Date of Degree
2024
Degree Name
Ed.D. (Doctor of Education)
Department
Department of Leadership, Educational Psychology, and Foundations (LEPF)
Director
Puckett, Tiffany
Committee Members
Summers, Kelly; Gallagher, Morgan
Keywords
exclusionary discipline, suspension, student discipline, Senate Bill 100, legal literacy, teachers' legal literacy
Abstract
Teachers' Perceptions Regarding Legal Literacy Surrounding Student Discipline in Illinois
Research has shown that students of color and minority students receive exclusionary discipline at a disproportionate rate compared to their other peers. Research has also shown that exclusionary discipline contributes to the Pipeline to Prison, setting the trajectory for our students of color, as early as their school days. However, action has been taken by Illinois, Senate Bill 100, in order to address this disproportionate discipline. In addition to state protection, students have Federal rights and protections when it comes to school discipline. However, one question is if public school teachers are legally literate in the topic of Educational Law surrounding student discipline and/or Senate Bill 100. The purpose of this study is to investigate teachers’ perceptions regarding legal literacy surrounding student discipline in Illinois. Furthermore, the purpose of this study is to investigate if teachers in the state of Illinois have background in either classwork or professional development in the subject of Educational Law. How legally literate are our teachers in Illinois? The study found that teachers lack legal literacy surrounding the specifics around Senate Bill 100. In addition, while the majority of teachers had never had an Educational Law class or attended professional development on the topic of Educational Law, teachers showed interest in attending professional development on Educational Law. Finally, the study found that there is the necessity to educate school staff on the negative impact of exclusionary discipline. The author presents recommendations for action and areas for future research.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Publisher
Northern Illinois University
Rights Statement
In Copyright
Rights Statement 2
NIU theses and dissertations are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from Huskie Commons for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without the written permission of the authors, unless otherwise indicated.
Recommended Citation
Peczkowski, Ayla, "Teachers' Perceptions Regarding Legal Literacy Surrounding Student Discipline in Illinois" (2024). Dissertations of Practice. 44.
https://huskiecommons.lib.niu.edu/allgraduate-disspractice/44
