The Year in Review (Part II): Schools’ Pursuit of Effective School Discipline, Classroom Management, and Student Self-Management Strategies

Prevention, Disproportionality, Trauma, and Seclusions & Restraints

Dear Colleagues,

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Introduction

   With the whole New Years thing going on, and our transition into a new decade, I’m in the mood to start this Blog with a quote. 

   So I googled and read through some “inspirational” New Years quotes, and actually picked out a few possibilities.

   But then my writing got interrupted and, before resuming, I found myself multi-tasking and watching a few minutes of the Steve Jobs movie on HBO. 

   While I’ve never watched the entire movie, I happened to be at the point where Steve Jobs is invited back to his own company, and re-installed as Interim CEO.

   Serendipitously, that’s when the following quote was delivered:

“When you grow up you tend to get told that the world is the way it is, and your life is just to live your life, and try not to bash into the walls too much.

That’s a very limited life.

Life can be much broader once you discover one simple fact—everything around you that you call life was made up by people that were no smarter than you.

Shake off this erroneous notion that life is there, and you’re just going to live in it. . . versus make your mark upon it.

Once you learn that, you will never be the same again.”

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   While this quote speaks to me on multiple levels, I want it to speak to you as you read this Blog.

   This is because none of us should be limited in our professional lives to the boundaries, parameters, and constraints of present frameworks, programs, or traditions.

   To this end, this Blog (Part II) integrates and summarizes the Blogs that I wrote during 2019 that focused on helping:

• Schools to improve their school climates and school-wide “disciplinary” approaches;

• Teachers and Support Staff to improve their classroom instruction and management to increase students’ academic engagement and group interactions; and 
• Students to learn, apply, and independently use their interpersonal, social problem-solving, conflict prevention and resolution, and emotional control and coping self-management skills.

   To paraphrase the quote above, here is the underlying message of this Blog:

“When you enter education you tend to get told that the world is the way it is, and your professional life will be best served by living within this world, while trying not to bash into the walls too much.

That’s a very limited life. [Which explains why so many talented educators leave the profession so quickly and so permanently.]

Professional life as an educator can be much broader once you discover one simple fact—everything around your professional life was made up by people who were no smarter than you . . . [but who may have had more status or power, more seed money or backers, better marketing or more political “friends”].

Shake off this erroneous notion that your professional life is fixed and determined, and that you’re just going to live in it. . .

Make your own mark upon it.”

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   My friends, there are lots of great educational researchers and thought-leaders with good hearts and dedicated spirits in our world today.

   And yet, there are other influential educators who say they are motivated to help our students, but (a) are motivated more for themselves than our students, or (b) believe that they are helping our students, but—based on the objective evaluation data—they are not.

   I am talking primarily at the national and state levels here. 

   Indeed, as you will read below, our country has been stuck in a 20+ year psycho-educational “world” in the areas of school discipline, classroom management, and student self-management where certain prevailing frameworks (PBIS, SEL, Restorative Practices, Trauma-Informed Programs, Mindfulness, and Hattie-driven Interventions) have claimed validity and impact through the illusion of research and the illegitimacy of politics.

   The results—for our students—have included continued inequity, disproportionality, underachievement, and socio-economic stagnation, and these outcomes have passed from one generation to the next—especially for students of color and students with disabilities.

   But significantly, a newer “world” of politically-backed social, emotional, and behavioral “movements” has also recently emerged.  And many schools have embraced these bandwagon movements—investing precious time, money, and personnel—based more on their social media and marketing presence, than their research-to-practice validity.

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   In Part I of this two-part Year-in-Review series, we discussed our 2019 Blogs organized in the following clusters:

• Equity in Education and Educational Funding

• Improving Students’ Academic Achievement

• Untested and Ineffective Practices: The U.S. Department of Education

[CLICK HERE for PART I]

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   In this Part II, we will integrate and summarize our 2019 Blogs in the following areas:

• Concerns with the Trauma Sensitive/Informed School Movement

• Improving School Discipline, Classroom Management, and Student Self-Management
• The School Seclusion and Restraint Epidemic

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Concerns with the Trauma Sensitive/Informed School Movement

   The following Blogs addressed issues and realities related to the trauma sensitive or trauma informed “movement” in the media and as transposed to our schools today.  As usual, I reviewed a number of new national reports that addressed this issue, and then added my analysis, perspectives, and recommendations on the topic at-hand.

