Breaking Schools’ Rules: Does school discipline correct misbehavior or is it a short-cut to jail?

Kirsten Bokenkamp Communications Coordinator The Breaking Schools’ Rules report shows that students of color are more likely to be disciplined in school, and that those who are disciplined are more likely to dropout.  Taking it one step further, this blog will focus on the “School to Prison Pipeline,” the connection between school discipline, students’ contact with the juvenile justice system, and ultimately, adult prisons.  Isn’t the goal of school discipline to correct student behavior? Well, then why are such a high percentage of disciplined students ending up in the juvenile justice system or worse?  The report found that about 15 percent of students in Texas were in contact with the juvenile justice system between 7^th and 12^th grades.  In comparison, almost 50 percent of students who were disciplined 11 or more times were in contact with the juvenile justice system.  And, only 2 percent of students never disciplined at school had contact with the juvenile justice system.    The more times a student is disciplined, the more likely that student will have contact with the juvenile justice system and the more likely that student will be to drop out of school altogether.  High school dropouts face a much higher rate of imprisonment than non-dropouts.  A study in 2009 found that 1 in every 10 young male dropouts is in jail or juvenile detention, compared with 1 in 35 young male high school graduates.  It is worse for African-Americans – nearly one in four young black male dropouts is incarcerated or otherwise institutionalized.   This report has shown that the current school discipline model is counterproductive.  Instead of preventing youth from dropping out, it has led to an unacceptable number of dropouts.  These dropouts, in turn, are much more likely to end up in Texas’ juvenile or adult justice system.  This result is not good for the children, or Texas’ economy.  Next week we will discuss the impact that this high incarceration rate has on the economy.