The document outlines the requirements for a quantitative research proposal examining factors that contribute to the school-to-prison pipeline. It instructs the student to develop sections on the statement of the problem, purpose of the study, research questions, and hypotheses. These sections must be supported by at least five peer-reviewed sources and address how ethnicity, gender, special education status and other variables relate to disciplinary actions like suspension. The research method involves analyzing school disciplinary records to identify trends and determine if variables like race impact consequences.

1. · In preparation to complete the Signature Assignment, a
quantitative research proposal, collect and read five peer-
reviewed primary source research articles dated within the
previous 5 years related to a research topic of interest. The
same sources may be used from this course or from any
previous courses that meet the requirement.
Using these sources as justification, properly cited in APA
format, develop the following initial quantitative research
proposal sections:
1. Statement of the Problem
2. Purpose of the Study
3. Research Question(s)
4. Hypotheses (null and alternative)
Ensure the Statement of the Problem focuses solely on the
problem, the Purpose of the Study focuses solely on the intent
of the study, the Research Question(s) addresses the Purpose of
the Study and do not elicit a yes or no response, and the
Hypotheses address the Research Question(s). Ensure all four
sections are aligned in content and in wording.
Support your assignment with at least five scholarly
resources. In addition to these specified resources,
other appropriate scholarly resources, including older articles,
may be included.
Length: 5-7 pages, not including title and reference pages
Your assignment should demonstrate thoughtful consideration
of the ideas and concepts presented in the course by providing
new thoughts and insights relating directly to this topic. Your
response should reflect scholarly writing and current APA
standards.

2. Exploration
of
Secondary Education
Solution
s to School-to-Prison Pipeline
by
Table of Contents

3. Introduction1
Statement of the Problem1
Purpose of the Study2
Research Questions3
Hypotheses4
Definition of Key Terms5
Brief Review of the Literature5
Summary7
Research Method7
Operational Definition of Variables9
Measurement10
Summary11
References12
Appendix A: Annotated Bibliography13Introduction
Schept, Wall, & Brisman (2015) stated that the implementation
of zero tolerance on school grounds with the growing number of
presence of police in schools have led to the criminalization of
school discipline. Schools districts nation- wide began to
increase the use of school resource officers on campus,
particularly in inner city schools. Also, hardline discipline
measures were implemented. In other words, a zero-tolerance
approach toward student misconducted became the norm, hence
the process criminalization versus education of poor, minority
youth. Many studies conducted have shown a clear link between
school expulsion in the form of outdoor suspension and juvenile

4. detention. For instance, Skiba, Horner, Chung, & Rausch (2011)
stated that an overrepresentation in out-of-school suspension
and expulsion appears to place African American students at
risk for poor academic performance and involvement in the
juvenile justice system. When students are placed on outdoor
suspension, too often they are left without any adult supervision
which leads to an increase likelihood of them engaging in
criminal behavior.
Many experts have proposed alternative school discipline
policies in an effort to reduce the outdoor suspension rate,
which ultimately reduces the criminalization of today’s youth.
Mallet (2012) suggest that one way to eliminate school-to-
prison (STP) phenomenon is to incorporate social workers to
work with high risk groups along with early identification of
special education students in the juvenile courts. Social workers
should be working with at risk youth and their families. Social
workers could be instrumental in ensuring students are
benefiting from programs that would foster their social skills
and meeting their basic needs; food and shelter. However, early
identification of special education students in juvenile courts
means that they have already been exposed to the
criminalization versus education process. The goal is to deter
students away from this entirely. In the article, “The Wise
Arrest Diversion Program” the authors analyze the WISE arrest
program. The WISE diversion Program offered academic

5. support, mentoring, and daily progress monitoring to students
who committed nonviolent crimes on campus. Students were
enrolled in the program instead of being arrested when they
committed a non-violent offense. In the article, ‘Critical
Incidents in Sustaining School-Wide Positive Behavioral
Interventions and Supports”, the authors discuss a tiered school-
wide behavioral intervention plan. This behavioral plan focuses
on positive reinforcement for adults and students. The WISE
program is more of a comprehensive plan that addresses
multiple needs of the student versus just the behavior aspect
that the multi-tiered intervention addresses. A multi-tiered plan
can be incorporated into any school model. An alternative
behavioral plan needs to be in place, however that’s only a part
of the solution. Academic support for a curriculum that is
relevant to the students has to encompass.
Addressing the needs of the at risk youth group should be
foremost. “The Learning Disability to Juvenile Detention
Pipeline: A Case Study discusses the correlation between teens
diagnosed with learning and/or emotional disability and the
juvenile court system. This study clearly identified minority,
special education students from lower socio economical
background as the group mostly represented. The question that
educators must address is how do these students learn best. How
to incorporate appropriate social and problem solving skills into
their daily curriculum. At-Risk youth must see the relevancy in

