April 2010 Issue Focus: The School to Prison Pipeline

Soon, Congress will consider the re-authorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. This gives our campaign an extraordinary opportunity to help highlight and address fundamental issues of fairness in our public schools. To do this well, however, we must address not just resource inequities -- such as funding and the distribution of highly effective teachers -- but also the existence of the school-to-prison pipeline.

As a recent report by the Advancement Project -- a RLN campaign partner -- lays out, the more our schools have come to rely upon testing, the more they have turned to harsh punishment. Teachers teach to the test, students become disengaged, and discipline is used to oust the distracted and unprepared students. Test scores may rise as a result, but dropout and incarceration rates will likely rise as well.

Isn't it time we dismantled the school to prison pipeline once and for all?

Read this Op-Ed by the Advancement Project's Judith Browne-Dianis to get a sense of why the school-to-prison pipeline is so destructive -- and how you can help disrupt it.

"Every day, too many children in this country unnecessarily lose learning time and, too often, get criminalized for their immature actions. Suspensions are increasingly common for talking out of turn in class, failing to wear uniforms, arriving to school late, and engaging in schoolyard scuffles – denying authoritative adults the opportunity to support and redirect this inappropriate behavior."

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Watch this video, by Youth Rights Media, to hear high school students discussing and unpacking the impact of zero tolerance discipline policies, the overuse of school suspensions, the role of police officers in schools, and the effects of truancy laws.

Listen to this album, which was produced by the Philadelphia Student Union, and which gives the student perspective on the school-to-prison pipeline, the dropout crisis, high-stakes testing, and harsh school discipline policies through musical expression.

Do these things at the local, state and federal levels to make your voice heard, and to disrupt the school-to-prison pipeline:

Local

Investigate whether your local school and school district are over-using out-of-school suspensions, expulsions, referrals to alternative schools, and referrals to law enforcement. (Click here to learn how to jumpstart your investigation.)

Ask your local board of education to create a working group made up of key stakeholders, including parents, students, teachers, principals, and community members, to craft school discipline policies and alternatives that meet your community's needs.

State

Investigate whether your state is over-investing in the incarceration of youth and under-investing in education. As a starting point, click here for some examples of successful local and state reform campaigns and effective prevention and intervention programs. You may also want to go to the district and/or state department of education websites and see if you can find the budget.

Schedule a meeting with your state representative and tell him or her that you think your state should take action in dismantling the school-to-prison pipeline by prioritizing effective prevention and intervention measures over ineffective punitive measures.

Federal

Write a letter to your local member of Congress, and urge him or her to address the school-to-prison pipeline in the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act by requiring the collection and reporting of better school climate and disciplinary data, incorporating school climate and discipline measures into the law’s accountability framework, and providing funding support for intervention efforts designed to improve student engagement and the learning environment.

Go to www.dignityinschools.org for more information.

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