January/February Equity Chat

What is the "School to Prison Pipeline"? 

According to data collected from the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights, African American students in the United States, especially young black males, are often disproportionately suspended compared to students of other ethnicities and it starts as early as preschool. Data shows that black preschool students are 3.6 times more likely to receive one or more out-of-school suspensions than white students. Students with disabilities, LGBTQ+ youth and trauma-affected students are also disproportionately suspended. 

The preschool-to-prison pipeline is the process in which students are pushed out of school through out-of-school suspensions, expulsions and overly-harsh discipline and into the prison system. 

A report by the Equal Justice Society explains that, “students removed from the school environment fall behind academically, are at higher risk of getting in trouble, feel stigmatized when they return to school, and are more likely to drop out, never obtaining high school diplomas.” This is why they are easily led down the path of the criminal justice system. 

Data from the report shows that students with 1 suspension or expulsion are 3 times more likely to enter the juvenile justice system the following year 

• Finger-paint to Fingerprints 

Additional Resources for Educators 

What is the CASEL framework? A framework creates a foundation for applying evidence-based strategies SEL strategies to your school community. - https://casel.org/fundamentals-of-sel/what-is-the-casel-framework/.

PBIS World - https://www.pbisworld.com/

Making Classroom-Based Restorative Circles Work- https://tinyurl.com/mrbkjp7m

First Book. Trauma Toolkit- https://www.nea.org/sites/default/files/2020-07/MSEA-Trauma-Toolkit-for-Educators.pdf

Discipline Bias Checklist- https://drive.google.com/file/d/1S2Gw185SXGfPDL1FpEQjCz1yW5y74XRO/view