What is the School-to-Prison pipeline and why does it target Black and Latinx students?
Black students are arrested at school in disproportionately high numbers, often for the same infraction that their white counterparts are not. Exposure to structural injustices and biased policing in black neighborhoods fosters distrust in black youth, and a general fear of police beginning at a young age. Students of color experience the brunt of white supremacy. They are criminalized when teachers and administrators view them as hostile and dangerous on the basis of minor and infractions that would typically be ignored when coming from white students. According to Rosa Ramirez (2013), “Students of color…receive harsher punishment in schools, punishments that are often a precursor to their entry into the juvenile justice system”. As a result, these students – disproportionately African American and Latino boys – are criminalized (suspended, expelled, incarcerated) instead of educated, setting them up for a lifetime of challenges to participation in society.
On a national level studies show that on average, over seven thousand students dropout of school daily. As a result, 1.3 million students will not graduate high school as scheduled. These dropouts are more likely to receive government assistance and be caught up in the prison system. The projected cost in lost income represent $335 billion (Alliance for Excellent Education, 2009). Studies shows that dropout rates are influenced by suspensions. Students who are repeatedly suspended are more likely to be incarcerated and drop out of school.
In the U.S. 7,500 youth are jailed with adult populations. These youth have little or no access to education, as 40% of prisons do not provide services to educate them, and in no case are services an adequate replacement for public schools. Additionally less than 12% of jails provide educational service for special needs students and less than 8% provide vocational education. While many youth were incarcerated for one month, one in five youth incarcerated in adult jails spend over six months in jail, causing serious disruption in their education (Jailing Juveniles Report, 2007).
According to research, there is a strong connection between a student’s experience in school and their behavior in terms of delinquency and tendency to dropout (Monroe, 2005; Noguera 2003; & Voelkl, Welte and Wieczorek, 1999). Students who have disciplinary issues, i.e. suspensions, or expulsions have low motivation and often drop out of schools (Darden, 2010). Low-test scores and educational skill attainment have a strong correlation with student behavior. High stakes testing is closely tied to motivation and academic attainment and behavior, in the sense that failure in formative assessments can affect student motivation, as well as teacher’s attitude toward students (Woolfolk, 2007).
African Americans and Latino students, who are persistently below national achievement standards, face harsher consequences for similar behaviors, such as what Skiba, et. al (2003) describes as a process of low achievement, discipline, suspensions, expulsion, and incarceration. This process contributes to the disproportionate number of African American and Latinos in U.S. criminal systems and jails (Jenkins, Moore, & Hamer, 2010; Monroe 2005). Interestingly, under Washington State Law, once a student is expelled they no longer have a right to education, yet once incarcerated they may receive some schooling (Simmons, 2012). Yet, after their incarceration, even with education, their employment possibilities are diminished. The result of these harsh punishments and student criminalization result in a reduction of life choices that leads Black, Latino, and students with disabilities away from educational opportunities and democratic participation in society toward prison, criminality and poverty.
What are some responses to this problem?
https://medium.com/future-of-school/restorative-justice-the-school-to-prison-pipeline-5b24280d3d3