National Council of Teachers of English

Resolution on Dismantling the School-to-Prison Pipeline

Approved by NCTE Members Voting at the Annual Business Meeting for the
Board of Directors and Other Members of the Council, November 2015

Ratified by a Vote of the NCTE Membership, February 2016

 

Background: The School-to-Prison Pipeline (STPP) is an injurious yet growing system of institutional inequity that funnels young people from schools to prisons. As part of the crisis of mass incarceration, STPP is a dimension of Jim Crow, redesigned. It is a disturbing national trend wherein children are policed out of public schools and into the juvenile and criminal justice systems, an increasing percentage of which are privatized. Many of these children are cognitively atypical or endure histories of poverty, abuse, neglect, and/or trauma. Such students would benefit from additional educational and counseling services instead of the current practice of isolation, penalization, and suspension/expulsion. Alternately, some students are forced into this pipeline without cause—simply for being socially and culturally different. When combined with zero-tolerance policies, educators’ decisions to refer students for discipline might lead to harsh and enduring punishment, contributing to extremely high dropout and “pushout” rates. Such students are much more likely to be introduced into the criminal justice system.

Who Is in the Pipeline?

 

Resolution

Since the School-to-Prison Pipeline (STPP) is an injurious yet growing system of institutional inequity that funnels young people who are cognitively atypical or have endured histories of poverty, abuse, neglect, and/or trauma from schools to prisons, be it therefore resolved that the National Council of Teachers of English

 

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