Examining the Educational Trajectories of Girls on Probation: A Mixed-Methods Approach

Background and Purpose: Nationally, probation is the overwhelming disposition (63%-65%) offered to youth adjudicated delinquent. BIPOC youth represent a disproportionate share of these youth (58%) and 22% are girls (Puzzanchera & Hockenberry, 2019; 2021). Albeit growing, the literature on educational outcomes for youth on probation reveals only 35% and 13% met state assessment graduation requirements for English and math, respectively; 44% earned no credits, and an abysmally low high school graduation rate of 13% (McCurley et al., 2017). Research suggests that mandatory school attendance is one of the most frequently violated conditions of probation (NeMoyer et al., 2014) and underscores the importance of prosocial attitudes and parental and community connections for increasing school engagement for youth on probation (Crumé et al., 2021).

Most studies are quantitative, and while they identify school exclusion, special education needs, and protective factors in increasing school engagement for youth on probation, a qualitative, contextual understanding that pays attention to the educational experiences and trajectories of girls on probation is absent. This is crucial given feminist scholarship underlining (i) racialized and gendered pathways (e.g., childhood sexual abuse, intimate partner violence, adultification bias) that disproportionately bring girls of color into system-involvement (Javdani et al., 2011; Epstein et al., 2017), and (ii) the paternalistic ways in which courts respond to girls (Anderson et al., 2023).

Methods: We conducted in-depth, longitudinal, mixed-methods case file review of a sample of 35 girls sentenced to probation in a Northeast state. Eligibility criteria for cases included having been sentenced to probation and the case being closed/sentence completed in 2020. The 35 cases were randomly sampled and included a detailed examination from girls’ offending through completion of the probation sentence. Our analysis allowed for a nuanced view of girls’ specific pathways (i.e. charges, family histories, trauma histories, neighborhood poverty, previous academic experiences, etc.) into the juvenile legal system and how their education is shaped by the interconnected systems they are involved in while on probation. Data were analyzed in Dedoose using thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006).

Results: Preliminary analyses suggest that incidents in schools, involvement with peers during offending behaviors, long-term involvement in child welfare, and sexual trauma are pathways into the juvenile legal system. System responses to girls’ delinquency include referrals to behavioral health treatments, compliance with home and school rules, limited engagement with other court-involved peers, etc. Post sentencing, there are increased expectations of how girls “should” behave; however, the data suggests girls’ inability to meet those demands in the absence of structural resources. Preliminary analyses suggest a deeper need to involve girls in their care coordination, and a structural understanding of how various systems are implicated in girls’ educational trajectories while on probation.

Conclusion and Implications: This study supports understanding how interconnected systems are implicated both in girls’ pathways to the juvenile legal system and their subsequent educational experiences while on probation. Analyses reveal contextual barriers to involving girls in the coordination of their care and hold the potential to inform policymaking both from an inter-agency and intra-agency perspective.