6. the lesson to their lives, a connection must be made. Also, as a
veteran teacher, I’ve noted that sitting in rows with no
movement or interaction simply does not fit the needs of special
education students. Their brains are wired for hands on learning
and regular movement. I would even go as far as to suggest a
curriculum that centers around their reality. This would allow
students to connect to the stories, hence connecting to the class
and less likely to misbehave. Wilson (2013) states that due to
the disproportionate number of special education students,
administrators and teachers that academic and behavior support
is in place for this sub group.
Statement of the Problem
The school-to-prison pipeline is a phenomenon that describes at
risk youth who are over represented in the juvenile justice
system. Several factors cause at-risk youth to transition from
the school system to juvenile system. Cramer, E. D., Gonzalez,
L., & Pellegrini-Lafont, C. (2014) conducted research which
indicated that African American males that have been diagnosed
with a learning disability are the highest risk group to be
subjected to this phenomenon. The second highest at risk group
are Latino males. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics
(2011), both African American and Latino males also make up
the majority of the prison population and dropout rate. This

7. correlation has been studied and proven to be an effect of the
criminalization of at risk youth, usually for non-violent
offenses. Many studies conducted have shown a clear link
between school expulsion in the form of outdoor suspension and
juvenile detention. According to Cuellar, A. E., & Markowitz,
S. (2015) Outdoor suspension may increase criminal offending
behavior by problem youth, more than doubling the probability
of arrest. Wilson, H. (2014) also argues the same point that
school expulsion and suspensions is the leading contributor to
school-to prison pipeline phenomenal. Skiba, R. J., Arredondo,
M. I., & Williams, N. T. (2014) suggest that there is a direct
correlation between an increase of student suspension, which
doubled from 1974 to 2010, to the creation of the school-to-
prison pipeline. When students are placed on outdoor
suspension, too often they are left without any adult supervision
which leads to an increased likelihood of them engaging in
criminal behavior. It is the engagement of the criminal behavior
while out of school that propels youth into the pipeline. The
problem is that poor, minority students who are classified under
special education are over represented in the school-to-prison
pipeline phenomenon.
Purpose of the Study

8. The purpose of the quantitative study is to examine the
relationship between students’ ethnicity and disciplinary
consequences. The researcher seeks to identify any trends that
suggest African American, males who fall under special
education are placed on outdoor suspension at a higher rate for
the same action versus white counterparts. The study’s variables
include race, gender, age, socioeconomically factors, special
education status. The school’s discipline policy as well as the
behavior infraction will also variables in the study. The study
will be conducted in a large urban school setting in South
Florida. The participants will be African American, Latino, and
White middle school students, ages 11-16; who received a
referral for a discipline infraction.
Research Questions
Q1. Do African American males have a higher rate of outdoor
suspension compared to other ethnicities?
Q2. Are African American males referred to administration by
classroom teacher for non-violent disciplinary infractions at a
higher rate compared to other ethnicities?
Hypotheses
H10. African American males are disproportionally disciplined
compared to other ethnicities due teacher’s inability to develop

9. a positive relationship with this population.
H1a African American males are not disproportionally
disciplined compared to other ethnicities due teacher’s inability
to develop a positive relationship with this population.
H1a. African Americans have a higher percentage of students
compared to other ethnicities who come from poor, high stress
environments which causes students to have distress.
H1a African Americans do not have a higher percentage of
students compared to other ethnicities who come from poor,
high stress environments which causes students to have distress.
Research Method
In my quantitative study, I will utilize Causal-
comparative/quasi-experimental research design. According to
Baltimore County Public Schools (2013) This type of design
attempts to establish cause and effects relationships among
variables. The study’s purpose is to seek the cause and effect
relationship of ethnicity and school disciplinary actions. The
researcher will examine if different variables such as: race, age,
gender, and poverty causes a higher rate of African American
students being disciplined compared to other ethnicities. The
researcher will analyze the school’s disciplinary documents to
identify trends in who was disciplined and in what manner
which they were disciplined. Researcher will identify, analyze
and conclude whether independent variables impact discipline
actions and if so, which ones.

