Identifying Theory: Capturing the Ecology of the School-to-Prison Pipeline

• In Event: School Discipline “Matters”: Exploring the Education and Policy Contexts

Abstract

This paper uses Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems Theory (1979) as an analytical lens to describe and explore the complexities of the school to prison pipeline. In its broadest sense, the school to prison pipeline refers to the imposition of harsh sanctions on students, particularly zero tolerance policies (see APA, 2008), that has resulted in a systematic and pervasive “pushing out” of children from schools into the juvenile justice system (Archer, 2010). In the last decade, school to prison pipeline has become common parlance in educational policy discussions concerning school discipline policy. It has also shaped a good deal of debate within juvenile and adult criminal justice discussions primarily due to the fact that many adult criminals were juvenile offenders (Greenwood, 2008). Given the enormous costs being spent on the adult justice system, politicians and policymakers alike have a new interest in preventing delinquency in youth as it may reduce adult criminal activity and the additional burden born on society, victims and taxpayers (Springer et al., 2011).
Despite the focus on the school to prison pipeline and its metaphorical trajectory to adult criminal activity, little work has been done to theoretically conceptualize the phenomenon. That is, while research has relied on this continuum of disciplinary action to place students at risk for adult lives of crime, few authors have attempted to identify in any comprehensive manner the variety of variables, circumstances and societal structures that work together to construct and maintain the school to prison pipeline in the first place. Instead, what exists is a number of disjointed studies, operating without any overarching framework that independently explain the pipeline based on subpopulation samples (i.e. work looking at the disproportional representation of racial minorities, special education and poor students in the school to prison pipeline, see Polokow, 2000). While there is benefit to such studies, without clearly articulated theoretical underpinnings, they undermine the study of the school to prison pipeline as more than just a process of punishment. Given the variety of work now being conducted that relies upon the pipeline, this paper argues it is time to identify a theoretical model that can encapsulate and envelope its continued study.
It is proposed that Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems Theory (1979) accounts for the variety of contexts that work both with and against each other to create a pipeline of risk. As a theory used in developmental psychology, Bronfenbrenner identifies five different environmental systems with bi-directional influences within and between one another that manifest to create a constant state of interactions to influence and affect the individual. These environmental systems reflect everything from other individuals to larger contexts, such as cultures and institutions. Using this theory, the paper synthesizes the research to date on the school to prison pipeline and where it fits in Bronfenbrenner’s theory. In addition, it identifies an agenda for future research on given the contexts of Bronfenbrenner’s theory that have yet to be explored.

Author

• Heather Cole, The University of Texas - Austin