Black Girls' Pushout & Criminalization in Schools

Data to empower policymakers, practitioners, & advocates to put into place evidence-informed solutions that enhance the safety and wellbeing of Black girls & gender-expansive youth.

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Across the United States, schools use various punitive discipline practices that result in students being removed from class, such as suspensions, expulsions, transfers to an alternative education setting, or referrals to law enforcement. These practices weaken students’ connection with school by depriving students of valuable learning time and creating an environment that erodes students’ well-being and sense of safety at school. These students often end up pushed out of school altogether, as research shows that punitive discipline practices are associated with poor student achievement and a failure to complete school.

 

This kind of disconnection from school creates pathways to contact with the juvenile and criminal legal systems. These school-to-confinement pathways disproportionately affect students of color, especially Black girls. To disrupt school-to-confinement pathways, schools must address the disciplinary practices that drive school pushout.

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