The Criminalization and Remedialization of "Misfit" Students: Racial/Ethnic and Gender Inequalities in Alternative Education Program Placements

This study examines racial/ethnic and gender inequalities in alternative education program (AEP) placements. Using longitudinal data on students and program placements, I analyze the relationship between race, race-gender, and students’ odds of being placed into AEPs for academic remediation (remedialization) or behavior (criminalization). I find that Black students and emphatically Black girls have higher odds of behavioral placement than White schoolmates, but Latinx students do not. Both Black and Latinx students have lower odds of placement for academic remediation. These findings locate inequalities in the deployment of rehabilitation and punishment earlier in the life course, prior to these disparities emerging within the criminal-legal system; I discuss the implications of this disparity for the production of educational and social inequality.