The United States used to lead the world in opportunity for a quality education. Today, we take the lead for the highest rates of incarceration.
That reality leaves the nation with a choice, according to a recent report by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Do we put our citizens in quality classrooms or in jail cells?
It shouldn't be a question. Education is the key to individual opportunity and national economic prosperity. But we know that policy priorities are reflected by spending. The NAACP's report does the math, and, in the end, education comes behind incarceration.
In 2009, as the nation fell into its deepest recession in 30 years, funding for K-12 and higher education declined while, that same year, 33 states spent a larger share of discretionary dollars on prisons than they did the year before. Of the $70 billion spent annually on prisons, $50 billion comes from the states -- limiting what they can spend on schools, notes the report.
The glimmer of hope in the report, titled "Misplaced Priorities," is that Democrats and Republicans alike question this trend and appear willing to lead thinking around change.
The report also includes 11 recommendations around revising sentencing laws/policies, programs to deter violent behavior and more research. While the recommendations are right on mark, I would suggest one more: Reduce the disproportionate rate at which black and brown students are placed in special education in our schools. As the report notes, the majority of the 2.3 million people incarcerated in U.S. prisons are people of color. The facts about African-American youths and juvenile delinquency are equally alarming. According to data published by the Coalition for Juvenile Justice, the arrest rate among African-American youths (ages 10-17) was nearly twice the rate of their white peers; African-American youths are 1.4 times more likely to be detained than their white peers; nationwide, one of every three young black males is in prison, on probation or on parole; and nearly 60 percent of young offenders serving time in adult state prisons are African-American, although African-Americans comprise only 15 percent of the youth population. For many, the trajectory begins in poverty and is exacerbated in school.
In 2002, the National Academy of Sciences found that African-American students accounted for 33 percent of students classified as "mentally retarded" (or more recently, emotionally disturbed, ADHD or other labels), despite being 17 percent of the school-age population. There is little evidence that this has changed in recent years. In fact, it is widely documented children of color are overrepresented in special education compared to their percentage of school enrollment or compared to special education classification of white students. And, too, often for some students, special education becomes a deadend in their academic program
Public policy and school practice must acknowledge that early decisions about student placement contribute to lifelong paths that sadly often lead to prison. Special education too often is the most expedient and expensive option for students who are not succeeding. Teachers, sometimes out of frustration, see this as the best way to get them additional resources or to maintain classroom order. For this and other reasons, special education costs continue to be for many districts a growing challenge.
We must begin to help teachers who feel unprepared to meet the needs of economically disadvantaged students - most of whom are students of color -- so that there is an alternative to special education placement.
We can begin by talking about race in our communities and policies which inadvertently sustain poverty. Too often, parents, policy-makers, teachers and administrators lack the will and strategies to discuss race and the more troubling issues of stereotypes and expectations.
In schools, teachers can be guided to use strategies to promote respect of culture and racial differences as student strengths, in turn improving student self-worth, motivation and problem-solving. Schools can use positive peer culture techniques where students learn to guide and "police" themselves. Quality schooling can lift students above the limits of low expectations to influence learning and social development.
When teachers and students seek, explore, craft and sharpen instructional strategies and content for reaching everyone, great things happen. When students fall behind, teachers and parents, as partners, must help them catch up by affirming their capacity to succeed and committing to a relentless focus on strategies which enable rather than disable.
All of these steps are essential to an accelerated instructional process and embedded in intellectually safe schools. But these steps -- which can only be taken with the help of qualified educators working in supportive conditions with adequate resources that engage parents and the community -- require funding that is now going to prisons.
Books or bars? It's not really a choice. Securing a better future for our nation begins -- at least in part -- with options and strategies to reduce the disproportionate rate at which black and brown students end up in special education and puts them on a path to school success.
Posted By: Siebra Muhammad
Sunday, June 5th 2011 at 5:14PM
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