (2012). To protect & educate: The school resource officer and the prevention of violence in schools. National Association of School Resource Officers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Carey, J., & Dimmitt, C. (2012). School counseling and student outcomes: Summary of six statewide studies. Professional School Counseling, 16(2), 146–153.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carrell, S. E., & Carrell, S. A. (2006). Do lower student to counselor ratios reduce school disciplinary problems?. The BE Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, 5(1), https://www.degruyter.com/journal/key/bejeap/5/1/html?lang=en.

  • Civil Rights Data Collection (n.d.). 2017–2018 State and National Estimations. Retrieved from https://ocrdata.ed.gov/estimations/2017-2018

  • Collins, T. P. (2014). Addressing mental health needs in our schools: Supporting the role of school counselors. Professional Counselor, 4(5), 413–416.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Crosse, S., Gottfredson, D. C., Bauer, E. L., Tang, Z., Harmon, M. A., Hagen, C. A., & Greene, D. (2022). Are effects of school resource officers moderated by student race and ethnicity? Crime & Delinquency, 68(3), 381–408.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Curran, F. C., Fisher, B. W., Viano, S., & Kupchik, A. (2019). Why and when do school resource officers engage in school discipline? The role of context in shaping disciplinary involvement. American Journal of Education, 126(1), 33–63.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Curtis, R., Van Horne, J. W., Robertson, P., & Karvonen, M. (2010). Outcomes of a school-wide positive behavioral support program. Professional School Counseling, 13(3), 159–164.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • DeKruyf, L., Auger, R. W., & Trice-Black, S. (2013). The role of school counselors in meeting students’ mental health needs: Examining issues of professional identity. Professional School Counseling, 16(5), 271–282.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Devlin, D. N., & Fisher, B. W. (2021). An examination of school resource officers as an approach to reduce social disturbances in schools: Evidence from a national longitudinal study. Journal of School Violence, 20(2), 228–240.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Devlin, D. N., & Gottfredson, D. C. (2017). The roles of police officers in schools: Effects on the recording and reporting of crime. Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice, 16(2), 208–223.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Diamond, J. B. (2006). Still separate and unequal: Examining race, opportunity, and school achievement in “integrated” suburbs. The Journal of Negro Education, 1, 495–505.

    Google Scholar 

  • Diamond, J. B. (2018). Race and white supremacy in the sociology of education: Shifting the intellectual gaze. Education in a new society: Renewing the sociology of education, 345–362.

  • Domina, T., Akos, P., Bastian, K. C., & Godwin, J. (2022). The impact of school counselor resources in elementary and middle grades. Professional School Counseling, 26(1a), 1–12.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Duxbury, S. W., & Haynie, D. L. (2020). School suspension and social selection: Labeling, network change, and adolescent, academic achievement. Social Science Research, 85, 102365.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Espelage, D. L., El Sheikh, A., Robinson, L. E., Valido, A., Ingram, K. M., Torgal, C., Atria, C. G., Salama, C. D., Chalfant, P. K., Poekert, P. E., & Nicholson, A. M. (2020). Development of online professional development for school resource officers: Understanding trauma, social-emotional learning, restorative discipline, and cultural diversity. Journal of Police and Criminal Psychology, 1, 1–15.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fisher, B. W., & Devlin, D. N. (2020). School crime and the patterns of roles of school resource officers: Evidence from a national longitudinal study. Crime & Delinquency, 66(11), 1606–1629.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fisher, B. W., & Hennessy, E. A. (2016). School resource officers and exclusionary discipline in U.S. high schools: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Adolescent Research Review, 1(3), 217–233.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fisher, B. W., Higgins, E. M., Kupchik, A., Viano, S., Curran, F. C., Overstreet, S., Plumlee, B., & Coffey, B. (2022a). Protecting the flock or policing the sheep? Differences in school resource officers’ perceptions of threats by school racial composition. Social Problems, 69(2), 316–334.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fisher, B. W., Wiley, S. A., & McGlynn-Wright, A. (2022b). Suspended again: The racialized consequences of a 9th grade suspension on future suspension patterns. Race and Social Problems, 1, 1–14.

    Google Scholar 

  • Francis, D. V., de Oliveira, A. C., & Dimmitt, C. (2019). Do school counselors exhibit bias in recommending students for advanced coursework? The BE Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, 19(4), 1–17.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gagnon, D. J., & Mattingly, M. J. (2016). Most US school districts have low access to school counselors: Poor, diverse, and city school districts exhibit particularly high student-to-counselor ratios. Carsey Research, National Issue Brief #108.

