2010 PBIS National Leadership Forum Bridging – and Closing – the Racial Discipline Gap through the PBIS Framework October 15, 2010 Matt Cregor Assistant Counsel, Education Practice NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. Kent Smith PBIS District Coordinator, WI PBIS Network Trainer Eau Claire Area School District (WI) Milaney Leverson Tier II District External Coach, Trainer in Training

What We Do NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund: Works to promote a more inclusive and racially just democracy by focusing its advocacy toward: Education Voting Rights Economic Justice Criminal Justice

National Projections on Use of Suspensions and Expulsions School discipline rates are at their all-time highs: Students are being removed from school at nearly double the rate of the early 1970s 2006 Projections from US Dep’t of Ed.: 3.3 million students suspended at least once each school year. 109,000 students expelled each school year. http://ocrdata.ed.gov

Suspension & Expulsion beyond the National Numbers More Suspensions, Expulsions, and Arrests: In Pennsylvania, the number of school-based arrests almost tripled between 1999-00 and 2006-07 from 4,563 to 12,918. In Florida, 69% of the state’s 21,289 arrests and referrals in 2007-08 were for misdemeanors In Chicago, between 2001-02 and 2007-08 the number of out-of-school suspensions quadrupled from 23,942 to 93,312 The increase in long-term (4-10 days) suspensions was even more dramatic from 5,468 to 25,140. In Texas in 2007-08, more than 128,000 students were pushed out of school and into alternative schools (called “Disciplinary Alternative Education Programs”) Slide drawn from Dan Farbman (Advancement Project), “Legislating Tolerance” 2010 Coalition for Juvenile Justice Conference. http://www.juvjustice.org/media/resources/public/resource_401.pdf

Harms of Exclusionary Discipline Out-of-school youth are more likely to: Drop out of school Be retained a grade Engage in delinquent behavior Become a parenting teen Become involved in the juvenile and criminal justice systems Health Risk Behaviors among Adolescents Who Do and Do Not Attend School – United States, 1992, 43 Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (Centers for Disease Control, Atlanta, GA), Mar. 4, 1994 at 129, http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/00025174.htm.

Harms of Exclusionary Discipline Schoolwide effects: Lower scores on standardized tests Greater teacher dissatisfaction No proven gains in safety Russell Skiba et al., American Psychological Association Zero Tolerance Task Force, Are Zero Tolerance Policies Effective in the Schools? An Evidentiary Review and Recommendations (2006), http://www.apa.org/releases/ZTTFReportBODRevisions5-15.pdf.

Racial Disproportionality in Discipline 2006 Projections from US Dep’t of Ed.: African-American students nearly 3 times as likely to be suspended and 3.5 times as likely to be expelled as white peers. Latino students 1.5 times as likely to be suspended and twice as likely to be expelled as white peers. http://ocrdata.ed.gov

The Racial Discipline Gap Slide drawn from Dan Losen (Civil Rights Project), Using Race and Gender Data to Identify Overuse of Discipline and to Effectively Drive Remedies, Civil Rights and School Discipline Conference, Sept. 2010.

Racial Discipline Gap: Middle Schools Slide drawn from Dan Losen (Civil Rights Project), Using Race and Gender Data to Identify Overuse of Discipline and to Effectively Drive Remedies, Civil Rights and School Discipline Conference, Sept. 2010.

Suspended Education: Middle Schools in Crisis 15 of 18 urban districts (in sample) suspended more than 30% of Black male middle school students. 175 middle schools in the 18 districts suspended more than a third of Black males. 84 middle schools suspended over 50% of black males. Many schools had rates this high for other racial/gender groups. Slide drawn from Dan Losen (Civil Rights Project), Using Race and Gender Data to Identify Overuse of Discipline and to Effectively Drive Remedies, Civil Rights and School Discipline Conference, Sept. 2010.

Racial Disproportionality in Discipline Common Justifications: It’s not race; it’s poverty. These are students from more challenging communities. These are students in under-resourced schools with big class sizes. This is a result of negative peer culture.

Two levels of disproportionality in discipline systems Race is not Neutral: Disproportionality in School Discipline Russell Skiba, Robert H. Horner, Choong-Geun Chung Karega Rausch, , Seth L. May, and Tary Tobin In press: Journal of School Psychology Analysis of office discipline referral data from the school-wide information system 436 elementary and middle schools 205,932 students who received office discipline referrals Referrals organized by student ethnicity, type of problem behavior, and administrative decision.

Two levels of disproportionality in discipline systems First Finding: Students from Hispanic/Latino and African American backgrounds were more likely to be sent to the office than their white peers.

