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theses

Removal from school through suspension is increasingly being used as a discipline strategy. Students with a history of low achievement are more likely to be issued suspensions. This is of great concern given that low achieving students are already at-risk for long term negative achievement outcomes, such as dropout. Given these concerning trends, it is important to understand the consequences for students, who are recipients of exclusionary school discipline practices. The current study followed students, who were enrolled in a 9th grade program specifically designed for low-achievers within a large high school in the Southeastern United States, over four years (2006-2010) in order to track their academic progress and dropout status. It was anticipated that students, who received more exclusionary school discipline in their early high school career, would have lower achievement at the end of their high school career and would be more likely to drop out of school when compared to students who received less exclusionary school discipline. The study found that exclusionary school discipline received by a student in the 9th grade explained 6% of the variance of the science achievement test scores in later high school, while taking into consideration early achievement, race, and gender. Early discipline was further predictive of lower GPA in the early years of high school, but it was not predictive of other academic outcomes or dropout status later in high school. It was anticipated that students’ level of school engagement would modify achievement and dropout outcomes. This was not found to be the case, yet student engagement was a positive predictor of both 9th and 12th grade GPA. In addition, the study found that students’ academic performance in the 9th grade (GPA and test scores) set their academic trajectories for the rest of high school. These findings support prior research. Implications of the findings are discussed.

ETD_4728

Psy.D.

Includes bibliographical references

by Jennifer Rochelle Jones

doi:10.7282/T3NP22F9

ETD doctoral

The author owns the copyright to this work.