Carceral Ideology: A New Framework for Examining Equity in Education

Join the Fredrickson Innovation Lab for an interdisciplinary discussion on how carceral ideology—the reliance on surveillance, coercion, and confinement—shapes the educational experiences of poor and racially minoritized students. Dr. NaLette Brodnax’s research explores how carceral practices in schools influence pedagogy, culture, and discipline, potentially hindering students’ transitions to college and the workplace.

To investigate these dynamics, Dr. Brodnax analyzed school handbooks, which reflect schools’ values, goals, and practices, creating a multidimensional measure of carceral ideology. Her findings reveal how schools serving larger minoritized populations are more likely to employ carceral language, raising important questions about the broader impacts of these practices on educational equity and social outcomes.

NaLette Brodnax is an Assistant Professor in the McCourt School of Public Policy at Georgetown University and a William T Grant Scholar (Class of 2028). She received a joint Ph.D. in Public Policy and Political Science from the School of Public and Environmental Affairs at Indiana University, where she specialized in quantitative research methods. Her research interests include education policy, policy diffusion, and computational social science.

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