The Infrastructure of Social Control: A Multilevel Propensity-Score Analysis of Surveillance, Punishment, Achievement, and Persistence

• In Event: The School-to-Prison and Prison-to-School Pipelines: Studies of the Nexus of Schooling and the Justice System

Abstract

In response to mass shootings, policy-makers have increased surveillance measures in order to ensure more safe learning environments. However, in addition to being used to thwart school shootings, these surveillance measures may have increased the capacity for schools to identify and punish students for more common and less serious offenses, which may negatively impact the learning environment. Using counterfactual and multi-level modeling strategies with national survey data, we demonstrate that with the infrastructure of surveillance in place, students are more likely to be suspended—even when controlling for school social disorder and student misbehavior. In addition to placing more students on the discipline track, the infrastructure of surveillance places fewer students on the STEM track and reduces college enrollment altogether.

Authors

• Odis Johnson, Johns Hopkins University

• Jason F. Jabbari, Washington University