More Than a Metaphor: The Contribution of Exclusionary Discipline to a School-to-Prison Pipeline

Abstract

The term and construct “school-to-prison” pipeline has been widely used by advocates, researchers, and policymakers to describe the relationship between school disciplinary practices and increased risk of juvenile justice contact. It has been unclear whether the construct is a useful heuristic or a descriptor of empirically validated relationships that establish school disciplinary practices as a risk factor for negative developmental outcomes, including juvenile justice involvement. In this article, we examine the literature surrounding one facet of the pipeline, school exclusion as a disciplinary option, and propose a model for tracing possible pathways of effect from school suspension and expulsion to the ultimate contact point of juvenile justice involvement. Available multivariate analyses suggest that regardless of demographic, achievement, or system status, out-of-school suspension and expulsion are in and of themselves risk factors for a range of negative developmental outcomes. Recommendations are offered to assist schools in replacing disciplinary exclusion with a range of alternatives whose goal is to preserve both school order and provide all students with educational opportunities.

Notes

¹Although definitions of the school-to-prison pipeline may include police presence or school arrests as components of that model (see, e.g., Price, 2009; Thurau & Wald, 2009/2010), due to space limitations, this paper will focus only on the extent to which exclusionary discipline practices contribute to a set of negative developmental outcomes that might be considered pathways in a school-to-prison pipeline model.

²Students with disabilities are those served under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (2014).

³The complete set of recommendations contained in those briefing papers, as well as supplementary materials pertaining to disciplinary disparities, can be found on the Discipline Disparities Research-to-Practice Collaborative website: rtpcollaborative.indiana.edu

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Russell J. Skiba

Russell J. Skiba is a professor in the department of Counseling and Educational Psychology and Director of the Equity Project at Indiana University. His research has focused on school violence, school discipline, and equity in school discipline and special education.

Mariella I. Arredondo

Mariella I. Arredondo is a research associate at the Equity Project, Indiana University. She is currently pursuing a research agenda concentrating on the intersectionality of race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, and gender identity in issues of equity in education.

Natasha T. Williams

Natasha T. Williams is a graduate research assistant at the Equity Project of Indiana University. She is currently pursuing a doctoral degree in School Psychology with a minor in counseling. Her current career and research interests include the overrepresentation of African American girls in school discipline.