New Publication Examining Structural Determinism in School Discipline

There Are Still More Black Boys in the Office: Why racial disparities in school discipline persist—even with restorative justice

There are lots of ways in which schools are incentivised to make their behaviour data look better than what it actually is in there. And that includes suspensions in school and out of school suspensions as well. There are times when they tell students to take a ‘cooling off period’ and ask them not to come to school for a few days, which, you know, that’s called suspending someone. But if you just ask them not to come, then you don’t have to docent that anywhere and that doesn’t affect your data. Yeah. That’s not rare.

My latest publication (in Teachers and Teaching: Theory and Practice), explores how racial disparities in school discipline persist—even in schools that report “no disparities” after adopting restorative practices.

In schools across the U.S., restorative practices are being promoted as a more equitable approach to discipline—promising healing instead of punishment, dialogue instead of exclusion. But what happens when restorative justice is added on top of existing systems that were never designed to be just?

In this study, I interviewed twelve teachers from a large, urban school district known for its use of restorative practices. These were schools that, on paper, reported no racial disparities in suspension rates, and were praised for their success in avoiding punitive strategies. Yet nearly every teacher described something else. This included constant changes in curriculum, discipline policies, and interventions, making it nearly impossible to implement anything with fidelity. Teachers described students quietly being removed without documentation. Discipline policies that look equitable in spreadsheets—but not in classrooms.

So what’s happening?

To understand that, I drew on Critical Race Theory (CRT)—a framework that challenges the idea that racism is rare or exceptional, and instead names it as systemic and deeply embedded in institutions, including schools. One concept from CRT that guided this study is structural determinism, which describes how systems shape what people believe is possible—even when they want to do things differently. In this case, even as restorative practices were implemented, many teachers still removed students from class for “reset time” or sent them to informal spaces like wellness rooms or buddy classrooms. These actions weren’t always recorded, but they continued to disproportionately affect Black boys. This is structural determinism in action: the system says it’s reforming, but the deeper logic of who gets removed and who is punished remains intact.

The findings were stark. Many teachers described constantly shifting discipline mandates, unclear expectations, and a lack of meaningful support. Some described a revolving door of new programs: restorative justice, mindfulness, behavior ladders, all layered without coherence. Others admitted to relying on punitive methods when time or energy ran out: not because they wanted to, but because they felt they had no choice.

Crucially, even in “model” schools, students were often excluded through shadow discipline, being sent home without an official suspension, moved to wellness rooms, or placed in alternative classrooms where they received little support. These actions didn’t show up in the data. But they showed up in students’ lives.

This is where structural determinism matters: if we train teachers to care but don’t change the systems that limit their choices, empathy becomes a trap. Teachers feel bad but still remove students. Schools appear to be reforming but still reproduce racial disparities. And Black and Brown students remain at the margins.

Photo of a school staircase with graffiti on the walls and floor.

Restorative practices, as many educators told me, can help. But only when they’re deeply implemented, supported by leadership, and grounded in racial and structural analysis. Otherwise, they risk becoming just another way to do the same thing—gently. This work matters because our kids deserve more than superficial reform. They deserve schools that understand how racism is built into policy, data, and discipline—and that are willing to change more than just the tools they use.

If we want to transform school discipline, we have to move beyond technical fixes and be honest about what is behind inequity—power, policy, and race. That work doesn’t happen alone. I’d love to hear from others navigating these tensions—educators, researchers, youth, families. What are you seeing in your schools? What stories aren’t being told?

Samimi, C. (2025). There are still more Black boys in the office: Educators’ perspectives on racial discipline disparities after restorative justice implementation. Teachers and Teaching: Theory and Practice. https://doi.org/10.1080/13540602.2025.2474068