How Am I Doing in School? Consequences of School and Legal Sanctions on Short-Term Educational Success

• In Event: School’s Out: Mechanisms of the School-to-Prison Pipeline

Abstract

Students that encounter school sanctions (suspensions) and legal sanctions (arrests) face many educational obstacles. Both have been found to disproportionately affect racial/ethnic minorities, low-income students, students with disabilities, and English learners. The purpose of these sanctions is to remove students that are interrupting the learning environment or pose a threat to the safety of others. These sanctions may lead students to fall behind due to lost class time. This may result in lower English or math test scores and increased risk of dropout. Thus, school punishment may be further disadvantaging students most in need of educational support. In this paper, I examine the impact of school punishment on short-term educational success. Specifically, the associations between school sanctions and legal sanctions on four educational outcomes: bonds to school, repeating a grade, taking college entrance exams, and completing high school. Preliminary results suggest that both school and legal sanctions may be detrimental to educational progress.

Author

• Gerardo V. Cuevas, The Pennsylvania State University