EXAMINING THE DISPROPORTIONALITY OF ALTERNATIVE PLACEMENTS FOR ACADEMICALLY OR ECONOMICALLY DISADVANTAGED STUDENTS IN A RURAL NORTHEASTERN, NORTH CAROLINA SCHOOL DISTRICT

Abstract

School districts across North Carolina work tirelessly to ensure that all students have access and opportunity to an education that will afford them the opportunity to be globally competitive citizens. However, some districts encounter various factors such as classroom management/engagement issues, disproportionality in terms of suspension and disciplinary placement, lack of the incorporation of cultural responsiveness, and poverty that may impact the ability for some students to have equitable access. Particularly with recent fiscal cuts that have trickled down from the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, rural school districts find themselves trying to accommodate greater student need with less funding. As a result, some programs that were designed to minimize students from receiving out of school suspension and keeping them in school on a consistent basis, such as “in school suspension,” have been eliminated. The elimination of programs such as in school suspension in New Hope County Schools has led to an increase in suspension rates compared to previous years when the program was fully implemented. In addition, administrators are placing more students in the district’s alternative learning program with a goal to avert, reduce, and address the inappropriate behaviors displayed by students in the classroom. A mixed methods research design was utilized to determine if staff had been adequately trained in the area of culturally responsive practices and the impact that the training or lack thereof had on placing student’s in the district’s alternative learning program.