Intersecting Influences on Disciplinary Absences in K-12 Education: Evidence of Cumulative Disadvantage

This study takes an intersectional position when examining K-12th grade students’ school-based discipline experiences in minoritized communities. We build on the intersectional view of minoritized racial and gender experiences by adding to additional dimensions of marginalized identity to predictive models of disciplinary absences. Using negative binomial regression, we model disciplinary absences by gender, racial identity, poverty, and primary language, adding interaction terms to explicitly account for cumulative moderating effects of having more than one marginalized identity. Participants included 8,495 kindergarten through 12th grade students enrolled in the 21st Century Community Learning Center after school program during the 2016–2017 school year. Analyses suggested differences in disciplinary absences across racial identities and qualification of free or reduced lunch. Results also indicated that when controlling for covariates, being male predicted more disciplinary absences than being female among White students. However, this effect was not evident among male participants whose primary language was English. These findings highlight the need for culturally responsive and affirming programming to further improve equitable access to positive outcomes.