Open research questions in Education Discipline and Inequality

What the literature leaves open

• It highlights the need for further research on the use of AI-driven tools in disciplinary contexts.

  Leveraging ChatGPT in K-12 School Discipline: Potential Applications and Ethical Considerations · 2025 · DOI

• The aim of this scoping review was to identify the gaps in research and the way forward by reviewing the body of literature on leadership strategies being used to deal with disruptive behaviour in rural primary schools.

  LEADERSHIP STRATEGIES FOR MANAGING DISRUPTIVE BEHAVIOUR IN RURAL PRIMARY SCHOOLS: SCOPING REVIEW · 2026 · DOI

• Future research should explore the long-term effects of Black girl spaces on the positive youth development of Black girls. Future research should investigate the use of CRSEL pedagogy in other contexts.

  Taking Up Space: An Analysis of Educational Spaces for Black Girlhood · 2026 · DOI

• There is a need for restorative and liberatory environments for Black girls. There is a lack of understanding of what Black girls learn in these environments.

  Taking Up Space: An Analysis of Educational Spaces for Black Girlhood · 2026 · DOI

• Similarly, future research could examine how social class interacts with these other factors in shaping mothers’ attitudes, as this was not possible with the present sample. Moreover, the demographic characteristics of the interviewees and the sample size do not allow for the analysis of certain questions, which should be explored in future research.

  Navigating stigma amid class disparities: a qualitative study of same-sex couples in French schools · 2026 · DOI

• There is a lack of guidance on how schools should implement peer mediation programs to support meaningful change in school disciplinary culture. The effectiveness of peer mediation programs depends on their structure and how they are carried out.

  Building restorative school cultures: Insights from peer mediation programs in elementary and middle schools · 2026 · DOI

• There is a significant gap in research on preservice/postsecondary ECE students' perspectives, particularly through a critical framing that challenges the normative logics embedded within psychological and developmental theories. The study identifies a need for a critical examination of the ways in which sanist systems of oppression are reinforced in early childhood education.

  Regulation of Madness in Early Childhood Education: Exploring Undergraduates’ Understanding of Professional Identity and Mental Health · 2026 · DOI

• There is a need to examine the effectiveness of different training programs in mitigating widespread classroom disorder. The study aims to identify which training programs have a significant impact on reducing or preventing classroom disruptions.

  Which Training Works? · 2026 · DOI

• There is a lack of a universal definition of inclusion. The concept of DEI has not been fully explored in educational research. The study aims to address the gap in understanding DEI in educational contexts.

  Who Gets to Know, Speak, and be Heard? A Scoping Review of Discriminatory Epistemic Injustice (DEI) in Educational Research · 2026 · DOI

• Limited participation by experts, key stakeholders, and parents. Poor coordination between the social development and education departments. The lack of parental support and involvement in addressing learners' issues.

  Collaboration and Challenges in School Social Work Within South African Public Schools: A Case of the Gauteng Province · 2026 · DOI

• The lack of psychosocial well-being support structures affects learners' well-being. The study aims to address this gap by exploring the nature of collaboration in school social work.

  Collaboration and Challenges in School Social Work Within South African Public Schools: A Case of the Gauteng Province · 2026 · DOI

• Further research could explore the long-term effects of DSG laws on educator retention and student outcomes. Studies could investigate the impact of DSG laws on educators' self-efficacy and sense of agency. Research could examine the relationship between DSG laws and school climate.

  Perceived Comfort and Safety of Self and Students Predicting One’s Wish to Leave Education · 2026 · DOI

• There is a lack of understanding of how 'Don't Say Gay' laws affect educators' perceptions of safety and comfort. The study aims to fill this gap by exploring the relationship between 'Don't Say Gay' laws and educator retention. The research gap includes the need to understand how the presence of 'Don't Say Gay' laws affects educators' self-efficacy and sense of agency within the school environment.

  Perceived Comfort and Safety of Self and Students Predicting One’s Wish to Leave Education · 2026 · DOI

• The gap is that considerably less attention has been devoted to how physical security measures are institutionally organised and governed. National policies introduce physical security measures, but the institutional arrangements are not well understood.

  Governing physical school security in Europe: a comparative analysis of institutional frameworks and risk governance · 2026 · DOI

• The paper highlights the need for a more nuanced understanding of educational inequities that takes into account both current systemic factors and historical racism.

  Historicizing Disadvantage: What Does “Controlling for Poverty” Really Mean? · 2026 · DOI

• Few studies have examined how exclusionary discipline extends to parents and advocates. The literature has investigated how school suspensions impact Black students, but few studies have explored secondary harms for parents. There is a need to investigate how school officials respond to families and community activists who advocate for Black children involved in the school discipline process.

  Meeting Parental School Discipline Advocacy with Violence: How Schools Retaliate Against Families · 2026 · DOI

• There is a gap in understanding how Black male educators navigate systemic barriers and challenge exclusionary discipline practices. Prior work has highlighted the need for equitable and humanizing learning environments, but more research is needed on the experiences of Black male educators.

  Shaping School Discipline: Identity, Advocacy, and the Role of Black Male Educators in Challenging Exclusionary Practices · 2026 · DOI

• The study emphasizes the need for evidence-based reforms to address the urgent state of school discipline in the U.S.

