Focused Area
Improving School Climate for Youth-At-Risk
Relevance to Focused Area
Over 25 years of research has indicated that minority students are up to two to three times more likely to receive office discipline referrals, school suspensions, and expulsions than their peers (Skiba, Michael, Nardo, & Peterson, 2002). Data from the U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights shows an increase in the disproportionality of out of school suspensions for African American students over the years; from twice the rate of suspension of their White peers in the 1970s, to almost three times the rate of suspension of their White peers in 2002. This places minority students at risk for more time spent out of the classroom, affecting their academic achievement at disproportionate rates when compared to their peers. This presentation will address the issue of disproportionality by demonstrating how to identify disproportionality with the use of school-wide data systems, and give recommendations on how to reduce disproportionality by intervening at a systems level.
Primary Strand
Social & Emotional Skills
Relevance to Primary Strand
The behavior support framework established through the implementation of School-wide Positive Behavioral Interventions and Support (SWPBIS) is conducive to addressing the disproportionality in schools. Schools that implement SWPBIS set universal expectations across the school, and to apply universal consequences for both appropriate and inappropriate behaviors, based on those school-wide expectations. In addition, schools that implement SWPBIS collect data through the use of office discipline referrals, which are entered into a database to aid in making data-based decisions regarding disproportionality. Schools implementing SWPBIS are trained on disproportionality, including how to identify it, and how to address it.
Brief Program Description
Over 25 years of research has indicated that minority students are up to two to three times more likely to receive office discipline referrals, school suspensions, and expulsions than their peers. This presentation will address disproportionality by demonstrating how to identify disproportionality using school-wide data systems, and give recommendations on how to reduce disproportionality by intervening at a systems level.
Summary
School-Wide Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (SWPBIS) is a framework that assists schools in implementing school-wide systems of support that include setting school-wide expectations for student behavior, and teaching and reinforcing those appropriate behaviors. In addition, consequences for inappropriate behavior are clearly defined in order to be applied consistently across all students. Research indicates that when SWPBIS is implemented with fidelity, the results include significant reductions in office discipline referrals, suspensions, teacher ratings of problem behavior, concentration problems, emotion regulation problems, bullying, and peer rejection (Bradshaw, Mitchell, & Leaf, 2010; Horner et al., 2009; Waasdorp, Bradshaw, & Leaf, 2012). At least one study has also shown statistically significantly less disproportionality in schools implementing SWPBIS when compared to schools not implementing SWPBIS (Vincent, Swain-Bradway, Tobin, & May, 2011).
Schools that implement SW-PBIS often use School Wide Information Systems (SWIS) to track school-wide behavior data. Data entry personnel enter office discipline referrals into the system on a regular basis, and SWIS aggregates the data to be viewed in a variety of different ways. This includes sorting by school level, grade level, by classroom, by campus location, by problem behavior, and others. This enables school staff to make data-based decisions on the need for additional training on behavioral expectations, and whether the training is needed at the universal level for all students, or for smaller groups of students. Essential to this discussion are the SWIS reports on disproportionality. SWIS allows users to view and graph behavior data by race and ethnicity and provides risk indices that indicate whether minority students are receiving a disproportionate number of office discipline referrals. Staff may use these data to identify disproportionality within their school, and to intervene in order to ensure that all students are supported within the school’s behavior support framework.
The presenters will demonstrate how SWIS may be used to identify disproportionality in referrals by showing generic data, and how to drill into reports to follow the data towards disproportionate outcomes.
Finally, we will make recommendations on how to address disproportionality in schools from within a multi-tiered behavior framework such as School-wide PBIS.
Evidence
Research indicates that when SWPBIS is implemented with fidelity, the results include significant reductions in office discipline referrals, suspensions, teacher ratings of problem behavior, concentration problems, emotion regulation problems, bullying, and peer rejection (Bradshaw, Mitchell, & Leaf, 2010; Horner et al., 2009; Waasdorp, Bradshaw, & Leaf, 2012). At least one study has also shown statistically significantly less disproportionality in schools implementing SWPBIS when compared to schools not implementing SWPBIS (Vincent, Swain-Bradway, Tobin, & May, 2011), and more research is currently being conducted on the effects of School-wide Positive Behavioral Interventions and Support on disproportionality.
Bradshaw, C.P., Mitchell, M.M., & Leaf, P.J. (2010). Examining the effects of schoolwide positive behavioral interventions and supports on student outcomes. Journal of Positive Behavior Interventions 12, 133-148.
