Teachers' experiences with and expectations of children with incarcerated parents

Abstract

Children with incarcerated parents, and mothers in particular, are at increased risk for academic failure and school dropout. In two studies, we examined teachers' experiences with children with incarcerated parents and their expectations for competence of children with incarcerated mothers. In Study 1, a descriptive, qualitative study, teachers ( N = 30) discussed their experiences with children with incarcerated parents. The results of Study 1 suggest that children with incarcerated parents experience stigmatization in the school setting and children with incarcerated mothers are considered especially at risk. Based on the results of Study 1, we designed an experiment for Study 2 to examine teachers' ( N = 73) expectations for competency of fictitious children new to class because of maternal incarceration. Teachers randomly assigned to a scenario describing a female student whose mother is away at prison rated the child as less competent than teachers randomly assigned to scenarios in which the child's mother was described as being away for other reasons.