52 Kandiest Martin-Brock, EdD self-reflection of their culture and experiences and their role with discipline. Assistant principals shared how their individual personal experiences and how reading books had changed their perception on behavior with Black males and behavior consequences. How assistant principals perceived students of color not only impacted their discipline decisions with Black students but also their level of discipline expectations for White students. Being able to work with a Black administrator was seen as having a positive impact based on their life experiences and understanding of specific cultural behaviors with Black students. One administrator attributed Race to having a positive impact on their ability to be able to communicate with students of the same Race. In contrast, one assistant principal shared that Race impacted the way they assigned certain standards, beliefs, and expectations to specific students. In one example, a Black assistant principal struggled with maintaining neutrality and how her actions and behaviors would be perceived by others. Race and Gender emerged as a theme when the assistant principals shared specific experiences and perceptions on the discipline behaviors associated with Black males and Black females. Adult behaviors, school culture, stereotypes, and vocal behaviors impacted Black male behaviors. While disrespect was ranked as the discipline behavior observed the most for Black males, altercations involving miscommunication with others, friend issues, or boy issues also referred to as “girl drama” was the most observed discipline behavior for Black females. Black females were viewed as being loud or vocal, opinionated and strong willed, and being insubordinate. The perception of how Black females treat each other versus how Black males treat each other impacted the decision to suspend. In addition, the behaviors of Black females were seen as less serious than the behaviors of Black males. Most assistant principals shared experiences of suspending Black females for fighting, even though fighting was not ranked among the highest behaviors exhibited by Black females. Behaviors such as fighting, being vocal, distrust, and impulsivity were found to be common behaviors for Black males and Black females. Although there were commonalities for Race and Gender among Black males and Black females, one assistant principal petitioned to have a consequence Discipline Behaviors of Black Boys Discipline Behaviors of Black Girls Girl Drama Fighting Impulsive Disrupting the Class Cultural Expectations How they are approached Opinionated/Strong Willed Being Vocal/Loud Being mean to each other Distrust Impulsivity Disrespect Fighting Non-compliance Skipping Bullying Teasing Stealing Talking out in class/being vocal Class clown Distrust Impulsivity Horse playing Insubordination Behaviors taught by their parents Impressing others Attention Seeking Sexual Assault Pushing the Limit Table 1. Comparison of the Discipline Behavior of Black Males and Black Females 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
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