A Vignette Study of Nonviolent Communication as a Tool to Promote Racial Equity in School Discipline

The overrepresentation of Black/African American students receiving exclusionary discipline in K-12 schools in the United States is a persistent problem that harms Black/African American students’ academic outcomes, contributes to social emotional challenges, increases the likelihood of student dropouts, and fuels the school-to-prison pipeline.

When examining the issue of school discipline through a lens informed by critical race theory and African American Male Theory, it is evident that the racial disparity in school discipline is influenced by stereotypes, racial stigmatization, implicit bias, and normative baselines for behavior. The utility of nonviolent communication, a process for speaking and listening focused on extending empathy towards others, suspending judgment, and recognizing universal human needs, to mitigate these influences during disciplinary interactions between teachers and students is examined in this study.

A vignette survey to measure the impact of exposure to nonviolent communication on teacher discipline decision making was conducted to address the research question, “Does teacher awareness of nonviolent communication serve to mitigate the disparity in discipline rates between Black/African American and White students?” Ultimately, teachers were less likely to complete office disciplinary referrals for subjective infractions such as disrespect or defiance after exposure to nonviolent communication; however, when considering participants’ selfreported races and the implied races of the students involved in the hypothetical disciplinary scenarios, evidence of implicit bias remained.

This study was the first to examine nonviolent communication as a tool for teachers to navigate the disciplinary decision-making process.