CALL FOR PERSONAL STORIES: Turning Around the School-to-Prison Pipeline
Personal narratives put a human face on school discipline issues. The idea is to draw the reader into the actual experiences of students, families, and educators in what is otherwise a volume of research findings about correlations and data differences that are relevant to policymakers. These short personal narratives will describe lives harmed by harsh policies and/or improved by superior alternatives.
WE ARE ESPECIALLY INTERESTED IN THE FOLLOWING TYPES OF NARRATIVES:
- Students describing how he/she benefitted from a restorative practice
- Students relating any story of success where the harm was either mitigated or averted because of an intervention
- Teachers or administrators describing a personal transformation regarding school discipline, for example from traditional disciplinarian to someone who embraces a more effective alternative
- Superintendents describing improvements to their district’s discipline policy, especially after implementing an alternative method
- Teachers or administrators recounting how an individual student was helped
- Stories by or about students of color
- Narratives conveying a passion about the change in direction
- Stories articulating changes that address disparities in discipline rates
SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS:
FULL CONTACT INFORMATION
Each submission must include full contact information of both the writer and the person whose story is being told. In addition, the submission must include the name of the school and school district, and the date of the events, if applicable, in order to verify the story.
FOLLOW UP INTERVIEW
The person involved should be willing to be interviewed by CCRR staff, with no guarantee that their story will be chosen. If chosen, the individual should be willing to speak with journalists and others in the media.
In no case can we offer financial support in exchange for a story.
To review samples stories, see our 2004 study, “Losing Our Future: How Minority Youth are Being Left Behind by the Graduation Rate Crisis”
SUBMIT STORIES TO:
Cheri Hodson, graduate student researcher, closingthedisciplinegap@gmail.com and cc Dan Losen (losendan@gmail.com)
