INVITED SYMPOSIUM: DIVERSITY NETWORK COMMITTEE: School-to-Prison Pipeline

School-to-prison pipeline refers to the policies and practices that push school children, particularly low-socioeconomic and racial/ethnic minority youth, out of classrooms into the juvenile and criminal justice systems. Critically, school failure for these youth appears to be driven by inadequate and persistently low-performing schools, disproportionate disciplinary and school suspension practices, and the combination of zero-tolerance discipline policies and the increased prioritization of test scores as the measure of success in educational contexts.

This symposium will highlight policy, practice, and programmatic efforts aimed at dismantling the link between schools and justice systems. Specifically, the symposium will outline 1) the extent to which disproportionate school discipline policies have initiatives have led to exclusionary practices thus affecting youth of color in terms of denying access to an equitable education (Julian Vasquez Heilig); 2) the impact of state and federal policy initiatives addressing this issue (Dan Losen); and 3) the extent to which police presence in urban schools (e.g., Oakland, Richmond) affect the school-to-prison pipeline, given the community context, and how the community has responded to this phenomenon (Nayna Gupta).