R O Welsh
Biographic Data
| ID | 66743 |
|---|---|
| NAME | R O Welsh |
| GIVEN NAMES | R |
| FAMILY NAME | O Welsh |
| SIGNATURE | WELSH R O |
| AFFILIATIONS | Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-6079-4111 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 26 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 76 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 26 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2018 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 6 |
Examining the Differential Relationships Between School Climate and Students’ Disciplinary Outcomes
Improving school climate has emerged as a strategy to reduce discipline disparities. This study uses the case of New York City to examine the differential relationships between school climate and students’ likelihood of receiving office discipline referrals (ODRs) or suspensions. The results illustrate that the association between school climate and school discipline varies significantly by student characteristics. Black, Latinx, male, low-income…
Learning From Success to Disrupt Disparities
Racial inequality in school discipline is an important topic in education. Using nationwide data, this study identifies and examines “Inclusive Disciplinary Districts” (IDDs) in the United States. We use data from the Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC) that provides district-level data for the years 2011 to 2012, 2013 to 2014, 2015 to 2016, and 2017 to 2018. The results indicate that suspension rates for Black students, the geographic region, st…
The Sankofa of School Discipline
The 1975 Children’s Defense Fund report “ School suspensions: Are they helping children ” has inspired generations of scholarship, policies, and practices. Using data from the Civil Rights Data Collection and leveraging recent literature reviews, this study provides an empirical update to the landmark 1975 report and commentary on salient developments in the school discipline research and policy landscape in the past fifty years. The results unde…
Advancing equity via research-practice partnerships
Introduction Research-practice partnerships (RPPs) are posited as a vehicle to improve the use of research evidence. Equity-centered RPPs are an evolving subset of RPPs loosely bound by equity principles and varying in partnership design and approaches. There is a need for a better understanding of the partnership dynamics and activities of equity-centered RPPs, as well as whether and how equity-centered RPPs improve youth outcomes. Methods We le…
Southern hospitality? Exploring the prevalence of and disparities in exclusionary discipline in the U.S. South
Does Rural Mean not Urban? Reconsidering the Conceptualization and Operationalization of Rural School Districts
Increasing attention has been paid to rural education policy and research, yet few studies have examined the conceptualization of rural school districts. This study provides a conceptual and empirical examination of the definitions of rural districts. The results illustrate that a common, singular definition of rural is elusive and there is a prevailing notion of rural as “not urban.” Regardless of the operationalization of rurality, there are st…
Racial Threat, Schools, and Exclusionary Discipline
Given the mixed evidence on the role of school-level factors in contributing to racial inequality in exclusionary discipline, there is a need to revisit how the demographic composition of schools relates to the prevalence of and disparities in disciplinary outcomes. In this study, we extend the racial threat theoretical framework by illustrating the associations between racial composition and changes in the racial composition of schools and schoo…
Examining student perceptions of school climate, school personnel, and school discipline
Improving school climate is important to reducing disparities in exclusionary discipline, yet the relationship between school climate and school discipline remains poorly understood. Although prior studies have largely relied on students' perceptions to measure school climate, few studies have examined how school contextual factors such as prior disciplinary history or school personnel may affect students' perception of school climate. In the pre…
The Ties That Bind
Inequities in exclusionary discipline result from a complex process involving students, families, and school personnel. However, little research has explored the topic from parent perspectives. This study used parent survey data from New York City to investigate the link between school-family relationships and students experiencing exclusionary discipline. Results indicate that stronger parental trust toward teachers is connected to a reduced pro…
Administering Discipline
School discipline is a significant educational policy and equity issue in K-12 education due to well-documented racial inequality in exclusionary discipline and the deleterious effects of exclusionary discipline on academic and adult outcomes. Drawing on interviews with district and school administrators and teachers in an “urban-emergent” district, this exploratory qualitative case study identifies and explicates the key factors that shape disci…
School Leadership, Race, and School Discipline
Racial disparities in disciplinary outcomes are a salient educational policy and equity issue. Most of the research on school discipline focuses on teachers rather than school leaders and prior studies have largely examined principals' attitudes. This study uses data from a mid-sized urban district to examine how student-school leader race interactions influence the likelihood of receiving suspensions conditional on receiving an infraction, with …
Navigating Tensions in School Discipline
Purpose: Racial inequality in school discipline is an important challenge facing educational stakeholders. There is little research on how educators exercise discretion in navigating the disciplinary process from perceived misbehavior to disciplinary consequences. Research Methods/Approach: This study draws primarily on semistructured interviews with district leaders, school administrators, and teachers in an urban emergent district in the southe…
