Context-based discrimination in school discipline

Numerous studies have documented racialized disparities in school disciplinary practices, with students from stigmatized racialized groups facing harsher and more frequent punishment than their non-stigmatized peers. These disparities are often attributed to teachers' negative stereotypes. However, existing psychological theories have largely overlooked the impact of broader contextual factors, such as racialized segregation and the demographic composition of school environments, on teachers' decision-making processes. Drawing on ecological systems theory (Bronfenbrenner, 1977), we identify three critical gaps in the literature on racialized disparities in school discipline: the dyadic focus on teacher-student interactions, the neglect of superordinate contextual levels, and the limited consideration of racialized segregation patterns. To bridge these gaps, we introduce a context-based discrimination (CBD) model, which posits that the racialized composition of classrooms, schools, and surrounding geographic areas influences social categorization, stereotyping, and decision-making in the classroom. We argue that when disparities in overall discipline rates between school settings are linked to racialized composition, they constitute context-based discrimination. Because these causal structural factors are theorized to operate at contextual levels, they likely affect many students at a time, which underscores the relevance of context-based discrimination.