A New Method of Measuring Discipline Disproportionality Applied to Montessori and Non-Montessori Title I Schools

Research on discipline disproportionality has been hindered by the lack of a reliable measure. In this study, we propose a novel way to measure discipline disproportionality using multilevel modeling, and we demonstrate how it resolves many of the issues inherent in more common methods—namely, relative rate ratios and risk differences. One previous study suggests there is less discipline disproportionality in Montessori schools, so we used our new method, along with more common methods, to compare discipline disproportionality in a sample of Title 1 Montessori and non-Montessori schools that was identified using propensity score matching. Results showed that overall suspension rates were significantly lower in Montessori schools but that discipline disproportionality was similar across school settings.