Two levels of disproportionality in discipline systems Elementary Schools Middle Schools Hispanic/Latino .79 1.70 African American 2.19 3.78

Two levels of disproportionality in discipline systems First Finding: Students from Hispanic/Latino and African American backgrounds were more likely to be sent to the office than their white peers. Second Finding: If students from Hispanic/Latino or African American backgrounds were sent to the office, they were more likely than white students to receive a consequence that resulted in their being removed from school (suspension/expulsion)

Two levels of disproportionality in discipline systems

Two levels of disproportionality in discipline systems

Two levels of disproportionality in discipline systems

Subjective vs. Objective Offenses White students more often referred for: Smoking Vandalism Leaving without permission Obscene language African-American students more often referred for: Disrespect Excessive noise Threat Loitering

A Web of Issues Stereotyping & unconscious bias Cultural disconnect Misperceived actions on the part of both students and educators Lack of proper professional development in culturally responsive teaching, de-escalation, etc.

We still can’t talk about race.

How Do We Create Change? Look at the data Make meaning of the data Develop an intervention Evaluate

Preliminary Evidence: When PBIS is linked to reduction in ODRs does reduction occur for students from all ethnic groups? From: Vincent, Cartlidge, May, & Tobin, 2009.

Preliminary Evidence: When PBIS is linked to reduction in ODRs does reduction occur for students from all ethnic groups? From: Vincent, Cartlidge, May, & Tobin, 2009.

Preliminary Evidence: When PBIS is linked to reduction in ODRs does reduction occur for students from all ethnic groups? From: Eber et al., 2010 PBIS annual report

How Do We Create Change? Look at the data Make meaning of the data Develop an intervention Evaluate

Alton Middle School, Alton, IL Proven & Promising Approaches: Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports Alton Middle School, Alton, IL Two schools merged to form 3rd largest IL school in 2006 Twenty students expelled in first year Since implementing PBIS: Office disciplinary referrals down 32% Out-of-school suspension down 26% “Racial discipline gap” is shrinking Scores improve & achievement gap narrows

PBIS at Chee-Dodge Elementary Yahtahey, NM; 99% Dine Elements of program Made Dine language a central part of PBS PAWS: Developed culturally competent lessons Results 80% of surveyed students knew expectations High score on Self-Assessment Form 0.12 ODR’s per day per 100 students (3rd lowest in NM)--less than half national mean rate

Reducing Disproportionate Representation within PBIS Framework Kent Smith PBIS District Coordinator, WI PBIS Network Trainer Eau Claire Area School District (WI) Milaney Leverson Tier II District External Coach, Trainer in Training

Eau Claire Area School District Background Enrollment of approximately 10,500 students; 1500 staff (full and part time) 92% white 38% economically disadvantaged Identified in 2006 as Significantly Disproportionate in Special Education Black boys in EBD Native American and Hispanic in SLD Boys for behavior in EC4T

Band-aid or System Change We had a choice… Band-aid or System Change

System Change Contracted with Pacific Education Group to advise and train in Beyond Diversity and Culturally Relevant Teaching Administration School psychologists Social workers Coalition of the willing Partnership with UW-Eau Claire Coalition of the Committed The Consortium on Racial Equity in PK–12 Education in Wisconsin

System Change CREATE: Culturally Responsive Education for All Training and Enhancement formed by Wisconsin Dept. of Public Instruction Common language of Courageous Conversations adopted Book studies and independent learning by student services staff Cultural Mismatch Checklist at Initial and Re-evaluations for special education

Four Agreements and Six Conditions Stay Engaged Experience Discomfort Speak YOUR Truth Expect and Accept Non-closure Six Conditions Keep positions personal/local/immediate Isolate Race in the discussion Encourage multiple racial perspectives/social constructs Establish Parameter/Courageous Conversations Compass Have a working definition of race Focus on the Role and Presence of Whiteness

Post Secondary Readiness Budget based on Post Secondary Readiness for ALL STUDENTS Development of Social Emotional Learning Standards ready to “roll out” in November of 2010 Focus on EQUITY

Framework Specific to PBIS District framework applied to PBIS framework from beginning

Non-Negotiables Required completion of Beyond Diversity (BD) and Culturally Relevant Teaching (CRT) Principals External Coaches Internal Coaches District Leadership Team Members Required completion of BD and encouragement of CRT All PBIS Team Members

System Checkpoints Expectation Matrix reviewed annually by District PBIS team and CRT consultants for cultural relevance

Cultural Mismatch Checklist required part of nomination process for Tier II intervention reviewed at monthly team meetings to monitor systems and degree of mismatch

Parent/Teacher/Self Nomination initial and progress monitoring data points generated using social/emotional screening tools (selected due to low cultural bias)

Data Sets external coach and district coordinator review “big 5” data sets and race data every trimester

What does it look like? Assume nothing, teach everything Encourage counter story and student voice Acknowledge and discuss the role of whiteness and race in current practice Use of data to evaluate systems and practice regarding disproportionate representation Make race and data consideration part of “business as usual”

Current vs. Past Data Pilot Building

Reducing Disproportionate Discipline through the PBIS Framework 2010 PBIS Leadership Forum Reducing Disproportionate Discipline through the PBIS Framework Resources: www.stopschoolstojails.org www.dignityinschools.org www.schooltoprison.org Matt Cregor mcregor@naacpldf.org Milaney Leverson mleverson@ecasd.k12.wi.us Kent Smith esmith@ecasd.k12.wi.us