The population of girls being incarcerated continues to grow amid the decline of boy offenders. While society has seen an increase in violent offenses perpetrated by these girls, the majority are still detained on status offenses or for non-violent crimes. For many girls, school is a place to seek solace and safety. Yet, for a growing population of girls, the bond they once shared with school is disintegrating. This disconnect has proven to be a critical turning point in their lives. The purpose of this study is to give girls who have been removed from the general education setting a platform to share their educational experiences.

abstract: The education and criminal justice systems have developed in relation to one another, intersected through specific events, policies, practices, and discourses that have ultimately shaped the experiences and lives of children of color. Racism, white supremacy, and oppression are foundational to the United States and evident in all systems, structures, and institutions. Exploring the various contexts in which the education and criminal justice systems have developed illuminates their coalescence in contemporary United States society and more specifically, in public schools. Public schools now operate under discipline regimes that criminalize the behavior of Black and Brown children through exclusionary practices and zero-tolerance policies, surveillance and security measures, and school police. Children of color must navigate complex and interlocking systems of power in schools and the broader society that serve to criminalize, control, and incapacitate youth, effectively cementing a relationship between schools and prisons. Describing these complex and interlocking systems of power that exclude children from schools and force them into the criminal justice system as the “school-to-prison pipeline” is increasingly insufficient. The “school-prison nexus” more accurately and completely embodies the relationship between education, incarceration, and the political economy. In the United States, where capitalism reigns, the school-prison nexus serves as an economic imperative to further fuel the political economy, neoliberal globalization, and the prison-industrial complex. In both the education and criminal justice systems, Black and Brown children are commodified and exploited through the school-prison nexus as a mechanism to expand free-market capitalism. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Social and Cultural Pedagogy 2020

Inconsistent findings within the existing literature tend to confuse the ability of behavior-focused alternative schools to address behavior problems of at-risk juveniles. Recent studies have suggested that juveniles who successfully commit to greater self-regulation skills display both academic success and positive classroom behavior. Although self-regulation skills have been positively associated with behavioral success among juveniles placed in behavior-focused alternative schools, it remains unclear as to what aspects of these programs that juveniles experience as facilitating the development of such skills. This phenomenological study used semistructured interviews of 5 students in Grades 10 through 12 enrolled in a behavior-focused alternative school to improve the understanding of how juveniles experience and perceive alternative school programs as facilitating the development of self-regulation skills in promotion of positive behavior outcomes. Structural functionalist theory provided an appropriate lens through which data of juvenile experiences and perceptions of the functions of an alternative school program could be interpreted. Data analysis consisted of a process of open coding, categorizing, and interpreting data for meaning. The findings of the current study revealed that when aspects of alternative schools function to develop reasoning skills and a willingness to adhere to school standards, such functions may be beneficial in juvenile commitment to behavioral self-regulation. The data provided by this study may be valuable for stakeholders and policymakers in assessing the influence of behavior-focused alternative schools.

The school-to-prison pipeline is an expansive issue that impacts the educational and criminal justice systems in the United States. Traditionally, the research has linked the prevalence of the pipeline to factors based within school systems. These systemic factors include the use of zero tolerance policies, exclusionary disciplinary practices, and the presence of school resource officers. The proposed study aims to assess the impact of factors that perpetuate the school-to-prison pipeline that are non-systemic in nature. For the purposes of this study, the non-systemic contributors to the school-to-prison pipeline to be assessed are parental socialization, child self-control, learned noncompliance, child resilience, child problem behaviors, and child deviance. Scales for each non-systemic contributor were created and complied into a survey instrument. The study utilized an exploratory, quantitative methodology and non-experimental research using a survey approach in a cross-sectional design to assess the perceptions of non-systemic contributors of the school-to-prison pipeline among mental health professionals who service youth at risk for justice system involvement. A sample of 71 mental health professionals participated in the study. Results indicated that resilience predicted behavior problems in schools above and beyond any other non-systemic contributor. This finding produced wide-ranging implications for the manner in which children are socialized at home and disciplined at school.

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While a large body of literature exists related to discrimination in schools and the school-to-prison pipeline, few studies connect this literature to perceptions of school climate. The purpose of this study is to examine middle and high school students’ perceptions of school climate using an intersectional theoretical framework. Participants include 812 middle and high school students across the United States. Exploratory principal axis factor analysis included four subscales: perceptions of attachment to school staff, perceptions of school environment, perceptions of school belonging, and perceptions of effective school staff. Linear regressions for each subscale were performed, and gender, racial, sexuality, and ability comparisons were established. Findings suggest that students diagnosed by a mental health professional, students placed in special education, and students that have been suspended and or expelled are more likely to perceive their school climate as unfavorable across the school climate subscales and school-to-prison pipeline demographic variables.

No description available.

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