Inequities in Juvenile Justice Alternative Education Program assignments by the economic status and ethnicity/race of Texas middle school boys and their effects on academic achievement: A multiyear, statewide investigation

Abstract

The purpose of this proposed journal-ready dissertation was to determine the extent to which differences were present in Juvenile Justice Alternative Education Program placements by student demographic characteristics for Grade 6, 7, and 8 boys in Texas middle schools. In the first investigation, the degree to which Juvenile Justice Alternative Education Program placements differed by the economic status (i.e., Poor, Not Poor) of Grade 6, 7, and 8 boys was examined. In the second investigation, the degree to which Juvenile Justice Alternative Education Program placements differed by the ethnicity/race (i.e., White, Hispanic, and Black) of Grade 6, 7, and 8 boys was determined. Finally, in the third study, the extent to which Juvenile Justice Alternative Education Program placements were related to the reading and mathematics achievement of Grade 6, 7, and 8 boys was addressed. In the first two articles, four years of Texas statewide data was analyzed, whereas in the last article, only one school year of data were present. In this investigation, a causal-comparative research design was used. Through a Public Information Request, archival data were obtained from the Texas Education Agency for the 2012-2013, 2013-2014, 2014-2015, and 2015-2016 school years. Specific data requested from the Texas Education Agency were student demographic characteristics and Juvenile Justice Alternative Education Program placement. In all four school years, statistically significant differences were present for the majority of the analyses by student demographic characteristics. In the first two studies, statistically significant differences were present in the assignment to a Juvenile Justice Alternative Education Program placement by student economic status (i.e., Poor, Not Poor) and ethnicity/race (i.e., White, Black, and Hispanic). Boys who were poor and Black boys were assigned to a Juvenile Justice Alternative Education Program placement statistically significantly more often than their counterparts. In the third study, statistically significant differences were present in reading and mathematics performance as a function of Juvenile Justice Alternative Education Program receipt. Boys who received this consequence had statistically significantly lower test scores than their peers who did not receive this consequence. Results from these three studies were congruent with existing literature.