From Classmates to Inmates: An Integrated Approach to Break the School-to-Prison Pipeline

Abstract

This article explores the connection between dropping out of school and being incarcerated, particularly for youth, including students from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, students from poverty, and students with disabilities, who have been shown to be at higher risk for both.This article seeks to shift focus away from a deficit-based perspective and instead creates an integrated learning model that incorporates culturally responsive teaching with an integrated services model in order to promote access, equity, and culturally supported experiences for children.If students are supported and successful in school, then dropout and incarceration should decrease and the pipeline from school to prison can be broken.A well-documented connection exists between school dropout and incarceration (National Center on Secondary Education and Transition, 2012).For example, a history of arrest prior to age 16 decreases graduation potential by 27% and students who do not graduate from school are 26% more likely to become inmates (Hjalmarsson, 2008).Henry, Knight, and Thornberry (2012) report that student connectedness to peers and school by age 15 has been found to significantly decrease the likelihood of violent behavior and drug use by age 18. African American students are twice as likely as their white peers to drop out of school and Hispanic students are two and a half times as likely to drop out.Additionally, students with disabilities are twice as likely to drop out of school (Chapman, Laird, Ifill, & KewalRamani, 2011).School dropout has generally been viewed from an accusatory lens that places most of the blame on the student.According to Stearns and Glennie (2006), studies on dropout too often focus on characteristics inherent in the student without taking into account the interaction between the school structure and the student.In comparison, little discourse has been generated about the institutional practices that make it difficult for some students to graduate, such as zero tolerance policies or the wait-to-fail model often associated with special education (Boccanfuso & Kuhfeld, 2011).While the short-term effects of dropout have been well-documented, the data on its long