   If you CLICK on the date of the Blogs below, you will link directly to the Blog that is posted on my website (www.projectachieve.info/blog).

August 17, 2019

Aren’t Schools with Positive, Safe Climates Already “Trauma Sensitive”?  Unmasking the ACEs, and Helping Students Manage their Emotions in School

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October 12, 2019

The Traps and Trouble with “Trauma Sensitive” Schools:  Most Approaches Are Not Scientifically-Based, Field-Tested, Validated, or Multi-Tiered.  A National Education Talk Radio Interview (Free Link Included) Puts it All into Perspective

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Synopsis of these Blogs

   Over the past five years or more, issues related to the presence and impact of student trauma in our schools . . . and the push toward “trauma-sensitive” or “trauma-informed” schools and strategies . . . have dominated the educational media and landscape.

   At the same time, I have tried to stay above (and, in fact, to moderate) the “media fray” and the market-driven “trauma promotions” by maintaining a more comprehensive, integrated, ecological, science-to-practice, and assessment-to-intervention perspective.

   Indeed, in the two 2019 Blogs devoted to this subject, we stated our beliefs that:

• Some educators have become over-sensitized to this issue—for example, incorrectly attributing some students’ emotional or behavioral issues to “trauma” when they are due to other factors;

• Some schools do not understand and are misusing the Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) scale and research; and 
• Some districts—with all good intents—have adopted “trauma sensitive” programs and protocols that are either not needed or not advisable.

   Indeed, relative to this latter point, some districts are adopting “trauma sensitive or informed” programs, protocols, and practices that are NOT scientifically-based, NOT field-tested, NOT validated using objective and methodologically-sound approaches, NOT applicable to their students and needs, and NOT implemented along a multi-tiered continuum.

   And while we understand the “public pressure” and the “good intentions” of needing to respond to the school-apparent effects of students’ trauma, the results of implementing the wrong or unsuccessful programs or interventions are that:

•  Staff and student time, resources, efforts, and expectations are wasted;

• Some students are not provided the correct services or supports that they need right now—which delays the social, emotional, or behavioral change process (and may actually make their “problems” worse or more resistant to change in the future); and 
• Students and staff mistakenly conclude that the “problem is worse than we thought,” or they believe that more intensive, community-base “solutions” are needed when their (incorrect or mis-applied strategies) do not work.

   To support these statements, the August 17th Blog described in detail answers to the following questions:

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Issue #1: Do Practitioners Understand the Original ACEs Research, Its Strengths, and Its Limitations to School-Based Practice?

Issue #2.  Are Schools Implementing Specialized “Trauma Sensitive” Programs When They Should be Implementing More Comprehensive (Pervasive and Preventative) Positive School Climate Practices?

Issue #3.  Do Schools (Have the Time to) Evaluate the Integrity and Utility of their Trauma Sensitive Programs Prior to Implementation, and How Many Schools Choose their Programs Due to Cost and Not Outcomes?

Issue #4.  Do Schools Understand the Science-to-Practice Components that Facilitate Students’ Emotional Self-Management—The Key Preventative “Skill” Needed by All Students?

   Finally, the August 17 Blog addressed one of the ultimate goals of a comprehensive, multi-tiered school discipline (Positive Behavioral Support/Social-Emotional Learning, PBSS/SEL) system:  To teach and motivate students to learn, master, and independently apply social, emotional, and behavioral self-management skills. 

   We further defined “Emotional Self-management Skills” as those skills that all students need to learn, master, demonstrate, and apply in the areas of:  emotional awareness, emotional control, and emotional coping.

