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Education Law Prof Blog: Dismantling the School-to-Prison Pipeline: Tools for Change

Jason Nance's forthcoming article in Arizona State Law Journal, Dismantling the School-to-Prison Pipeline: Tools for Change, is now available on ssrn.  On the most basic level, it is a treasure trove of social science sources on school discipline and juvenile justice.  It collects several sources I had overlooked in the past.  But it also does an excellent job of synthesizing the studies in a way that makes the sum greater than the individual parts.  His abstract offers this summary:

The school-to-prison pipeline is one of our nation’s most formidable challenges. It refers to the trend of directly referring students to law enforcement for committing certain offenses at school or creating conditions under which students are more likely to become involved in the criminal justice system such as excluding them from school. This article analyzes the school-to-prison pipeline’s devastating consequences on students, its causes, and its disproportionate impact on students of color. But most importantly, this article comprehensively identifies and describes specific, evidence-based tools to dismantle the school-to-prison pipeline that lawmakers, school administrators, and teachers in all areas can immediately support and implement. Further, it suggests initial strategies aimed at addressing racial implicit bias, which is a primary cause of the racial disparities relating to the school-to-prison pipeline. The implementation of these tools will create more equitable and safe learning environments that will help more students become productive citizens and avoid becoming involved in the justice system.

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Derek W. Black

Derek Black is one of the nation’s foremost experts in education law and policy.  He focuses on educational equality, school funding, the constitutional...