Does racial bias influence disciplinary action at Modesto schools? An expert looks into it

A community forum Thursday will spotlight disciplinary practices in Modesto City Schools and how it affects educational opportunities for Latino and African-American students.

Jason Okonofua, a nationally known expert on social psychology, has begun a study of student conduct and disciplinary policy in Modesto’s largest school district, where 60 percent of students are Latino, 25 percent are English learners and 3 percent are African-American.

The district hired the expert after civil rights groups in December 2017 threatened a lawsuit in federal court on claims that Latino and African-American students in MCS are suspended, expelled and placed in alternative schools at higher rates than other students. The claimants said that students of color removed from mainstream schools and placed in alternative programs are stigmatized and have fewer educational opportunities.

Advocates for Justice and the Modesto-Stanislaus Branch of NAACP teamed up with California Rural Legal Assistance and the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the Bay Area to prepare a case on behalf of parents and students who said their lives were affected by unfair disciplinary actions.

To avoid costly litigation, MCS decided to work with the groups to study the issue and continue to address disproportionate rates of suspension and expulsion of students of color. The district maintained that its practices had not violated civil rights laws.

Okonofua’s study is still in the early stages. He will glean information from surveys and discussions with MCS administrators, teachers and students and then analyze disciplinary practices and recommend training for staff members. The ultimate goal is creating a more inclusive environment in Modesto City Schools.

Okonofua, who teaches at UC Berkeley, does research on teacher-student relationships and how stereotyping can influence disciplinary practices on campuses. Social scientists are concerned that biases tend to escalate disciplinary action against students of color, contributing to high-school dropout rates and creating a pathway to unemployment and incarceration.

The national expert will share what he’s learned so far in Modesto for those attending Thursday’s forum at Downey High School. A school district contract with Okonofua’s Mindset Science Solution LLC, not to exceed $300,000, runs through June 30, 2021.

Okonofua has favored online training for teachers, challenging them to watch their biases before disciplining a minority student. As a graduate student, he was part of a Stanford University study, released in 2015, that measured the emotional response of teachers to misbehavior by students who were seen as white or African-American.

When presented with records of student conduct, which randomly were assigned popular African-American names like DeShawn and Darnell and names associated with white kids, teachers participating in the study had the same emotional response to the records on a first infraction. But on a second violation, the teachers’ emotional reaction was stronger toward the students with African-American names, and the teachers thought those students deserved disciplinary action at a higher severity level, according to a Reuters report on the study results.

The Reuters story quoted Okonofua as saying: “It’s not that these are racist people. We all are exposed to stereotypes in the world.”

If a student is characterized as a troublemaker, it can change how he or she interacts with teachers and other authority figures on campus.

The civil rights organizations charged that African-American students in Modesto City Schools were 3.5 times more likely to be suspended than white students. Latino and English learners were also suspended at higher rates than the general student population. Parents and students who said their lives were affected by unfair disciplinary action were part of the coalition that threatened legal action.

In a news release announcing the settlement in May, the groups acknowledged that in-school suspensions were down after Modesto City Schools changed some practices. But the groups claimed that minority students were being sent to intervention classrooms, where no instruction took place, as a way for the district to reduce the number of suspensions reported to the state.

Becky Fortuna, spokeswoman for MCS, said Friday that the district is proud of progress made to reduce suspensions and expulsions across all student groups in the last six years.

“Historically, we have had disproportionate numbers of suspensions and expulsions of African-American and Latino students,” Fortuna wrote in an email. “It is a challenge that exists through the state, and the nation as a whole; however, we are fully committed to ensuring our discipline policies are fair and equitable for all of our students.”

The spokeswoman said that Okonofua’s study and recommendations will help MCS continue with the progress.

The district estimated it would have paid $1.7 million in legal costs if the case had gone to court. To reach a settlement, MCS agreed to pay $50,000 to the claimants and $120,000 in attorney fees.

In 2017, a school district in Bakersfield agreed to pay $670,000 to settle a lawsuit over high rates of disciplinary action taken against minority students.

The 90-minute community forum will begin at 6 p.m. Thursday in the Downey High auditorium, 1000 Coffee Road, Modesto.

This story was originally published January 21, 2019 at 1:09 PM.