Exclusionary Discipline Practices in Texas: Addressing the School to Prison Pipeline

Abstract

Statewide discipline data indicate that African-American and Latino students are disproportionately removed from classrooms in Texas. Students who are excluded from school are more likely to experience academic failure, drop out of school, and become involved in the juvenile justice system. Changing the culture of schools by training staff to use proactive and positive approaches to behavior management
offers the best prospect of breaking the school to prison pipeline. In several states, improved Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports implementation has resulted in changes in exclusionary discipline. Use of this model in Texas might reduce discipline discrepancies by race.