Up the down escalator? Examining a decade of school discipline reforms
Adding Color to My Tears
Persistent racial disparities in students’ disciplinary outcomes have been one of the most concerning educational policy and equity topics for decades. Despite the hypervisibility of Black students in school discipline conversations, research and practice evade a focus on anti-Black racism. In this essay, we draw from Black Critical Theory (BlackCrit) to present a theoretical framework that researchers and educational stakeholders can use to spec…
Overlooked Exclusionary Discipline
School discipline is a salient challenge in K–12 districts nationwide. The majority of prior studies have focused on suspensions with relatively little attention paid to other forms of exclusionary discipline. This mixed-methods study provides a descriptive analysis of overlooked disciplinary consequences, namely, assignment to alternative schools, expulsions, and referrals to hearing. The findings from the quantitative analysis indicate that pos…
School Discipline in the Age of Covid-19
Racial disparities in suspensions have acquired greater significance given the substantial lost learning time, additional trauma and stress, and myriad racial inequalities exposed by COVID-19. This study examines how the COVID-19 pandemic is reshaping school discipline patterns and highlights salient policy and practice considerations with an emphasis on racial inequality in exclusionary discipline. The results indicate that each school year (201…
Assessing the Quality of Education Research Through Its Relevance to Practice
The contemporary social, economic, and cultural conditions within and outside the academy prompt important questions about the role of research in education policy and practice. Scholars have framed research-practice partnerships (RPPs) as a strategy to promote evidence-based decision-making in education. In this chapter, I interrogate the notion that RPPs offer an insightful framework to consider how the quality of research can be measured throu…
(Re)Defining Urban Education
Generally, educational studies do not problematize the definition of urban education or examine the positionality of sites along a spectrum of urban districts and schools. This study addresses the definitional gap by (a) examining the conceptualization of urban education through an integrative review of prior definitional research and (b) exploring how an urban district may be defined in empirical terms. Our findings indicate six categories are t…
Rac(e)ing to punishment? Applying theory to racial disparities in disciplinary outcomes
In recent decades, racial disparities in K-12 disciplinary outcomes in the United States have garnered considerable attention. Empirical studies have established that schools’ discipline policies and practices play an important role; however, the lack of an integrated theoretical framework inhibits the discourse on bias and discrimination as a contributing factor. This study aims to close the gap between theory and empirical evidence by examining…
Ebbs and Flows
In order to access and take advantage of the educational opportunity promised by the Brown decision, student mobility is an operative consideration. In this study, I examine the relationship between student mobility, neighborhoods, and segregation. First, I draw upon empirical evidence from the extant literature to provide a conceptual framework of relationships among educational equity, student mobility, neighborhoods, and segregation. Next, I p…
Recovery, Achievement, and Opportunity
Although state-run turnaround districts have grown in prominence as a school improvement strategy with significant equity implications for urban education, little is known about the similarities and differences across states. This article provides a comparative analysis of state-run takeover districts in Louisiana, Tennessee, and Georgia. Although there are several similarities such as the centrality of test-based accountability and charter schoo…
Intra-District Student Mobility, School Discipline and Gender
Student mobility and school discipline are two prominent challenges in urban school districts. The interaction of gender with school discipline in shaping patterns of student mobility has received little attention. This article examines student mobility patterns across gender and the timing of school changes in Clark County, Nevada. The findings draw attention to discipline-related mobility or the placement of students in alternative schools, esp…
Right Cause, Wrong Method? Examining the Politics of State Takeover in Georgia
A growing number of states are using state-run school districts to take over and improve persistently underperforming schools. This article uses Georgia to examine the politics of state takeover. We analyze the supporting and opposing coalitions as well as the alignment between state takeover and charter schools in the campaign for the constitutional amendment to create a statewide turnaround district. Our findings show that corporate interests, …
The School Discipline Dilemma
In recent decades, K–12 school discipline policies and practices have garnered increasing attention among researchers, policymakers, and educators. Disproportionalities in school discipline raise serious questions about educational equity. This study provides a comprehensive review of the extant literature on the contributors to racial, gender, and income disparities in disciplinary outcomes, and the effectiveness of emerging alternatives to excl…
Caste and control in schools
Rac(e)ing to punishment? Applying theory to racial disparities in disciplinary outcomes
