School-to-Prison Pipeline 101
Resources that provide a broad overview of school-to-prison pipeline issues, plus implicit bias, corporal punishment, disciplinary programs, and discipline practices in charter schools
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A Battle for the Souls of Black Girls, New York Times, October 1, 2020
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Student Arrest Records A ‘Disturbing Mess’ At Illinois School Districts, Illinois Newsroom, September 29, 2020
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Research on the Impact of School Policing, text and PDF, ACLU of PA, July 31, 2020
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Why Won't Society Let Black Girls Be Children?, NYT Parenting, January 28, 2020
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More Than 30,000 Children Under Age 10 Have Been Arrested in the US Since 2013: FBI, ABC News, October 1, 2019
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The Haunting Reality of Discrimination in School Discipline, Education Week, July 29, 2019
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Throwing Children Away: The School-to-Prison Pipeline, The American Conservative, August 13, 2018
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Disproportionality in Student Discipline: Connecting Policy to Research, Brookings, January 18, 2018
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Realizing the Full Vision of School Discipline Reform: A Framework for Statewide Change, Council of State Governments Justice Center, September 2017
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5 Questions Families Should Ask About School Discipline, Child Trends, September 2017
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How America Outlawed Adolescence. At Least 22 States Make it a Crime to Disturb School in Ways That Teenagers are Wired To Do. Why Did This Happen?, The Atlantic, November 2016
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The School to Prison Pipeline, Explained, Justice Policy Institute, February 24, 2015
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A Generation Later: What We’ve Learned about Zero Tolerance, Vera Institute of Justice, December 2013
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Exclusionary School Discipline: An Issue Brief and Review of the Literature, Earl Warren Institute on Law and Social Policy, April 2013
Fact Sheets
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Discipline Disparities: Myths and Facts, The Equity Project at Indiana University
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What is School Pushout?, Dignity in Schools Campaign
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Locating the School-to-Prison Pipeline, American Civil Liberties Union
Implicit Bias
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Student Surveillance, Racial Inequalities, and Implicit Racial Bias, University of Florida College of Law, April 2017
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Online Implicit Bias Module for K-12 Educators, Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race & Ethnicity, Ohio State University, August 29, 2018
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Locked Out of the Classroom: How Implicit Bias Contributes to Disparities in School Discipline, NAACPLDF, November 2017
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Do Early Educators’ Implicit Biases Regarding Sex and Race Relate to Behavior Expectations and Recommendations of Preschool Expulsions and Suspensions?, A Research Study Brief, Yale Child Study Center, September 28, 2016
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Implicit Racial Bias and School Discipline Disparities: Exploring the Connection, Kirwan Institute at The Ohio State University, May 2014
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Racial Disproportionality in School Discipline: Implicit Bias is Heavily Implicated, Kirwan Institute at The Ohio University, February 2014
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Find more resources on teacher-student interactions here
Corporal Punishment
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The Striking Outlier: The Persistent, Painful, and Problematic Practice of Corporal Punishment in Schools, The Center for Civil Rights Remedies and The Southern Poverty Law Center, June 2019
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Though Some Legislators Say Spanking Has Its place, North Carolina House Votes to Ban Corporal Punishment in Schools, The News and Observer, March 27, 2019
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Special Report: Spare the Rod, Spoil the Child? Corporal Punishment in Mississippi Schools, WJTV12 (Jackson, MS), February 20, 2019
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Effective Discipline to Raise Healthy Children, American Academy of Pediatrics policy statement, Pediatrics, February 1, 2019
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American Academy of Pediatrics Policy Opposes Corporal Punishment, Draws on Recent Evidence, November 5, 2018
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What Happens When A Country Bans Spanking?, National Public Radio, October 25, 2018
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Corporal Punishment Bans and Physical Fighting in Adolescents, BMJ Open, October 16, 2018
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Nearly 100,000 K-12 Students Still Spanked or Paddled at School, Data Show, Education Week, May 14, 2018
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Corporal Punishment and Preschoolers: What New Federal Data Show, Education Week, May 11, 2018
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Mississippi School District Votes to Ban Corporal Punishment, Bucking Statewide Trend, Think Progress, January 29, 2018
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Corporal Punishment Removed from Local Policy, Midland Reporter-Telegram, November 13, 2017
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Should Teachers Use Corporal Punishment On Students?, HBO/Vice News, October 9, 2017
