Whether it\u2019s autism or dyslexia, emotional disturbances, or a hearing impairment, it\u2019s easy for students with disabilities to get lost in the classroom. As a result, they might behave in ways their teachers and peers don\u2019t understand \u2014\u00a0and their teacher may lack the training, or empathy, to meet their needs.
\nThese behaviors are often criminalized, and students with disabilities find themselves funneled into the juvenile justice system \u2014 the school-to-prison pipeline.
\nBut a new report, \u201cUnlocking Futures\u201d by the National Center for Learning Disabilities, seeks to call attention to the intersectional failure of the educational, justice, and disability systems to provide youth with disabilities the education they deserve during their time in juvenile detention.
\nAccording to the report, as many as 70% of youths involved in the juvenile justice system have a disability. Instead of a linear pipeline where kids go\u00a0straight from school to incarceration, the report notes that \u201cjustice-involved youth with disabilities are likely to rotate in and out from school to prison and back again.\u201d
\nIn that system, there are even fewer resources for students to thrive academically and emotionally.
\n\u201cWe\u2019ve seen an increased discussion on the criminalization of youths and school discipline practices and what that means for students of color and students of color with disabilities,\u201d Lindsay Kubatzky, director of policy at NCLD, tells Word In Black. \u201cWe wanted to dig into this issue to determine what was happening there and what possible solutions we can elevate to decrease the number of students with disabilities who are being put into a juvenile justice system that\u2019s not serving them.\u201d
\nIt Starts in the Classroom
\nThe NCLD\u2019s research focused on K-12 children with a range of disabilities, and they found a student\u2019s path into the juvenile justice system often begins with something as simple as misinterpreted behavior, placement in a more restrictive educational setting, or increased discipline at higher rates than their peers.
\nJessica Snydman, a policy research associate at NCLD, says there is a need for educators and school leaders to understand students with disabilities and handle their behavior in appropriate ways that don\u2019t land them in the carceral system.
\n\u201cWe did research in 2019 that found that 1 in 3 teachers viewed students with learning or attention issues as laziness,\u201d Snydman. says. \u201cOnly 17% felt well prepared to teach students with mild to moderate learning disabilities.\u201d
\nThe Impact of Anti-Black Racism
\nData compiled by the ACLU shows that in 2020, Black youths overall were 2.3 times more likely to be arrested than white youths. Students with disabilities are almost three times\u00a0more likely to be arrested\u00a0than their nondisabled peers. The\u00a0intersection of these stats\u00a0feeds the pipeline into the carceral system.
\nBlack students with disabilities are\u00a0more likely to be on the receiving end\u00a0of \u201cexclusionary practices,\u201d which \u201cinclude both in-and out-of-school suspensions, as well as expulsions and other punitive measures that remove students from the classroom.\u201d
\nThe report points out that \u201cBlack boys with disabilities specifically are the most frequently suspended group of students.\u201d
\nBlack girls aren\u2019t faring much better. \u201cBlack girls specifically are 2.7x more likely to receive a juvenile justice referral compared to White girls,\u201d wrote the authors.
\nBeing removed from the classroom \u201chas detrimental social, emotional, and academic impacts, causing students to fall behind and disengage from the school community.\u201d The result is that \u201cstudents are more likely to engage in delinquent behavior.\u201d
\nSnydman says preventing this cycle starts with schools implementing \u201creformative justice-based practices, diversion programs, healthy school communities, safe environments,\u201d and avoiding what she calls \u201cschool hardening.\u201d
\nAccording to the report, school hardening is a phrase that describes common yet ineffective \u201cpractices and policies that increase tactical security measures in schools, such as the use of metal detectors, surveillance technology, limiting entrance points, arming teachers, and more.\u201d<\/p>\n