Using Discipline Data to Enhance Equity in School Discipline

Abstract

There is a longstanding and pressing challenge regarding overuse of exclusionary discipline (e.g., office discipline referrals, suspensions) for students of color and students with disabilities. Moreover, many common efforts to address the problem have not been shown to enhance equity in school discipline. This article describes a promising four-step approach, described in the freely available PBIS Disproportionality Data Guide, for using school discipline data to identify specific interactions that are more susceptible to the effects of implicit bias on decision making and change the environment to meet the needs of all students. A case study is included that identified disproportionality for physical aggression on the playground as a primary source of overall disproportionality and implemented a plan that included elements of explicit instruction and cultural responsiveness. Results showed a consistent decrease in discipline disproportionality over time.

Racial Disparities in the Criminal Justice System: Prevalence, Causes, and a Search for Solutions

“…Interventions with students can also disrupt the pipeline. Identifying situations in which racial disparities in discipline exist and educating students about behavioral expectations for those situations reduced racial disparities in discipline for those situations (McIntosh, Ellwood, McCall, & Girvan, ). Thus, training both teachers to respond differently to behavioral disturbances and students to meet behavioral expectations can decrease disciplinary actions that contribute to the school‐to‐prison pipeline.…”

Vulnerable Decision Points for Disproportionate Office Discipline Referrals: Comparisons of Discipline for African American and White Elementary School Students

“…Second, these general VDPs (i.e., first 90 min of the day, classroom, assessing severity) could be used to help educators identify specific decisions that are vulnerable to bias and use alternative responses in place of issuing ODRs that perpetuate disproportionality. Once they are aware of these VDPs, teachers may be trained in responses that are more instructional than exclusionary, such as teaching or reteaching expectations or visibly modeling cooldown strategies for students (McIntosh, Ellwood, & McCall, 2016;McIntosh, Girvan, Horner, Smolkowski, & Sugai, 2014). Administrators can be encouraged to use more instructional or restorative alternatives to suspension (Nese, Massar, & McIntosh, 2015) and use interventions such as Check-in Check-out, which have been shown to be effective with African American students (Vincent, Tobin, Hawken, & Frank, 2012).…”

School Pathways to the Juvenile Justice System

“…Using data to identify discipline disparities is a promising strategy to start remediating implicit bias and racial inequality in schools (Carter et al, 2017; McIntosh et al, 2018). Schools can track and disaggregate discipline data by offense type (objective vs. subjective), teacher, offense location, and disciplinary action (Gregory et al, 2014).…”

“…Schools can track and disaggregate discipline data by offense type (objective vs. subjective), teacher, offense location, and disciplinary action (Gregory et al, 2014). Schools are encouraged to follow a problem-solving process, using data to identify specific situations that trigger biased responding, allowing interventions to enhance equity in decision-making (McIntosh et al, 2018).…”

“…School-level programs, such as school-wide systems of academic and behavior support, such as School-wide Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (SW-PBIS). SW-PBIS can help prevent situations that lead to disproportionate discipline (McIntosh et al, 2018) by promoting respectful school environments for all students, clear and consistent rules, and positive reinforcement for prosocial behavior. SW-PBIS has demonstrably reduced suspensions (Bradshaw et al, 2010).…”