  • Gerlinger, J., Viano, S., Gardella, J. H., Fisher, B. W., Chris Curran, F., & Higgins, E. M. (2021). Exclusionary school discipline and delinquent outcomes: A meta-analysis. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 50(8), 1493–1509.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Gilliam, W. S., Maupin, A. N., Reyes, C. R., Accavitti, M., & Shic, F. (2016). Do early educators’ implicit biases regarding sex and race relate to behavior expectations and recommendations of preschool expulsions and suspensions? Research Study Brief. Yale University, Yale Child Study Center.

    Google Scholar 

  • Goldman, M., & Rodriguez, N. (2022). Juvenile court in the school-prison nexus: Youth punishment, schooling and structures of inequality. Journal of Crime and Justice, 45(3), 270–284.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Goodman-Scott, E., Sink, C. A., Cholewa, B. E., & Burgess, M. (2018). An ecological view of school counselor ratios and student academic outcomes: A national investigation. Journal of Counseling & Development, 96(4), 388–398.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gottfredson, D. C., Crosse, S., Tang, Z., Bauer, E. L., Harmon, M. A., Hagen, C. A., & Greene, A. D. (2020). Effects of school resource officers on school crime and responses to school crime. Criminology & Public Policy, 19, 905–940.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Huang, F. L. (2020). Prior problem behaviors do not account for the racial suspension gap. Educational Researcher, 49(7), 493–502.

  • Hernandez, E., Espinoza, E., & Patterson, J. (2021). School counselors’ involvement and opportunities to advocate against racialized punitive practices. Teaching and Supervision in Counseling, 3(2), 10.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jenkins, D. A. (2022). “Schools are not safer with police”: A critical discourse analysis of public comments on the removal of school resource officers. Journal of Education Human Resources, 1, e20220002.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kearney, C., Akos, P., Domina, T., & Young, Z. (2021). Student-to-school counselor ratios: A meta-analytic review of the evidence. Journal of Counseling & Development, 99(4), 418–428.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kupchik, A. (2010). Homeroom security. New York University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lacoe, J., & Steinberg, M. P. (2019). Do suspensions affect student outcomes? Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 41(1), 34–62.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lapan, R. T., Whitcomb, S. A., & Aleman, N. M. (2012). Connecticut professional school counselors: College and career counseling services and smaller ratios benefit students. Professional School Counseling, 16(2), 117–124.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Leonardo, Z. (2004). The color of supremacy: Beyond the discourse of ‘white privilege.’ Educational Philosophy and Theory, 36(2), 137–152.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lewis, A. E., & Diamond, J. B. (2015). Despite the best intentions: How racial inequality thrives in good schools. Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Love, B. L. (2019). We want to do more than survive: Abolitionist teaching and the pursuit of educational freedom. Beacon Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lopez-Perry, C., Hernandez, E., & Espinoza, E. (2022). Administrators Leveraging School Counseling Supports to Address Disparities in School Discipline. In Approaching Disparities in School Discipline: Theory, Research, Practice, and Social Change (pp. 215–236). IGI Global.

  • Morris, M. (2016). Pushout: The criminalization of black girls in schools. The New Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mowen, T., & Brent, J. (2016). School discipline as a turning point: The cumulative effect of suspension on arrest. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 53(5), 628–653.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Musu, L., Zhang, A., Wang, K., Zhang, J., and Oudekerk, B.A. (2019). Indicators of school crime and safety: 2018 (NCES 2019-047/NCJ 252571). National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education, and Bureau of Justice Statistics, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice.

  • Na, C., & Gottfredson, D. C. (2013). Police officers in schools: Effects on school crime and the processing of offending behaviors. Justice Quarterly, 30(4), 619–650.

  • Novak, A. (2018). The association between experiences of exclusionary discipline and justice system contact: A systematic review. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 40, 73–82.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Okonofua, J. A., & Eberhardt, J. L. (2015). Two strikes: Race and the disciplining of young students. Psychological Science, 26(5), 617–624.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Owens, J., & McLanahan, S. S. (2020). Unpacking the drivers of racial disparities in school suspension and expulsion. Social Forces, 98(4), 1548–1577.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pearman, F. A., Curran, F. C., Fisher, B., & Gardella, J. (2019). Are achievement gaps related to discipline gaps? Evidence from national data. Aera Open, 5(4), https://doi.org/10.1177/2332858419875440.

  • Paolini, A. C. (2020). Reducing gun violence in schools: A school counselor’s role. Journal of School Counseling, 18(12), n12.

    Google Scholar 

  • Parzych, J., Donohue, P., Gaesser, A., Chiu, M. (2019). Measuring the impact of school counselor ratios on student outcomes. ASCA Research Report.