   Here, we described these three components and their characteristics from a psychological and neuropsychological science-to-practice perspective—a perspective that often is missing in many “trauma-sensitive” programs.  We then addressed these components from a multi-tiered perspective, identifying a number of specific Tier II and Tier III interventions for students with significant trauma-related needs.

   Finally, we noted the importance that schools not become “trauma-rigid”— interpreting all students’ emotional reactions as trauma related. 

   To demonstrate this point, we identified a large number of other triggers of students’ emotions that do not involve traumatic situations:

·       Academic Frustration

·       Test/Homework/Work Completion Anxiety

·       Peer (including Girlfriend/Boyfriend) Conflicts/Rejection

·       Teasing and Bullying—Direct, Indirect, Social, and Social Media

·       Gender Status or Discrimination

·       Racial or Multi-Cultural Status or Discrimination

·       Sexual Identification or Orientation Discrimination

·       Socio-economic Status or Discrimination

·       Circumstances Related to Poverty/Parental Income

·       Family Moves/Housing Mobility/Homelessness

·       Competition/Losing

·       Physical or Other Limitations or Disabilities

   Our Take-Aways were:

• There are multiple circumstances or events that trigger students’ emotionality in school.  Many of them are not specifically (or by definition) traumatic events and, thus, schools that are using trauma-sensitive programs may easily miss them.

• Schools need to assess and identify the emotional triggers that are most prevalent across their student bodies, and the emotional triggers (if different) that are most often present for the students presenting with the most frequent, significant, or severe social, emotional, and behavioral challenges.

• For the former group, these triggers need to be integrated into the social skills curriculum at the prevention and early response levels.

• For the latter group, these triggers need to frame the strategic or intensive interventions or therapies that related services personnel need to be prepared to deliver.

• Finally, schools and districts need to be prepared to deliver the full multi-tiered continuum of services, supports, strategies, and interventions.  This includes the necessary training, resources, and personnel both in general, and as needed on a year-to-year basis.

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   The October 12th Blog updated the August discussion, and provided a link to a national radio broadcast interview that I did on this subject with Larry Jacobs, the host of Education Talk Radio—on October 4, 2019.

[CLICK HERE for this 28-minute Education Talk Radio Interview]

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   Once again, please feel free to re-read the original Blogs to get a more detailed analysis of the Reports and summary discussed above.

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Improving School Discipline, Classroom Management, and Student Self-Management

   The following Blogs addressed contemporary and ongoing issues related to school discipline, classroom management, and students’ social, emotional, and behavioral status and self-management.  As usual, I reviewed a number of new national reports that addressed this issue, and then added my analysis, perspectives, and recommendations on the topic at-hand.

   If you CLICK on the date of the Blogs below, you will link directly to the Blog that is posted on my website (www.projectachieve.info/blog).

January 26, 2019

New Rand Corporation Study Finds Restorative Practices Produce Mixed and Underwhelming Results:  But Some Publications are “Spinning” the Outcomes and Twisting these Results

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June 3, 2019

Analyzing Your School Discipline Data and Your SEL (PBIS or School Discipline) Program: Students’ Discipline Problems are Increasing Nationally Despite Widespread SEL/PBIS Use (Part I)

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June 15, 2019

Analyzing Your School Discipline Data Now . . . to Prepare for the New School Year:  Conducting “Special Situation Analyses” for Common School Areas and Peer-Related Anti-Social Behavior  (Part II)

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June 29, 2019

Analyzing Your School Discipline Data Now . . . to Prepare for the New School Year (Part III):  Conducting “Special Situation Analyses” for Your Hallways, Bathrooms, Buses, Playgrounds, and Cafeteria

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July 27, 2019

An Open Letter to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights Regarding Its Report, Beyond Suspensions: Examining School Discipline Policies.  Begin with the End in Mind:  It’s about Root Causes and Intervention—Not About Policies or Positions

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August 31, 2019

As Cyberbullying Increases, Positive School Climate Decreases:  Student Involvement Must Be Part of the Solution. . . How to Do It

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Synopsis of these Blogs

   For decades, school discipline, classroom management, and student self-management has been a dominant national concern for educators each year—a concern similarly expressed by students, parents, community leaders, educators, and others. 