10. Operational Definition of Variables
1. Construct/Variable 1. Categorical Variable- Usually an
independent or predictor variable that contains values indicating
membership in one of several possible categories. The study
will have several independent variables with assigned numerical
value. The first, Ethnicity-Black (1), Hispanic (2), White (3),
Other (4). Second independent variable, Gender-Male (0) or
Female (1). Third independent variable, Socio Economic Status-
Eligible for free or reduce lunch, yes (1) or no (2). Fourth, Age-
11-16. Fifth, positive feeling toward school- Low, medium,
high. And lastly, Special Education (ESE) Yes (1) or No (2)
Construct/Variable 2. Dependent variable- The presumed effect
in an experimental study. The values of the dependent variable
depend upon another variable, the independent variable.
Disciplinary Action is the study’s dependent variable. The study
will investigate if the independent variables effect how the
student is disciplined by teachers and/or school administration.
Data Collection
The data collection will be from multiple sources. One-to-one
structured interviews, classroom observation, and school’s

11. discipline and academic documents will be used. Researcher
will meet with parents or guardians to discuss the details of the
study. Parents will be informed of their right to withdraw their
child at any point in the study. Also, parents will be required to
give informed consent. A total of 20 at-risk youth will
participate in the study: 12 African American, 8 Hispanic, 16-
males. 4-females. The study will take place over a nine-month
period, September-May. The interviews will last 25-30 minutes.
To protect the identity of the participants, the researcher will
assign numbers to each participant. Participants will be asked
15-20 questions, for example: “What is your favorite class?”,
“What do you like best about your favorite class?” Data will be
stored on a flash drive. Only the researcher will have access to
flash drive.
Data Analysis
Analysis of the data which includes data from interviews and
school’s records will begin by coding. Researcher will utilize a
computer program that will identify key words and phrases in
participants’ interviews. Researcher will use a computer
program such as HyperRESEARCH. Green (2011) explains that
HyperRESEARCH allows researchers to code, retrieve, build
theories and conduct analysis. HyperRESEARCH codes all
kinds of sources; audio, video and notes.

12. Validity and Reliability
Krathwohl (2009) states that validity refers to the degree to
which evidence and theory can support the interpretation of the
tests. The study’s validity will be ensured by comparing the
discipline actions of the various independent variables. In other
words, examining if students’ ethnicity increased or decreased
odds of out of school disciplinary actions. Krathwohl (2009)
states that Stability Reliability is how consistent outcome is
over a period of time. The research will compare discipline
actions among the different independent variables at the end of
each grading period: 1st nine weeks, 2nd nine weeks, 3rd nine
weeks and 4th nine weeks. The same outcome at the end of each
nine weeks will show the degree of reliability in the study. The
study is made credible by the respondents answers and
observation made in participants natural academic setting.
Krathwohl (2009) states that leaving a clear audit trail is a way
of helping to assure that you attended to dependability and
consistency. The study’s dependability will be ensured by
accurate recording of respondent’s responses and classroom
interactions. The researcher has no bias in the study. The
researcher does not have a preference of classroom student
engagement or school-wide behavioral modification plans.
References

13. Baltimore County Public Schools (2013). Key elements of a
research proposal: Quantitative design.
Cramer, E. D., Gonzalez, L., & Pellegrini-Lafont, C. (2014).
From classmates to inmates: An integrated approach to Cramer,
E. D., Gonzalez, L., & Pellegrini-Lafont, C. (2014). From
classmates to inmates: An integrated approach to break the
school-to-prison pipeline. Equity & Excellence In Education,
47(4), 461-475. doi:10.1080/10665684.2014.958962
Cuellar, A. E., & Markowitz, S. (2015). School suspension and
the school-to-prison pipeline. International Review Of Law &
Economics, doi:10.1016/j.irle.2015.06.001
Krathwohl, D. (2009). Methods of educational and social
science research: The logic of methods. Long Grove, IL:
Waveland Press
Mallett, C. A. (2015). The school-to-prison pipeline: A critical
review of the punitive paradigm shift. Child & Adolescent
Social Work Journal, doi:10.1007/s10560-015-0397-1
Wilson, M. G. (2013). Disrupting the Pipeline: The Role of
School Leadership in Mitigating Exclusion and Criminalization
of Students. Journal Of Special Education Leadership, 26(2),
61-70.

14. Schept, J., Wall, T., & Brisman, A. (2015). Building, staffing,
and insulating: An architecture of criminological complicity in
the school-to-prison pipeline. Social Justice, 41(4), 96-115.
Retrieved from
http://search.proquest.com.proxy1.ncu.edu/docview/1713975672
?accountid=28180
Skiba, R. J., Arredondo, M. I., & Williams, N. T. (2014). More
than a metaphor: The contribution of exclusionary discipline to
a school-to-prison pipeline. Equity & Excellence in Education,
47(4), 546. Retrieved from
http://search.proquest.com.proxy1.ncu.edu/docview/1636484690
?accountid=28180
Wilson, H. (2014). Turning off the School-to-Prison Pipeline.
Reclaiming Children & Youth, 23(1), 49-53.