Constructing Youth Identities: Newspaper Coverage of Exclusionary Discipline

The school reliance on exclusionary discipline drives behavioral inequities and sustains the marginalization of youth in schools. The narratives of punishment often extend beyond the walls of the school system and may be reinforced by news media discourse. Never-the-less, the relationship between news media discourse and the school disciplinary structure is an understudied area of research. Using critical discourse techniques--with a theoretical framework of critical race and news framing theories--we analyze news coverage of exclusionary discipline across (N = 64) newspaper articles. Our findings underscore news discourse with a hyper-focus on youth deficits, stigmatizing portrayals of violence and blame, and teacher resistance to discipline alternatives and reform. Discursive absence included a lack of youth and family voices and perspectives, and a disconnection from the systemic mechanisms that shape the disciplinary structure. We conclude with implications for educators, policymakers, and scholars--as we advocate for a re-invigorated focus to-ward the equitable support and inclusion of youth.