Suspension is NOT an Intervention

Format

Individual Presentation

Format

Individual Presentation

Presenters

Ronnie Jacobs Jr, Charleston County School DistrictFollow

First Presenter's Institution

Charleston County School District

First Presenter’s Email Address

ronnie_jacobs@charleston.k12.sc.us

First Presenter's Brief Biography

Ronnie Jacobs is a native of Akron, OH. He moved to the Lowcountry to attend Charleston Southern University, double majoring in Psychology and Sociology. After graduating from CSU he attended Webster University obtaining his Masters of Arts in Mental Health Counseling and immediately began his career in education. He worked with Communities In Schools for close to 10 years as a Site Coordinator/Student Support Specialist, in both Berkeley and Charleston County. In 2020, Ronnie transitioned to the role of Project PREVENT Support Services Coach with CCSD, supporting the feeder pattern into North Charleston High School with MTSS and their behavioral supports. In May 2024, Ronnie graduated from The Citadel with a Masters in Education - Secondary School Counseling degree. In his spare time, Ronnie loves to travel, try new restaurants, and spend time with those he loves. Ronnie's life motto is "Today, is the tomorrow, you worried about yesterday".

Submitter

I am submitting this proposal as one of the presenter(s)

Location

Scarbrough 3

Strand #1

Head: Academic Achievement & Leadership

Strand #2

Heart: Social & Emotional Skills

Relevance

Schools are finding themselves in a vicious cycle. Where the most vulnerable populations are being excluded the most in the school buildings. These exclusionary practices are negatively contributing to the attendance data in the school buildings. When students are out of the building, there is less opportunity to learn. This directly impacts the academic performance of students. If there is a way to get and keep students in the building regularly, students will have an increased opportunity to learn. Increasing the opportunity to learn, positively impacts the academic performance of students. Utilizing exclusionary practices such as ISS, OSS, and/or expulsion is directly impacting out students academics. Decreasing these will have a direct impact on academic achievement. Teaching social skills to all students establishes a baseline, and gives schools the ability to identify students in need of additional support.

Brief Program Description

Suspension seems to be the go to “intervention” when addressing challenging behavior. Students are excluded from their school community for 1-5 days, and expected to return as reformed individual. However, Suspension is NOT an Intervention. Educators must find ways to address challenging behavior that is systematic, proactive, positive, and holistic. In this session, participants will leave with rationale and strategies to do just that.

Summary

In the more recent years, schools across the nation have experienced a decrease in the academic performance of their students. This has increased the external pressure to make ensure that every student is reading on (or above) grade level, and has the ability to perform grade level appropriate math skills. With this pressure, often times, there is a heavy focus on the academic success of the student that often neglects the students as a whole. When it comes to reading and math, schools have a concise plan to identify students in need of Tier 2/Tier 3 intervention, how to progress monitor and/or intensify those interventions, and how to refer students for additional support if significant progress is not made. However, when it comes to discipline, the culture in most public school settings is both punitive and reactive. If schools mirrored their behavior intervention process with their reading and math intervention process, schools would find that these two processes should be exactly the same. Schools would utilize a diagnostic tool to determine a need, identify evidence based interventions, progress monitor these interventions to determine success, and refer students for additional support if the intervention is unsuccessful. Schools would take into account the development of the brain, teach the necessary skills on the Tier 1 level, and implement/create systems that acknowledge students who meet/exceed the expectations. Unfortunately, this is not the case in most schools. When it comes to behavior, schools tend to use exclusionary practices to remedy undesired behaviors such as: in-school suspension, out- of school suspension, and in extreme cases expulsion or alternative placement. In this session, we will discuss ways to address challenging behavior that is systematic, positive, proactive, and holistic. We will discuss the MTSS process, SEL, PBIS, and evidence based interventions, and those in the appropriate positions to facilitate these interventions. Remember, Suspension is NOT an Intervention.

Evidence

The researcher (and presenter) completed a case study with an elementary school in North Charleston, SC. In the case study, the school implemented strategies and created systems under the guidance of their Support Services Coach. These strategies included the implementation of an effective MTSS team, Tiered supports and interventions, utilizing a evidence based SEL curriculum to teach all students, and creation of their school wide PBIS acknowledgement system.

Learning Objective 1

Understand tiered supports and the Multi-tiered Systems of Support (MTSS) process.

Learning Objective 2

Understand how brain development impacts behavior.

Learning Objective 3

Identify strengths and areas of growth/opportunities within their school building in regards to their behavior interventions and management systems.

Keyword Descriptors

PBIS, MTSS, SEL, Brain Development, Intervention, Behavior, Systems.

Presentation Year

2025

Start Date

3-4-2025 2:45 PM

Recommended Citation

Jacobs, Ronnie Jr, "Suspension is NOT an Intervention" (2025). National Youth Advocacy and Resilience Conference. 61.
https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/nyar_savannah/2025/2025/61