  • Payne, A. A., & Welch, K. (2010). Modeling the effects of racial threat on punitive and restorative school discipline practices. Criminology, 48(4), 1019–1062.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Payne, A. A., & Welch, K. (2015). Restorative justice in schools: The influence of race on restorative discipline. Youth & Society, 47(4), 539–564.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Reardon, S. F., Ho, A. D., Shear, B. R., Fahle, E. M., Kalogrides, D., Jang, H., & Chavez, B. (2021). Stanford Education Data Archive (Version 4.1). Retrieved from http://purl.stanford.edu/db586ns4974

  • Rosenbaum, J. (2020). Educational and criminal justice outcomes 12 years after school suspension. Youth & Society, 52(4), 515–547.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Skiba, R. J., Chung, C. G., Trachok, M., Baker, T. L., Sheya, A., & Hughes, R. L. (2014). Parsing disciplinary disproportionality: Contributions of infraction, student, and school characteristics to out-of-school suspension and expulsion. American Educational Research Journal, 51(4), 640–670.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smith, L. C., Garnett, B. R., Herbert, A., Grudev, N., Vogel, J., Keefner, W., Barnett, A., & Baker, T. (2017). The hand of professional school counseling meets the glove of restorative practices: A call to the profession. Professional School Counseling, 21(1), 1–10.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sorensen, L. C., Acosta, M. A., Engberg, J., & Bushway, S. (2023). The thin blue line in schools: New evidence on school-based policing across the US. Journal of Policy Analysis and Management. https://doi.org/10.1002/pam.22498

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sorensen, L. C., Shen, Y., & Bushway, S. D. (2021). Making schools safer and/or escalating disciplinary response: A study of police officers in North Carolina schools. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 43(3), 495–519.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Studer, J. R., & Salter, S. E. (2010). The role of the school counselor in crisis planning and intervention. Retrieved from http://counselingoutfitters.com/vistas/vistas10/Article_92.pdf

  • Thomas, B., Towvim, L., Rosiak, J., & Anderson, K. (2013). School resource officers: Steps to effective school-based law enforcement. National Center for Mental Health Promotion and Youth Violence Prevention, 7, 1–10.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Turner, E. O., & Beneke, A. J. (2022). ‘Softening’ school resource officers: The extension of police presence in schools in an era of Black Lives Matter, school shootings, and rising inequality. In System Failure: Policy and Practice in the School-to-Prison Pipeline (pp. 31–53). Routledge.

  • Viano, S., Curran, F. C., & Fisher, B. W. (2021). Kindergarten cop: A case study of how a coalition between school districts and law enforcement led to school resource officers in elementary schools. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 43(2), 253-279.

  • Walley, C., Grothaus, T., & Craigen, L. (2009). Confusion, crisis, and opportunity: Professional school counselors’ role in responding to student mental health issues. Journal of School Counseling, 7(36), n36.

    Google Scholar 

  • Weisburst, E. K. (2019). Patrolling public schools: The impact of funding for school police on student discipline and long-term education outcomes. Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, 38(2), 338–365.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Welch, K., & Payne, A. A. (2010). Racial threat and punitive school discipline. Social Problems, 57(1), 25–48.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Welch, K., & Payne, A. A. (2012). Exclusionary school punishment: The effect of racial threat on expulsion and suspension. Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice, 10(2), 155–171.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Welfare, L. E., Grimes, T. O., Lawson, G., Hori, K., & Asadi, G. (2021). The school to prison pipeline: Quantitative evidence to guide school counselor advocacy. Journal of Counselor Leadership and Advocacy, 8(1), 16–29.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yaluma, C. B., Little, A. P., & Leonard, M. B. (2021). Estimating the impact of expulsions, suspensions, and arrests on average school proficiency rates in Ohio using fixed effects. Educational Policy, 1, 1–28.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhang, G. (2018). The effects of a school policing program on crime, discipline, and disorder: A quasi-experimental evaluation. American Journal of Criminal Justice, 44, 45–62.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Funding

There is no funding associated with this study.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Civil Society and Community Studies, School of Human Ecology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1300 Linden Drive, Madison, WI, 53706, USA

    Benjamin W. Fisher

  2. Criminal Justice Department, Farmingdale State College, Farmingdale, NY, USA

    Deanna N. Devlin

Authors
  1. Benjamin W. Fisher
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Deanna N. Devlin
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Benjamin W. Fisher.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interests

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Fisher, B.W., Devlin, D.N. Cops and Counselors: How School Staffing Decisions Relate to Exclusionary Discipline Rates and Racial/Ethnic Disparities. Race Soc Probl 16, 19–46 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12552-023-09395-6

Download citation

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12552-023-09395-6

Keywords

Search

Navigation