Towards Ending School Exclusion
Interrogating Successive School Discipline Reforms as Levers for Promoting Racial Equity
The link between exclusionary school practices exclusion (i.e., suspensions and expulsions) and later involvement in the criminal legal and juvenile justice systems is well documented. Of course, not all young people experience this school-to-prison pipeline in the same way, or even at all. Black young people, indigenous young people, and young people with disabilities are disproportionately harmed by these practices. Racism, sexism, and ableism also intersect to create unique experiences for and patterns between specific groups of young people (e.g., Black girls as compared to White girls and Black boys).
Illinois is among the first states in the country to pass comprehensive discipline legislation that, in part, sought to reduce the inequitable use of exclusionary school discipline. In collaboration with Dr. Jessica Shaw and Dr. Ryne Estabrook of the University of Illinois Chicago, this sequential explanatory mixed methods project evaluates the extent to which these policy interventions reduce the rates and inequitable use of exclusionary school discipline and identify characteristics of settings that demonstrate these improvements.
This evaluation will provide insight into the effectiveness of public policy interventions intended to disrupt the school-to-prison pipeline.
Funded by the W.T. Grant Foundation