"Cultural nuances"
But administrators and others are examining more subjective forms of misbehavior such as insubordination and disruptive conduct, and trying to determine whether African American students are disciplined unfairly based on actions such as talking loudly or making eye contact meant as direct and respectful but interpreted as menacing.
"Kids need to own their part of it," Poinsette said. "But sometimes it's in the language that we use or the way we look at people. There are some cultural nuances there. . . . Teachers aren't even aware sometimes of the different tones they use with kids."
The district is ramping up cultural competency training, Poinsette said, and 27 schools have adopted a program that sets consistent expectations and lays out specific interventions.
But more teacher training doesn't begin to touch all the social variables.
"There are just huge amounts of curricula that the teachers have to get across," said Donna Maxey, a veteran educator who oversees student discipline for Portsmouth Middle School. She worries that teachers will be blamed unfairly.
"I've had parents who've said to me, 'He's at school, he's your responsibility,' " she said. "And in defense of parents, they're working more hours, putting in more time and effort. Even if teachers had a tremendous amount of training, where is all the time in the day to do that connecting with students? It's a societal thing, it's not just one easy, wrapped-up answer."
While it might be a broader problem, the district can fix part of it, said Howard Moriah, education director for the Urban League of Portland. Moriah in the past year has helped five families attempt to appeal their children's discipline and said the district needs to get better at working with poor families and parents from a variety of races. "In a situation of suspension or expulsion, it's the word of the teacher over the student automatically. There was no appearance of equity in the whole process," Moriah said. "Sometimes, there's a hesitancy on the administrator's part to say, 'Hey, we messed up.' "
The parent factor
Poinsette cites a University of California at Berkeley study that shows white, middle-class students may face lighter penalties because their parents are more comfortable challenging districts legally. Locally, she says, some Portland educators aren't accustomed to having their discipline questioned by minority parents.
"Too frequently, educators respond differently to parents that they assume have power or know how to navigate the system," Poinsette said. "Unfortunately, parents of poor and minority students often are unable to or don't know how to advocate for their children in an educational setting."
Those who've harbored long-standing concern say they're glad for some attention but will remain skeptical until they see change. And they're sensitive to the fact that a large segment of the community will see any efforts as pandering or political correctness.
"Yeah, I think that (people of color) can act differently," said Martin Gonzalez of the Portland Schools Alliance. "But so do white people who are not from Oregon. So does that mean because they don't act like a native-born Oregonian we should deny them the opportunity to be educated? Is the only acceptable way to get an education to act white? That's pretty worrisome."
Portland Schools’ Discipline Rates Show Racial Gap
Paige Parker, The Oregonian (Portland, Oregon), April 4, 2007
One in four African American middle school students was suspended or expelled from Portland Public Schools last year. One in 14 white middle schoolers was suspended or expelled during the same period, records show. Now district leaders are examining to what extent race influences discipline decisions.
Multiple factors, including parent involvement and skills, poverty, student friendships and personality, can contribute to misbehavior, district officials say. Nevertheless, they concede, the disparity among the races is striking.
"This is a problem that Portland Public is not going to be able to solve alone," said Willie Poinsette, the district's chief of student, family and school support.
Last year, with 44,803 students, the district counted a total of 2,874 suspensions and 153 expulsions; some students were removed more than once. African Americans received 1,241; white students received 1,144. However, white students accounted for 57 percent of the district's population while African Americans made up 16 percent.
Rates of discipline are disproportionate no matter whether a student attends a low-income Portland school or a wealthy one. For example, at Kellogg Middle School, where 67 percent of kids qualified for free and reduced-price lunch, white students made up 50 percent of the population and received 11.2 percent of the suspensions and expulsions. African American students made up 10 percent of the population and 33 percent of the suspensions and expulsions. At Gray Middle School, which has 25 percent of students getting subsidized lunch, white students make up 77 percent of the student body and received 3 percent of suspensions and expulsions. Six percent of students are African American; they received 10 percent of suspensions and expulsions.
The consequences are significant because kids lose class time. A major suspension can bar students from school for 10 days; expelled students can't come back for up to one year. Student advocates say kids who aren't in school are probably unsupervised and could graduate to serious crime. One-third of juveniles on probation in Multnomah County over a two-year period said they'd been suspended or expelled sometime in the previous six months.
Researchers nationwide have studied the overrepresentation of African Americans in discipline referrals, suspensions and expulsions. And Portland officials have known of the disparity locally for decades. Though they praise teachers for doing their best in often challenging environments, administrators will explore to what degree the biases of teachers -- both African Americans and whites -- might be an issue.
"The fact that we have a predominantly white, middle-class teaching force means we have to do more work in understanding the groups we're working with," said the district's Poinsette. No one argues that overtly bad behavior warrants a student's swift removal from school, with teachers and administrators continuing to take seriously fighting, weapons and vandalism. And certainly middle school is the time when students are most likely to act out.