Just Released U.S. Department of Education Study:
There ARE Solutions !!!
Dear Colleague,
I hope
you have been well and productive during the past two weeks. As for me,
I've spent most of my time in the field-- helping students, staff, and schools
to work smarter and more successfully.
And
throughout my travels, I am constant struck by the reality that schools and
districts typically do not go out of their way to be ineffective. . .
. . .they simply do what they know, and
don't know what they don't know.
Indeed,
schools are often prone to "jump on the bandwagon" of the "next
new educational program, innovation, or miracle solution." But these
approaches typically have not been validated across multiple settings,
situations, circumstances, and communities.
As this
plays out, schools often end up implementing things in good faith,
without recognizing that they involve bad practice.
And then,
they start all over again with the "next innovation". . .often
wasting time, money, and effort-- and increasing staff and student frustration
and resistance.
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Today's
Focus-- Yet Another State on our Nation's "Disproportionality
List"
This
week, a major study was released by the Regional Educational Laboratory
Mid-Atlantic analyzing Maryland Department of Education student discipline data
for 2009-10, 2010-11, and 2011-12.
The study
looked at K-12 data from every school district in the state, and
investigated the presence of disproportionate referral rates for racial/ethnic
minority and special education students.
CLICK HERE FOR REPORT
This report adds yet another state to a cross-country list where we can only
conclude that the disproportionate number of minority and special education
students being suspended and expelled from school is a national crisis.
Indeed, the
Maryland study found that during the three school years studied:
* Students receiving
out-of-school suspensions or expulsions dropped from 5.6% in 2009-10 to 5.0% in
2011-12.
* Because suspensions
and expulsions decreased more rapidly for White than Black students,
disproportionality increased in 2011-12, the most recent year examined.
* For the same type of
infraction, Black students had higher rates of out-of-school suspension or
expulsion than did Hispanic and White students.
* In all 24 Maryland
school systems, Black students received out-of-school suspension or expulsion
at more than twice the rate of White students.
* Statewide, students
in special education were removed from school at more than twice the rate of
other students.
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_
And so, once again, there is clear documentation across our country that:
- Reactive, punishment-oriented, and zero tolerance programs do not work,
- What schools are doing in the areas of school discipline, classroom management, and student self-management also is not working, and
- We need to rethink our approach to "school discipline" using more proactive, field-tested, and outcome-based approaches.
Parenthetically, all of this also suggests that the $100+ million invested by
the U.S. Department of Education in its Positive Behavioral Interventions and
Supports (PBIS) and multi-tiered (RtI) frameworks-- since 1997-- similarly have
not worked.
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_
There
ARE Well-Documented Solutions
Disproportionality-- as well as school safety, teasing and bullying, student
engagement, school truancy, student drop-out, and related social, emotional,
and behavioral issues-- will only be addressed through prevention and
intervention-- as opposed to a primary focus on eliminating (or punishing)
"the problem."
Indeed,
we often ask administrators, "Will the office referral, suspension or
expulsion, or placement into an alternative program change the student's
behavior?" Typically, the answer is, "No." And
so, it must be recognized that the student suspension or expulsion, for
example, really is an administrative response and not a strategic intervention.
In order
to shift toward prevention and intervention, districts and schools need
to:
*
Focus on teaching and reinforcing students' interpersonal, social problem
solving, conflict prevention and resolution, and emotional coping skills from
preschool through high school.
*
Do this by implementing a systematic "Health, Mental Health, and
Wellness" curriculum (to complement your literacy, math, science, and
other curricula).
*
"Job embed" the skills above into the classroom and academic
program-- teaching and reinforcing students for interacting successfully (a) on
an individual level, (b) in cooperative and other instructional groups and lab
experiences, and (c) within their classrooms, at their grade levels, and across
the school.
*
Integrate prosocial strategies and approaches into teachers' classroom
management systems, and evaluate them (through the district's teacher
evaluation system) for consistently using them.
*
Create a continuum of services, supports, strategies, and/or programs for
students (with disabilities, mental health issues, or who are just emotionally
or behaviorally struggling) that are implemented through an effective Student
Assistance Team process.
*
Plan, implement, and evaluate these approaches every year as part of the
school and district's strategic planning and School Improvement Plan processes.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
NEW Planning and Implementation Guidebook
For
almost 30 years and across the country, we have been helping schools and
districts with approaches that-- when implemented correctly and in a sustained
way-- have successfully improved school climate and safety, classroom
management and engagement, and students' prosocial and academic outcomes.
These
approaches are embedded in the school improvement, PBIS, and multi-tiered
process that we have used-- over the past decade-- with the Arkansas Department
of Education through its State Improvement/Personnel Development Grant
(SIG/SPDG).
Critically, however, our approaches significantly differ from those
advocated by the U.S. Department of Education and Office of Special Education
Programs.
To help
you understand these evidence-based approaches, we hope you will download the
free updated (February, 2014) Positive Behavioral Support System
Implementation Guidebook that is available to you.
(Click
on the Link below; Find the document titled: PBSS School
Implement Fact Sheet)
CLICK HERE TO ACCESS RESOURCE
This new
100+ page resource has the following sections:
- The Components of an Effective Positive Behavioral Support System (PBSS)
- A Step-by-Step PBSS Implementation Blueprint
- Professional Development Approaches and Resources
- Evaluation and Outcomes
- Appendices
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We are often told, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." But critically, we also are counseled, "If you keep on doing the same things, don't expect different results."
Our approaches to disproportionality are not working. And so, we need to think about how to do things differently.
I hope that this new report about Maryland will motivate you to look at your own state, district, or school to identify what is working, and what is not working. I also hope you will look the resource above (and elsewhere in this e-mail) to see if they might help guide you to re-think what is not working-- on behalf of all students, but especially those minority and special education students who need different approaches in order to be successful.
Have a GREAT week !!!
We are often told, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." But critically, we also are counseled, "If you keep on doing the same things, don't expect different results."
Our approaches to disproportionality are not working. And so, we need to think about how to do things differently.
I hope that this new report about Maryland will motivate you to look at your own state, district, or school to identify what is working, and what is not working. I also hope you will look the resource above (and elsewhere in this e-mail) to see if they might help guide you to re-think what is not working-- on behalf of all students, but especially those minority and special education students who need different approaches in order to be successful.
Have a GREAT week !!!
Howie