  The Sankofa of School Discipline: Looking Backwards to Move Forward · 2026 · DOI

• The study identifies a gap in the literature by highlighting the need for an empirical update to the 1975 Children's Defense Fund report. The paper notes that the post-COVID school discipline landscape largely resembles the pre-COVID landscape. The study emphasizes the need for research on the finance of school discipline, the ecology of school discipline, and the well-being of school discipline.

  The Sankofa of School Discipline: Looking Backwards to Move Forward · 2026 · DOI

• One challenge is the lack of understanding of the causes of disproportionate suspensions of Black students. Another challenge is the need to develop discipline policies and practices that are fair and equitable for all students. The paper also identifies the challenge of addressing the systemic and institutional barriers that contribute to the disproportionate suspensions of Black students.

  “For Whom the Bell Tolls”: Revisiting Black Students’ School Suspensions Since 1975 · 2026 · DOI

• The gap in the literature is the lack of understanding of the causes of disproportionate suspensions of Black students. There is a need for a comprehensive review of the literature on school suspensions of Black students. The paper aims to address this gap by using a Critical Race Theory lens.

  “For Whom the Bell Tolls”: Revisiting Black Students’ School Suspensions Since 1975 · 2026 · DOI

• Implementing peer mediation programs in schools with limited resources. Addressing societal and identity-related factors that affect program success. Ensuring the long-term sustainability of peer mediation programs.

  Building restorative school cultures: Insights from peer mediation programs in elementary and middle schools · 2026 · DOI

• The review was limited to peer-reviewed educational studies that explicitly use the term DEI or directly apply Fricker's theoretical framework. The study had to navigate the complexities of analyzing and synthesizing a large body of literature.

  Who Gets to Know, Speak, and be Heard? A Scoping Review of Discriminatory Epistemic Injustice (DEI) in Educational Research · 2026 · DOI

• Teachers report limited time and tools to sustain activities that build a climate of mutual respect.

  Teachers’ perceived competence and professional uncertainty when managing micro-exclusions and identity-related classroom dynamics · 2026 · DOI

• Investigate the impact of school discipline on Black students' long-term outcomes, - Examine the effects of parental involvement on student achievement in different contexts, - Explore the experiences of other marginalized groups in the school discipline…

  Meeting Parental School Discipline Advocacy with Violence: How Schools Retaliate Against Families · 2026 · DOI

Most-cited papers in Education Discipline and Inequality

• The Color of Discipline: Sources of Racial and Gender Disproportionality in School Punishment · The Urban Review · 2002 · 1,161 citations
• Race Is Not Neutral: A National Investigation of African American and Latino Disproportionality in School Discipline · School Psychology Review · 2011 · 1,027 citations
• The Achievement Gap and the Discipline Gap · Educational Researcher · 2010 · 1,005 citations
• Culturally Responsive School Leadership · Review of Educational Research · 2016 · 893 citations
• Special Education for the Mildly Retarded—Is Much of it Justifiable? · Exceptional Children · 1968 · 868 citations
• Empowering Minority Students: A Framework for Intervention · Harvard Educational Review · 1986 · 693 citations
• Improving adolescents' standardized test performance: An intervention to reduce the effects of stereotype threat · Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology · 2003 · 672 citations
• Are zero tolerance policies effective in the schools?: An evidentiary review and recommendations. · American Psychologist · 2008 · 620 citations
• Physical discipline among African American and European American mothers: Links to children's externalizing behaviors. · Developmental Psychology · 1996 · 508 citations
• The Trouble with Black Boys: · Urban Education · 2003 · 482 citations

Most recent work

• Interaction effects are only a piece of the puzzle: reintroducing MAIHDA as a powerful tool to advance understanding of intersectional inequities · American Journal of Epidemiology · 2026
• School Diversity Perspectives and Classmate Diversity Climate: Understanding High School Students' School Belonging, Well‐Being, and Intercultural Contact · Journal of Community Psychology · 2026
• Collaboration and Challenges in School Social Work Within South African Public Schools: A Case of the Gauteng Province · Education Sciences · 2026
• The R-CITY Youth Violence Preventive Intervention: Primary Outcomes from a School Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial · Prevention Science · 2026
• Relational and feminist pedagogic approaches for developing engagement and inclusion of girls at risk of exclusion in England · British Educational Research Journal · 2026
• Educational Outcomes, Culturally Responsive Practices, and Identity: A Review of Literature · School Psychology Review · 2026
• FESS/FHESS Research Note 14 — EXIT AND CAPACITY REDISTRIBUTION: From Different Exit Positions to Isomorphic VERWEER Positions and an Interim Action Grammar · Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) · 2026
• Deepening the Study of Disproportionality in Special Education: A Contextual Analysis Within Suburban School Districts · Exceptional Children · 2026
• Black Girls and School Discipline: A QuantCrit Examination of Discipline Policy, Racialized Female Discipline, and Academic Outcomes · Urban Education · 2026
• Unsettled Standards: Examining State Laws on Restraint and Seclusion · Behavioral Disorders · 2026

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