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Corporal Punishment Use Found in Schools in 21 States, Education Week, August 23, 2016
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Assessing Whether Corporal Punishment Helps Students or Hurts Them, PBS Newshour, August 23, 2016
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Schools, Black Children, and Corporal Punishment, Brookings, January 14, 2016
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Where Teachers Are Still Allowed to Spank Students: Corporal Punishment is Legal in 19 States, The Atlantic, December 14, 2015
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19 States Still Allow Corporal Punishment in School, Washington Post, Sept 18, 2014
Alternative Disciplinary Schools and Programs
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Lawsuit Says Diversion Program Meant to Keep Troubled Kids Out of the Criminal Justice System Violates Their Constitutional Rights, ABA Journal, May 1, 2019
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Schooling at Risk, Iowa Law Review, 2018
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For-Profit School Chain Camelot Suffers Setback Following Abuse Allegations, ProPublica, April 12, 2017
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ACLU of Florida to Public School Districts: Students Transferred to Alternative Schools Have a Right to Due Process, ACLU of Florida, March 23, 2018
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Hard Lessons: Putting Troubled Kids in Strict Environments is Big Business for Camelot Education, BuzzFeed News, March 22, 2017
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“That Place Was Like a Prison,” Camelot Education Takes the Students Public Schools Have Given Up On. But the For-profit Company’s Approach to Discipline has Led to Allegations of Aggression and Abuse, March 8, 2017
Charter Schools and Discipline
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To Fix School-to-Prison Pipeline, Start with Charter Institutions, USA Today, March 16, 2018
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Key Trends in Special Education in Charter Schools, National Center for Special Education in Charter Schools, February 2018
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"Dear Colleague" Letter on the Rights of Students with Disabilities in Public Charter Schools under Section 504 and IDEA, US Department of Education, December 28, 2016
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Charter Schools, Civil Rights, and School Discipline, The Center for Civil Rights Remedies at the Civil Rights Project, March 2016
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Dear Colleague Letter from Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights, U.S. Department of Education – Charter Schools, May 14, 2014
Major Studies
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Unpacking the Drivers of Racial Disparities in School Suspension and Expulsion, podcast and research report, September 2019
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Beyond Suspensions: Examining School Discipline Policies and Connections to the School-to-Prison Pipeline for Students of Color with Disabilities, US Commission on Civil Rights, July 2019
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Cops and No Counselors: How the Lack of School Mental Health Staff Is Harming Students, American Civil Liberties Union, 2019
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11 Million Days Lost: Race, Discipline, and Safety at U.S. Public Schools, Civil Rights Project at UCLA and the ACLU of Southern California, August 2018
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Estimating the Effect of State Zero Tolerance Laws on Exclusionary Discipline, Racial Discipline Gaps, and Student Behavior, Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, American Educational Research Association, 2016
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American Bar Association Joint Task Force on Reversing the School-to-Prison Pipeline Preliminary Report, February 2016
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School Discipline Consensus Report: Strategies from the Field to Keep Students Engaged in School and Out of the Juvenile Justice System, The Council of State Governments Justice Center, 2014
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Breaking Schools' Rules: A Statewide Study of How School Discipline Relates to Students’ Success and Juvenile Justice Involvement, Council of State Governments Justice Center and the Public Policy Research Institute at Texas A&M University, July 2011
Podcasts and Videos
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Implicit Racial Bias in School Discipline [Video and Resources], Kirwan Institute at The Ohio State University
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School Discipline: Issues of Equity and Effectiveness, American Educational Research Association, April 24, 2017
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How Do We Fix the School-to-Prison Pipeline? [Podcast], American Bar Association, August 4, 2014. Overview of the school-to-prison pipeline and what can be done to improve school practices
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Solutions Not Suspensions: This is How We Close the School-to-Prison Pipeline [Video], Netroots Nation, July 18, 2014
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The Life of the Law: School Discipline [Podcast], January 28, 2014
Webinars, Presentations, and Infographics
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Mapping the School to Prison/Immigrant Detention Pipeline [Presentation], Forward Change Consulting, August 7, 2018
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US Education in 2017 in 10 Charts, December 2017, EdWeek
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School to Prison Pipeline: An Overview of the Issues and Potential Solutions for Reform, Coalition for Juvenile Justice, October 30, 2013