DIFFERENCES IN DISCIPLINARY ALTERNATIVE EDUCATIONAL PLACEMENTS AS A FUNCTION OF ECONOMIC STATUS FOR WHITE STUDENTS

In this investigation, the degree to which discipline consequences for Discipline Alternative Educational Program (DAEP) placements given to Grade 7 and Grade 8 White students enrolled in Texas schools as a function of their economic status was addressed. Archival data were obtained from the Texas Education Agency Public Education Information Management System for the 2010-2011 school year for all instances of DAEP. Inferential analyses revealed the presence of statistically significant differences in the assignment of DAEP placements of Grade 7 and of Grade 8 White students by their economic status. Grade 7 and Grade 8 White students who were economically disadvantaged were assigned more often to a DAEP placement than were their counterparts who were not economically disadvantaged. More than four times the percentage of Grade 7 White students and three times the percentage of Grade 8 White students in poverty received a discipline alternative education program placement than did their counterparts who were not economically disadvantaged. These inequities in disciplinary consequence assignment as a function of poverty warrant further investigation.