   And while positive school and classroom climate and students’ social, emotional, and behavioral self-management strongly correlate with academic engagement and achievement (and fewer school or classroom discipline problems), many educators still haven’t embraced the fact that:

• Prevention is the key;

• Self-management is made up of a series of scaffolded, articulated learned skills; and
• Schools are not effectively teaching these skills—just like those in literacy, math, and science—in pedagogically effective ways from preschool through high school.

   In addition, many educators don’t understand that—when students are systematically learning and mastering interpersonal, social problem-solving, conflict prevention and resolution, and emotional control and coping skills—the negative social, emotional, and behavioral triggers related to (a) who they are and how they see themselves; (b) where they live, who they live with, and how they grew up; (c) who their friends and how effective their support systems are/were; and (d) how they have performed academically and socially in school become disarmed.

   Finally, given the national reports reviewed and analyzed in this cluster of 2019 Blogs, educators still are struggling with many of the same school discipline problems as in previous years, they continue to re-apply the same “band-aides” that have not worked or sustained in the past, and they continue to select approaches for their schools based more on testimonials and social media marketing, than by objective science-to-practice facts.

   This is evident as we (a) summarize the July 27th Blog on the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights report, Beyond Suspensions; (b) discuss how the PBIS, SEL, and Restorative Practice frameworks are not improving school discipline and student behavior outcomes (June 3rd and January 26th Blogs); (c) demonstrate how a data-based problem-solving approach helps schools to analyze the root causes of their student, classroom, and common school area problems. . . linking the results to high-probability-of-success interventions (June 15 and June 29 Blogs); and (d) emphasize the importance of student involvement in virtually all interventions—especially those related to peer-to-peer interactions like cyberbullying and social media victimization or harassment (August 31 Blog).

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The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights Report, Beyond Suspensions (July 27)

   On July 23, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights published a 224-page Report,

Beyond Suspensions: Examining School Discipline Policies and Connections to the School-to-Prison Pipeline For Students of Color and with Disabilities,

which detailed extensive analyses of past and present national survey and incident data, research, and commentary—especially from two panels of experts who testified before the Commission on December 8, 2017.

   During the week that it was released, I summarized the Report’s stated findings, focusing most of my discussion on (a) the importance of reading the two dissenting Commission members’ statements at the very end of the Report (starting on Page 177); (b) how some Report recommendations simply endorsed the flawed PBIS and Restorative Practice approaches long-advocated by the U.S. Department of Education; and (c) what schools and districts need to pragmatically understand and do to provide the best services, supports, strategies, and interventions to students exhibiting significant behavioral challenges.

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   Our analysis concluded that the main body of the Report:

• Provided limited student-specific psychoeducational analyses regarding why students demonstrate inappropriate behavior and how they can more consistently demonstrate appropriate behavior; or

• How to link these analyses to specific multi-tiered services, supports, strategies, and/or interventions that will change inappropriate student behavior into appropriate behavior.

   Beyond this, the July 27th Blog discussed a number of critical “Take-Aways” from the Report.

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   Practical District and School Take-Aways I, II, and III:  The first three Take-Aways, in combination, cautioned educators to be careful to not accept “popular press” summaries of any major state or federal policy document, or the “sound bites” emanating from those who were not dedicated to describing the nuances of the complex issues embedded in the Commission Report.

   Our attention in these Take-Aways were essential as the Commission Report recommended both Restorative Practices and PBIS as viable interventions to address the exclusionary discipline and disproportionality problems described above. 

   These recommendations were published even though (a) two of its Commissioners published Minority Statements at the end of the Report with data and citations that invalidated these recommendations; and (b) expert testimony was quoted in the Report that similarly refuted these recommendations.

   The Report also misrepresented federal law by saying that PBIS is required by IDEA 2004.

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   Practical District and School Take-Away IV:  The fourth Take-Away was a recommendation that districts and schools collect and analyze their discipline data—for students with disabilities—by disaggregating the data across the thirteen different disability areas specified in IDEA 2004. 

