Citation #1: Billings, Stephen  B., et al. ā€œProving the School-to-Prison Pipeline.ā€ Education Next, 21 Dec. 2022, www.educationnext.org/proving-school-to-prison-pipeline-stricter-middle-schools-raise-risk-of-adult-arrests/. 

Summary: They start by Introducing the school-to-prison pipeline and note that black and Hispanic students are far more likely to be suspended or expelled than white students. In that fact, they infer that there is a link between experiencing strict school discipline as a student and getting incarcerated as an adult. To dig deeper they began their research and zoomed in on the Charlotte-Mecklenberg district as they had experienced a major student change and students going to schools with different suspension rates. They found that students who attend middle schools that are one deviation stricter are more likely to be arrested and drop out and the impacts are much larger for Black and Hispanic male students. They also find that principals are one of the biggest factors when it comes to the number of suspensions as their suspension rates follow them when they switch schools. Within that same district they looked at previous school years and compared those to current adult arrests and incarcerations and found that students who attend a stricter school are 20% more likely to be arrested. And the more interesting part is that these crimes were drug or theft related and not the more heinous crimes such as manslaughter or assault. They also found these effects to be more impactful on black and hispanic students. 

Reflection: This source provides bountiful statistics and backs each of those statistics up with a breakdown of how they were attained. In their research they highlighted the fact that suspensions have an impact on students and their futures They also found that suspensions negatively affect education attainment, to quote the article ā€œA student attending a stricter school is 15% more likely to drop out and is 11% more likely to not attend collegeā€. Overall, I agree with this article as suspensions are hard to come back from since you miss out on class and are one of the leading factors that push students into the school to prison pipeline. One other piece of information that the article brought up was how much principals affect the suspension rates. When principals switch to different schools they often have their suspension rates follow them which could be a start to figuring out where the pipeline beings. Ultimately it is up to the principals on how to deal with school issues and it starts with them.  

Quotation: According to the article ā€œWe also find that principals, who have considerable discretion in meting out school discipline, are the major driver of differences in the number of suspensionsā€ I agree with this because as stated earlier suspensions are a huge cause in student dropout rates if principals would resort to this drastic measure less frequently thereā€™d be an increase in graduation rates or college attendance and more importantly creating a safety net for students who are just only 12-14 years old who donā€™t know any better.