Disabling the School-to-Prison Pipeline: The Relationship Between Special Education and Arrest

(Hardback)

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Description

Young people who have received special education services in the United States are vastly overrepresented in juvenile and adult criminal justice systems relative to their numbers in the general population. Although much existing research blames individual kids for getting arrested, school-level policies and practices affect a variety of student outcomes, including involvement with the justice system. These school-level policies and practices canand shouldbe altered by teachers, administrators, and policy makers to reduce the number of young people getting arrested.

Disabling the School-to-Prison Pipeline uses administrative data from New York City public schools and interviews with young people who have received special education services in NYC public schools and been arrested to better understand how schools can help or harm students receiving special education services. Schools cannot fix all problems associated with the criminal justice system in the United States; however, we can certainly expect schools not to make existing problems worse. This book identifies school-level policies and practices that may lead to negative outcomes for students, such as getting arrested, and suggests alternatives.

Reviews

[T]his book provides an important and intimate account of the STPP for students with disabilities, capitalizing on personal experiences and incorporating student voices. Using the NYC public school system as an example, Vernikoff clearly establishes that a better understanding of how schools contribute to the STPP will help policy makers and educators engage in continued efforts to block the pipeline and support more equitable educational outcomes for all.

--Teachers College Record

Drawing from publicly available data, her own meticulous research, and rich experiences as a teacher, Vernikoff renders the realities of the school-to-prison pipeline by centering student voices and creating a compelling narrative of the underbelly of school practices while offering a healthy critique of special education--making for a very powerful read.

--David J. Connor, City University of New York (CUNY), author of Contemplating Dis/ability in Schools and Society: A Life in Education

The so-called school-to-prison pipeline has been the focus of numerous articles, books, and opinion papers for the last several decades. Most previous discussions of this phenomenon have concentrated on the question of why so many minority students eventually wind up being incarcerated at much greater levels than majority (white) students. Vernikoff builds on this body of research by looking at the incarceration likelihood of students with disabilities who eventually become entangled with the American judicial system. She posits that there might be risky school practices that increase the probability that students wind up in prisons or jails and that students' actions and behaviors are insufficient to explain the outcomes many special education students experience... Vernikoff uses student interviews and substantial data on multiple school variables to explain what might contribute to the probability that any given student will come into contact with the criminal justice system. The study yields some very surprising results. Recommended. General readers, graduate students, faculty, and professionals.

-- "Choice Reviews"

This book is essential reading for all who seek to provide more enriching and equitable learning experiences and outcomes for youth with disabilities. Vernikoff has brought a critical awareness of the life of youth whose curricular and pedagogical perspectives are missing from understandings underlying structural inequities of the school to prison pipeline. In doing so, she provides opportunities for educators to reexamine their school policies and practices to provide more socially just approaches to interrupt the school to prison pipeline for students with disabilities, especially youth of color.

--Michelle G. Knight-Manuel, Columbia University

Author Bio

Laura Vernikoff is assistant professor of special education at Touro College Graduate School of Education.