In recent decades, racial disparities in K-12 disciplinary outcomes in the United States have garnered considerable attention. Empirical studies have established that schools’ discipline policies and practices play an important role; however, the lack of an integrated theoretical framework inhibits the discourse on bias and discrimination as a contributing factor. This study aims to close the gap between theory and empirical evidence by examining…
Navigating Tensions in School Discipline
Purpose: Racial inequality in school discipline is an important challenge facing educational stakeholders. There is little research on how educators exercise discretion in navigating the disciplinary process from perceived misbehavior to disciplinary consequences. Research Methods/Approach: This study draws primarily on semistructured interviews with district leaders, school administrators, and teachers in an urban emergent district in the southe…
Adding Color to My Tears
Persistent racial disparities in students’ disciplinary outcomes have been one of the most concerning educational policy and equity topics for decades. Despite the hypervisibility of Black students in school discipline conversations, research and practice evade a focus on anti-Black racism. In this essay, we draw from Black Critical Theory (BlackCrit) to present a theoretical framework that researchers and educational stakeholders can use to spec…
School Discipline in the Age of Covid-19
Racial disparities in suspensions have acquired greater significance given the substantial lost learning time, additional trauma and stress, and myriad racial inequalities exposed by COVID-19. This study examines how the COVID-19 pandemic is reshaping school discipline patterns and highlights salient policy and practice considerations with an emphasis on racial inequality in exclusionary discipline. The results indicate that each school year (201…
Up the down escalator? Examining a decade of school discipline reforms
Right Cause, Wrong Method? Examining the Politics of State Takeover in Georgia
A growing number of states are using state-run school districts to take over and improve persistently underperforming schools. This article uses Georgia to examine the politics of state takeover. We analyze the supporting and opposing coalitions as well as the alignment between state takeover and charter schools in the campaign for the constitutional amendment to create a statewide turnaround district. Our findings show that corporate interests, …
Recovery, Achievement, and Opportunity
Although state-run turnaround districts have grown in prominence as a school improvement strategy with significant equity implications for urban education, little is known about the similarities and differences across states. This article provides a comparative analysis of state-run takeover districts in Louisiana, Tennessee, and Georgia. Although there are several similarities such as the centrality of test-based accountability and charter schoo…
Student Mobility, Segregation, and Achievement Gaps
Student mobility and school segregation are two important issues with significant equity implications for urban school districts that are often addressed separately. This article examines the relationship between student mobility and school segregation. The findings indicate that more segregated schools typically have smaller within-school achievement gaps, a lower proportion of proficient students, a higher proportion of low-income and minority …
Racial Threat, Schools, and Exclusionary Discipline
Given the mixed evidence on the role of school-level factors in contributing to racial inequality in exclusionary discipline, there is a need to revisit how the demographic composition of schools relates to the prevalence of and disparities in disciplinary outcomes. In this study, we extend the racial threat theoretical framework by illustrating the associations between racial composition and changes in the racial composition of schools and schoo…
School Leadership, Race, and School Discipline
Racial disparities in disciplinary outcomes are a salient educational policy and equity issue. Most of the research on school discipline focuses on teachers rather than school leaders and prior studies have largely examined principals' attitudes. This study uses data from a mid-sized urban district to examine how student-school leader race interactions influence the likelihood of receiving suspensions conditional on receiving an infraction, with …
Intra-District Student Mobility, School Discipline and Gender
Student mobility and school discipline are two prominent challenges in urban school districts. The interaction of gender with school discipline in shaping patterns of student mobility has received little attention. This article examines student mobility patterns across gender and the timing of school changes in Clark County, Nevada. The findings draw attention to discipline-related mobility or the placement of students in alternative schools, esp…
Does Rural Mean not Urban? Reconsidering the Conceptualization and Operationalization of Rural School Districts
Increasing attention has been paid to rural education policy and research, yet few studies have examined the conceptualization of rural school districts. This study provides a conceptual and empirical examination of the definitions of rural districts. The results illustrate that a common, singular definition of rural is elusive and there is a prevailing notion of rural as “not urban.” Regardless of the operationalization of rurality, there are st…
The Ties That Bind
Inequities in exclusionary discipline result from a complex process involving students, families, and school personnel. However, little research has explored the topic from parent perspectives. This study used parent survey data from New York City to investigate the link between school-family relationships and students experiencing exclusionary discipline. Results indicate that stronger parental trust toward teachers is connected to a reduced pro…
Administering Discipline