Horner, R.H., Sugai, G., Smolkowski, K., Eber, L., Nakasato, J., Todd, A., & Esperanza, J. (2009). A randomized, waitlist-controlled effectiveness trial assessing school-wide positive behavior support in elementary schools. Journal of Positive Behavior Interventions 11, 133-144.
Skiba, R. J., Horner, R. H., Chung, C. G., Karega Rausch, M., May, S. L., & Tobin, T. (2011). Race is not neutral: A national investigation of African American and Latino disproportionality in school discipline. School Psychology Review, 40(1), 85.
Vincent, C. G., Swain-Bradway, J., Tobin, T. J., & May, S. (2011). Disciplinary referrals for culturally and linguistically diverse students with and without disabilities: Patterns resulting from school-wide positive behavior support.Exceptionality, 19(3), 175-190.
Waasdorp, T. E., Bradshaw, C. P., & Leaf, P. J. (2012). The impact of schoolwide positive behavioral interventions and supports on bullying and peer rejection: A randomized controlled effectiveness trial. Archives of pediatrics & adolescent medicine, 166(2), 149-156.
Format
Individual Presentation
Biographical Sketch
Kathryn Roose is the Evaluation and Data Manager for Nevada’s PBIS Technical Assistance Center. Previously, she worked at Positive Behavior Support-Nevada as a Training and Consultation Specialist, providing support to families and school teams addressing challenging behavior, as a Behavior Interventionist and Case Manager working with children and adults with intellectual disorders, and as a Certified Alcohol and Drug Counselor. Mrs. Roose holds a Bachelor of Science degree in psychology from the University of California, San Diego, and a Master of Arts degree in behavior analysis from the University of Nevada, Reno, and currently a doctoral student in behavior analysis at the University of Nevada, Reno.
Jodie Soracco is the State Coordinator for the School Climate Transformation Project with Nevada’s PBIS Technical Assistance Center. Jodie Soracco has been working with Positive Behavior Support-Nevada since 2008 as the Northwest Training Coordinator. In 2012, she took on an additional role as state coordinator for School-wide Positive Behavior Support. Mrs. Soracco previously worked for the Washoe County School District as a teacher with experience teaching in elementary and special education classrooms. She has a Bachelor’s Degree in Elementary and Special Education, and a Master’s Degree in Special Education with a focus on Emotional and Behavior disorders, with an endorsement in autism. Mrs. Soracco is working towards her Board Certification in Behavior Analysis and is a mother of two young boys.
Kaci Fleetwood is the State Coordinator for Nevada’s School Climate Transformation Project. Kaci Fleetwood currently works for Nevada’s PBIS Technical Assistance Center, located on the University of Nevada campus. Kaci Fleetwood previous worked for Washoe County School district, where she taught youth in both general and special education settings at the elementary and high school levels. She has worked as an implementation specialist, coaching teachers at the school-site, zone, and district levels. She earned bachelors and a master’s degree in education with instructional licenses in elementary education, special education, English as a second language, instructional coaching, literacy/reading specialist, and is currently studying applied behavior analysis.
Ashley Greenwald is the Project Director of Nevada’s PBIS Technical Assistance Center. Previously, she was the Administrative and Clinical Director for Positive Behavior Support-Nevada. Mrs. Greenwald assisted in writing the School Climate Transformation Grant and the SAMHSA Project Aware Grant, which were both awarded to the state of Nevada in 2014. Mrs. Greenwald has years of experience working with children and adults with intellectual disabilities and challenging behavior. Mrs. Greenwald is a Board Certified Behavior Analyst, holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Florida and a master’s degree in behavior analysis from the University of Nevada, Reno. Mrs. Greenwald is expecting to graduate with a Ph.D. in behavior analysis from the University of Nevada, Reno in May 2015.
Start Date
11-6-2015 1:30 PM
End Date
11-6-2015 2:45 PM
Recommended Citation
Roose, Kathryn; Greenwald, Ashley; Fleetwood, Kaci; and Soracco, Jodie, "Identifying and Addressing Disproportionality within a School-wide Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports Framework" (2015). National Youth-At-Risk Conference, West (2015-2017). 6.
https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/nyar_vegas/2015/school/6
Identifying and Addressing Disproportionality within a School-wide Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports Framework
Over 25 years of research has indicated that minority students are up to two to three times more likely to receive office discipline referrals, school suspensions, and expulsions than their peers. This presentation will address disproportionality by demonstrating how to identify disproportionality using school-wide data systems, and give recommendations on how to reduce disproportionality by intervening at a systems level.
