Over the past three weeks I have written a series of articles detailing the different systems that build upon each other to create the school-to-prison pipeline: school discipline, status offenses, and the justice system. From segregated schooling practices to a system relying on punitive punishment, this system harms students across the country, disproportionately hurting students of color– especially Black and latinx students.
These issues are systemic and ingrained in the fabric of our education system. But they’re also not a foregone conclusion. There are steps and measures that can and need to be taken to eliminate this unjust system. These steps are costly, but more costly is letting this pipeline continue to harm students in this country.
Preventative Measures
Teacher Diversity
One of the first ways to improve conditions for minority students is to hire more teachers of color. This is a significant point of disconnect, as we know 45 percent of students in public schools across the country are students of color, but only 17 percent of teachers are teachers of color, with only 7 percent being Black.
Teachers of color have higher expectations of minority students, develop closer relationships with students, provide culturally responsive teaching and confront issues of racism. All of these factors correlate with better rates of retention of students of color in schools and show that minority teachers teach minority students and students from lower-income backgrounds better than white educators. Without these understandings and with detachment from students and their lives, teachers attribute academic struggles to a lack of motivation or other factors, without acknowledging cultural behaviors or trying to build relationships with students that can decrease classroom discipline.
Another aspect of teacher diversity is the importance for students to have “‘mirrors and windows.’” This is a reference to literature, and the importance for minority children to be able to see themselves in the stories they are reading. The same applies to people and professions and the necessity for children to see people that look like them– and there are not enough teachers that reflect this. Not every teacher needs to be a mirror of their students, but demographically there is currently too wide of a gap between teachers and students.
Socio-Emotional Programs
In addition to the importance of teachers being able to relate to their students, there is also a need for schools to understand students’ socio-emotional skills. Some of these key competencies include “self-awareness, social awareness, self-management, relationship management, and responsible decision making.” When students are able to exhibit these traits, they have increased motivation, reduced behavioral problems, and overall have greater academic success.
The benefits of instituting programs that directly address and teach these skills are enormous and extend beyond the classroom. They can improve the attitudes about oneself and those around them, improve prosocial behavior, and improve one’s ability to deal with their emotions and cause lower levels of emotional distress.
Restorative Justice
Therapeutic punishments encompass restorative justice by way of forming connection with peers, building communication, and problem-solving. Restorative justice focuses on the whole person and includes the community in the justice process and not just the criminal.
This means including mediation and family conferencing. Restorative justice promotes the idea that people can change their behavior and move forward from their past actions to learn and grow.
Shifts in Punishment
There needs to be an investment in resources for therapeutic measures of punishment. Up front, this will bring a greater cost, but in the long-term addressing these up front will decrease the amount of funding given to juvenile detention centers. This will also empower students to give meaningful contributions to society and their communities.
Therapeutic measures focus on providing mental health resources in schools. An increase in therapeutic measures would mean having more support services and counselors available for students in schools. This would provide an alternative to suspension and outsourcing punishment by getting to the root cause and by helping students instead of punishing them.
Providing mental health services has been proven to decrease crime. One study in Illinois found that every $1 spent on “Aggression Replacement Training, Functional Family Therapy, and substance abuse treatment” saved $3.50 on incarceration expenses.
What You Can Do
Add your community here to support the movement for police free schools. Look at the model code for a toolkit on recommended policies for educators and school districts to support the human rights and well-being of all students.
Call your local and state representatives and tell them to invest in students, not cops. The movement to eliminate the school-to-prison pipeline is closely entwined with the movement to abolish police. It expands the understanding that we fund too many police officers in our schools when we should be funding guidance counselors, psychologists, and social workers. Use your voice – and your vote. Encourage officials to invest more resources in supporting mental health staff for students. Voice opposition to the cops in schools which set up the direct link to the justice system that this pipeline thrives off of.
Lastly, sign this petition for Grace, a 15 year old Michigan student who violated her parole by not completing school work during the pandemic. As a result, she was sent to a juvenile detention facility until her next hearing in September by a judge who claimed she was a “threat to the community.” Grace has an IED meaning she had been diagnosed with ADHD and receives special education services. Like many special education students across the country, she was not receiving the special education assistance she is legally entitled to because of the pandemic. Grace is a black student in a predominantly white community that disproportionately punishes and criminalizes black youth. Grace’s story is one that shows how the school-to-prison pipeline continues to play out today and harms students of color and children with learning disabilities without giving them the help they need in the first place. Read more about her story here.
- Inside the Systems that Fuel the School-to-Prison Pipeline - August 20, 2020
- Is Teaching Political? - August 5, 2020
- The Battle Over Reopening Schools: A Teacher’s Perspective - July 29, 2020