Eliminating the School-to-Prison Pipeline

Dr. J. Stuart Ablon, Founder and Director of Think:Kids, and Dr. Tia Lites, Principal of the Helen Y. Davis Leadership Academy, presented at SXSW EDU 2022 on the School-to-Prison Pipeline and discussed ways we can end it.

Traditional school discipline flows from bias, not science. Kids of color suffer double jeopardy behavior bias—explicit bias that has their behavior misunderstood and implicit bias borne of racism, delivering more punitive responses. Neuroscience proves students with challenging behavior lack the skill, not the will, to behave. Let’s listen to science to interrupt bias, build school culture, and promote Black leadership to end the school-to-prison pipeline. In this recorded presentation Dr. Ablon and Dr. Lites share how behavior is determined by skill, not will; how school culture and leadership set the tone for how discipline is addressed; effective and equitable solutions to support our most challenging students, and those labeled “at-risk,” succeed.