Rethinking school discipline through a mental health lens

Jeanine Johnson shares her research exploring how early mental health intervention in schools can reduce exclusionary discipline and improve long-term outcomes for students.

At Wayne State University, clinical psychology doctoral candidate Jeanine Johnson in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences studies discipline in schools, but she doesn't start with policies or statistics.

She starts with students.

Through her clinical work with adolescents, Johnson noticed a pattern she couldn't ignore. Many students removed from the classroom were not simply acting out - they were struggling with unrecognized anxiety, depression or trauma.

Those observations shaped Johnson's research, which she presented at Wayne State's annual Graduate Research Symposium. Her work examines the school-to-prison pipeline and how school-based mental health care might interrupt it before it begins. The research was guided by Dr. Ty Partridge, associate professor in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. Together, their work highlights how early intervention and equitable access to mental health resources can create pathways toward healing and opportunity rather than punishment and incarceration.

Jeanine Johnson (right) with her research mentor, Dr. Ty Partridge (middle), associate professor in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, and research lab colleague Noor Jassim (left) at the Society for Research on Adolescence conference.

"Jeanine's project shows how student research at Wayne State can directly address real challenges facing schools," Partridge said. "She is applying rigorous methods to a challenge that impacts both the education, the criminal justice sectors, and the communities in which we live. That kind of work prepares our students to produce research that benefits both the scientific community and the communities we serve."

Johnson said national research shows exclusionary discipline, including suspensions and classroom removals, disproportionately affects minoritized youth. But working one-on-one with students made those disparities impossible to ignore. Many of the adolescents she worked with were not trying to break rules; they were trying to cope.

"What stood out to me wasn't the behavior. It was how often the behavior was connected to something deeper," Johnson said.

What behavior is telling us

Schools often rely on suspensions to address behavioral issues, but Johnson's research suggests that response can worsen outcomes. Students pushed out of classrooms face higher risk of mental health challenges, risky behavior and dropping out. Those factors are linked to justice system involvement later in life.

Rather than asking only what rule was broken, Johnson believes educators should ask what need is unmet.

That shift, she said, turns discipline into an opportunity for intervention instead of removal.

Support students where they are

A recent U.S. study following students across a school year found those who received school-based mental health services have lower suspensions rates and improved academic outcomes. Another study found children receiving services were 40% less likely to be suspended.

Many families face barriers to outside care, including cost, transportation and limited provider availability, particularly for minoritized youth. School-based health centers remove those barriers by placing services inside the school building, while reducing pressure on educators.

"I want schools to see mental health care as part of helping students succeed academically," Johnson said. "When we support students, we keep them connected to school, and that can change the direction their life takes."

By Darlene A. White