School discipline is a significant educational policy and equity issue in K-12 education due to well-documented racial inequality in exclusionary discipline and the deleterious effects of exclusionary discipline on academic and adult outcomes. Drawing on interviews with district and school administrators and teachers in an “urban-emergent” district, this exploratory qualitative case study identifies and explicates the key factors that shape disci…
Southern hospitality? Exploring the prevalence of and disparities in exclusionary discipline in the U.S. South
The School Discipline Dilemma
In recent decades, K–12 school discipline policies and practices have garnered increasing attention among researchers, policymakers, and educators. Disproportionalities in school discipline raise serious questions about educational equity. This study provides a comprehensive review of the extant literature on the contributors to racial, gender, and income disparities in disciplinary outcomes, and the effectiveness of emerging alternatives to excl…
Caste and control in schools
Student Mobility, Segregation, and Achievement Gaps
Student mobility and school segregation are two important issues with significant equity implications for urban school districts that are often addressed separately. This article examines the relationship between student mobility and school segregation. The findings indicate that more segregated schools typically have smaller within-school achievement gaps, a lower proportion of proficient students, a higher proportion of low-income and minority …
Rac(e)ing to punishment? Applying theory to racial disparities in disciplinary outcomes
In recent decades, racial disparities in K-12 disciplinary outcomes in the United States have garnered considerable attention. Empirical studies have established that schools’ discipline policies and practices play an important role; however, the lack of an integrated theoretical framework inhibits the discourse on bias and discrimination as a contributing factor. This study aims to close the gap between theory and empirical evidence by examining…
Ebbs and Flows
In order to access and take advantage of the educational opportunity promised by the Brown decision, student mobility is an operative consideration. In this study, I examine the relationship between student mobility, neighborhoods, and segregation. First, I draw upon empirical evidence from the extant literature to provide a conceptual framework of relationships among educational equity, student mobility, neighborhoods, and segregation. Next, I p…
Recovery, Achievement, and Opportunity
Although state-run turnaround districts have grown in prominence as a school improvement strategy with significant equity implications for urban education, little is known about the similarities and differences across states. This article provides a comparative analysis of state-run takeover districts in Louisiana, Tennessee, and Georgia. Although there are several similarities such as the centrality of test-based accountability and charter schoo…
Intra-District Student Mobility, School Discipline and Gender
Student mobility and school discipline are two prominent challenges in urban school districts. The interaction of gender with school discipline in shaping patterns of student mobility has received little attention. This article examines student mobility patterns across gender and the timing of school changes in Clark County, Nevada. The findings draw attention to discipline-related mobility or the placement of students in alternative schools, esp…
Right Cause, Wrong Method? Examining the Politics of State Takeover in Georgia
A growing number of states are using state-run school districts to take over and improve persistently underperforming schools. This article uses Georgia to examine the politics of state takeover. We analyze the supporting and opposing coalitions as well as the alignment between state takeover and charter schools in the campaign for the constitutional amendment to create a statewide turnaround district. Our findings show that corporate interests, …
(Re)Defining Urban Education
Generally, educational studies do not problematize the definition of urban education or examine the positionality of sites along a spectrum of urban districts and schools. This study addresses the definitional gap by (a) examining the conceptualization of urban education through an integrative review of prior definitional research and (b) exploring how an urban district may be defined in empirical terms. Our findings indicate six categories are t…
Assessing the Quality of Education Research Through Its Relevance to Practice
The contemporary social, economic, and cultural conditions within and outside the academy prompt important questions about the role of research in education policy and practice. Scholars have framed research-practice partnerships (RPPs) as a strategy to promote evidence-based decision-making in education. In this chapter, I interrogate the notion that RPPs offer an insightful framework to consider how the quality of research can be measured throu…
Overlooked Exclusionary Discipline
School discipline is a salient challenge in K–12 districts nationwide. The majority of prior studies have focused on suspensions with relatively little attention paid to other forms of exclusionary discipline. This mixed-methods study provides a descriptive analysis of overlooked disciplinary consequences, namely, assignment to alternative schools, expulsions, and referrals to hearing. The findings from the quantitative analysis indicate that pos…
School Discipline in the Age of Covid-19
Racial disparities in suspensions have acquired greater significance given the substantial lost learning time, additional trauma and stress, and myriad racial inequalities exposed by COVID-19. This study examines how the COVID-19 pandemic is reshaping school discipline patterns and highlights salient policy and practice considerations with an emphasis on racial inequality in exclusionary discipline. The results indicate that each school year (201…
Navigating Tensions in School Discipline
