Assessing the Role of Immigration in the Linkage Between School Safety, Education, and Juvenile Justice Contact, Texas, 2000-2019 (ICPSR 38260)

Time Period(s) View help for Time Period(s)

Date of Collection View help for Date of Collection

Study Purpose View help for Study Purpose

The goals of this study were fourfold:

1. Determine if violence, safety and academic achievement are distinct at Texas schools near the Mexico border, accounting for other known school and community factors to be associated with school violence, safety, and academic success as well as the implications for immigrant youth and English Language Learner (ELL) students
2. Determine the effect of a strict school-wide discipline policy on student outcomes such as attendance, test performance, grade promotion, dropout, future discipline involvement, and juvenile justice contact, irrespective of their personal discipline history at schools near the Texas-Mexico border in comparison to other Texas schools as well as the implications for immigrant youth and ELL students
3. Determine the effect of individual school discipline experience on student outcomes such as attendance, test performance, grade promotion, dropout, future discipline involvement, and juvenile justice contact near the Texas-Mexico border in comparison to comparable to other Texas schools as well as the implications for immigrant youth and ELL students
4. Identify combinations of student attributes (i.e., immigrant youth and ELL students) that characterize subtypes of youth at particularly high risk of school discipline and/or juvenile justice contact.

Study Design View help for Study Design

The base sample was comprised of all first-grade students enrolled in Texas public schools during 2000-2001 and 2001-2002 academic years. Each cohort's kindergarten data were used to control for "prior-year" attributes in first grade. Students' progress was tracked from first grade through at least their cohort's twelfth grade year. Students who were retained could be tracked for evidence of completion at least one year beyond their cohort's senior year. In all, more than 600,000 students were tracked.

The researchers tracked every referral made to the juvenile justice system for the cohort members to its ultimate disposition. Specifically, they first modeled if the referral is forwarded by the probation officer to the prosecutor. For those cases sent prosecutors, they then analyzed the prosecutors' decision to either dismiss or prosecute the case. For those cases that were prosecuted, they then modeled the ultimate outcome--not delinquent, received deferred adjudication, receives probation, or receives secure confinement. In all cases, the researchers controlled for the severity of the offense, the youth's prior juvenile justice record, and their home living situation (e.g., single-parent, two-parent).

Each dataset was collected on at least an annual basis, allowing the research team to integrate time into analyses and model any temporal effects that may be present in students' school and juvenile justice experiences.

Sample View help for Sample

All students enrolled in Texas public schools who were in the first grade during the 2000-01 and 2001-02 academic years.

Time Method View help for Time Method

Universe View help for Universe

All public school students in Texas who were in the first grade in either the 2000-2001 or 2001-2002 school years.

Unit(s) of Observation View help for Unit(s) of Observation

Data Type(s) View help for Data Type(s)

Description of Variables View help for Description of Variables

The project utilizes a unique secondary dataset that combines Texas Education Agency (TEA) and the Texas Juvenile Justice Department (TJJD) data. The data are stored on a secure data server at the University of Texas Education Research Center (ERC). Access to the data is highly restricted. The ERC merged the two databases together, leaving the research team with de-identified data for analysis. 89% of the juvenile justice records were successfully matched to the TEA data providing a great deal of confidence that the students who do not appear in the juvenile justice data were, in fact, not involved in the juvenile justice system.

Original Release Date View help for Original Release Date

2022-08-30