The School-to-Prison Pipeline

Chapter 1 offers an analysis of the school-to-prison pipeline as the modern incarnation of a system of white supremacy based upon the mass criminalization of Black and Brown communities. It documents the rise of the school-to-prison pipeline in zero-tolerance school discipline policies and the increasing presence of police and security measures in schools. The school-to-prison pipeline is more than a set of well-intentioned but misguided school discipline policies that require reform. Rather, it represents an interlocking system of racial domination and control that keeps communities of color poor and lacking in power. It signifies the current version of the historic effort to maintain white supremacy by denying education to African Americans and criminalizing generations of young people of color and their families. This larger analytical framework of systemic racism is important because it establishes the need for a racial and educational justice movement to dismantle it.

Exclusionary School Discipline Policies and Mental Health in a National Sample of Adolescents without Histories of Suspension or Expulsion

We apply the theory of collateral consequences and a social stress process framework to school discipline to examine whether exclusionary school discipline policies are associated with the mental health and wellbeing of adolescents who have never been suspended or expelled and whether this association varies across race/ethnicity. Data are from 8,878 adolescents in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health. Hierarchical linear models examined associations between discipline policies and adolescent depressive symptoms and school-connectedness, and modification by race/ethnicity. Schools had high levels of exclusionary discipline for both violent and non-violent infractions. More exclusionary policies were associated with higher levels of depressive symptoms ( b = 1.03, 95% CI: 0.15, 1.91, p < .05). Sense of school-connectedness was not associated with disciplinary policies. Neither association was modified by race/ethnicity.

Do School Discipline Policies Treat Students Fairly? Evidence From Arkansas

It is well documented that Black students are more likely to receive expulsions and suspensions than their White peers. These disparities are troubling, but researchers and policy makers need more information to fully understand the issue. We use 3 years (2010-2011 through 2012-2013) of state-wide student- and discipline incident-level data to assess whether non-White students are receiving harsher disciplinary consequences than their White peers for similar infractions and with similar behavioral history. We find that Black students received more severe (longer) punishments than their White peers for the same types of infractions, but that these disproportionalities are primarily across rather than within schools.

#BlackGirlsMatter: A Case Study Examining the Intersectionality of Race, Gender, and School Discipline

Nationwide, African American girls have the highest suspension rates among all racial and ethnic groups. Furthermore, they are the most severely, disproportionately affected by school discipline policies and practices when compared with other girls. This case study was developed for use in education leadership programs to critically analyze school discipline policies and practices that disproportionately affect African American girls.