Purpose: Racial inequality in school discipline is an important challenge facing educational stakeholders. There is little research on how educators exercise discretion in navigating the disciplinary process from perceived misbehavior to disciplinary consequences. Research Methods/Approach: This study draws primarily on semistructured interviews with district leaders, school administrators, and teachers in an urban emergent district in the southe…
Up the down escalator? Examining a decade of school discipline reforms
Adding Color to My Tears
Persistent racial disparities in students’ disciplinary outcomes have been one of the most concerning educational policy and equity topics for decades. Despite the hypervisibility of Black students in school discipline conversations, research and practice evade a focus on anti-Black racism. In this essay, we draw from Black Critical Theory (BlackCrit) to present a theoretical framework that researchers and educational stakeholders can use to spec…
Examining student perceptions of school climate, school personnel, and school discipline
Improving school climate is important to reducing disparities in exclusionary discipline, yet the relationship between school climate and school discipline remains poorly understood. Although prior studies have largely relied on students' perceptions to measure school climate, few studies have examined how school contextual factors such as prior disciplinary history or school personnel may affect students' perception of school climate. In the pre…
The Ties That Bind
Inequities in exclusionary discipline result from a complex process involving students, families, and school personnel. However, little research has explored the topic from parent perspectives. This study used parent survey data from New York City to investigate the link between school-family relationships and students experiencing exclusionary discipline. Results indicate that stronger parental trust toward teachers is connected to a reduced pro…
Administering Discipline
School discipline is a significant educational policy and equity issue in K-12 education due to well-documented racial inequality in exclusionary discipline and the deleterious effects of exclusionary discipline on academic and adult outcomes. Drawing on interviews with district and school administrators and teachers in an “urban-emergent” district, this exploratory qualitative case study identifies and explicates the key factors that shape disci…
School Leadership, Race, and School Discipline
Racial disparities in disciplinary outcomes are a salient educational policy and equity issue. Most of the research on school discipline focuses on teachers rather than school leaders and prior studies have largely examined principals' attitudes. This study uses data from a mid-sized urban district to examine how student-school leader race interactions influence the likelihood of receiving suspensions conditional on receiving an infraction, with …
Advancing equity via research-practice partnerships
Introduction Research-practice partnerships (RPPs) are posited as a vehicle to improve the use of research evidence. Equity-centered RPPs are an evolving subset of RPPs loosely bound by equity principles and varying in partnership design and approaches. There is a need for a better understanding of the partnership dynamics and activities of equity-centered RPPs, as well as whether and how equity-centered RPPs improve youth outcomes. Methods We le…
Southern hospitality? Exploring the prevalence of and disparities in exclusionary discipline in the U.S. South
Does Rural Mean not Urban? Reconsidering the Conceptualization and Operationalization of Rural School Districts
Increasing attention has been paid to rural education policy and research, yet few studies have examined the conceptualization of rural school districts. This study provides a conceptual and empirical examination of the definitions of rural districts. The results illustrate that a common, singular definition of rural is elusive and there is a prevailing notion of rural as “not urban.” Regardless of the operationalization of rurality, there are st…
Racial Threat, Schools, and Exclusionary Discipline
Given the mixed evidence on the role of school-level factors in contributing to racial inequality in exclusionary discipline, there is a need to revisit how the demographic composition of schools relates to the prevalence of and disparities in disciplinary outcomes. In this study, we extend the racial threat theoretical framework by illustrating the associations between racial composition and changes in the racial composition of schools and schoo…
Examining the Differential Relationships Between School Climate and Students’ Disciplinary Outcomes
Improving school climate has emerged as a strategy to reduce discipline disparities. This study uses the case of New York City to examine the differential relationships between school climate and students’ likelihood of receiving office discipline referrals (ODRs) or suspensions. The results illustrate that the association between school climate and school discipline varies significantly by student characteristics. Black, Latinx, male, low-income…
Learning From Success to Disrupt Disparities
Racial inequality in school discipline is an important topic in education. Using nationwide data, this study identifies and examines “Inclusive Disciplinary Districts” (IDDs) in the United States. We use data from the Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC) that provides district-level data for the years 2011 to 2012, 2013 to 2014, 2015 to 2016, and 2017 to 2018. The results indicate that suspension rates for Black students, the geographic region, st…
Sociology (20 works) · Education Discipline and Inequality (17 works) · Political science (17 works) · Pedagogy (16 works) · Psychology (15 works) · School Discipline (13 works) · Social science (12 works) · Bullying, Victimization, and Aggression (11 works) · Discipline (11 works) · Criminology (7 works)