   A significant benefit in doing this is that, given the wide variety of service, support, strategy, and intervention needs for students in these thirteen different disability areas, these analyses may elucidate critical process and outcome trends.

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   Practical District and School Take-Away V:  Finally, in the last Take-Away, we encouraged districts and schools to look at their current functional assessment and intervention practices—asking themselves whether they are assessing students with social, emotional, and behavioral issues to determine the “root causes” of their problems, or simply to label and place them?

   Here, we identified three critical assessment principles, as well as some of the primary reasons why students demonstrate social, emotional, or behavioral problems in classrooms or schools. We concluded by identifying a list of strategic or intensive interventions needed for students with behavioral challenges—noting that most districts and schools do not have mental health professionals trained in helping teachers and others to implement these interventions.

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The PBIS, SEL, and Restorative Practice Frameworks Are Not Working  (June 3 and January 26)

   While they came before the July 27th Blog described immediately above, these two Blogs were cited extensively in that Blog.

   The January 26th Blog analyzed the 132-page Report published by the Rand Corporation on December 27, 2018 titled:

Can Restorative Practices Improve School Climate and Curb Suspensions?  An Evaluation of the Impact of Restorative Practices in a Mid-Sized Urban School District.

   The Report describes the results of the Rand Corporation’s study to determine the efficacy of the International Institute for Restorative Practices (IIRP) use of its SaferSanerSchools Whole-School Change restorative practices program in the Pittsburgh Public Schools.  A partner with the Collaborative for Academic, Social, Emotional Learning (CASEL), the IIRP (according to its website) is “the world’s first graduate school wholly devoted to restorative practices.”

   To evaluate the two-year implementation of the IIRP’s Restorative Practices Program, the Rand Corporation used a highly sophisticated randomized controlled study.  Indeed, the Program was implemented in 22 randomly-selected Pittsburgh schools, with 22 other randomly-selected Pittsburgh schools serving as non-participating Control schools.

   The “surface-level” results of the study (see more detail below) indicated that, while the District’s suspension rates had been declining prior to the implementation of the study, the suspension rates in the Restorative Practices schools declined even more than the rates in the Control schools. 

   In addition, in the Restorative Practices schools (a) alternative school placements decreased; (b) students were less likely to be suspended multiple times; (c) disparities in suspension rates between African-American (vs. Caucasian), and low-income (vs. higher-income) students, respectively, decreased; and (d) suspension rates for female students declined.

   However, the deeper comparative statistical analyses revealed that:

• While suspension rates in the Restorative Practices schools declined by 36% during the two-year study, suspension rates in the Control schools also declined 18% during the same time period.

• The overall suspension results were driven by lower rates in the Restorative Practices elementary schools.  
• Fewer suspensions were not found in the Restorative Practices Middle schools (Grades 6 to 8).

• Fewer suspensions were not found for male students or students with disabilities.

• There were no reductions in student arrests, or for incidents of violence or weapons violations.

• In the Restorative Practices Middle schools, academic outcomes actually worsened when compared with the Control schools.

• Survey results from staff in the Restorative Practices schools indicated that they did not think the IIRP program was affecting student behavior.  They did, however, report that their relationships with students had improved because of program involvement.

   In the final analysis, the study as a whole raised a number of questions regarding the efficacy of the restorative practice program investigated, as well as the ability of most schools to sustain the complex two-year training and implementation process with fidelity, consistency, and continuity.

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   The June 3rd Blog encouraged schools to evaluate the behavioral outcomes generated by their Social-Emotional Learning, Positive Behavioral Support, or school safety and discipline systems for the school year that had just ended.

   To encourage this, we established a context by reviewing a number of recent national reports that surveyed educators about students’ behavioral problems in their schools, as well as other reports suggesting that bullying (including cyberbullying) was increasing in our schools nationwide. 

   The Reports looking a Student Behavior or Social-Emotional Learning included the following:

• Report 1. A recent survey of 800 nationally-representative kindergarten through high school principals completed by the MCH Strategic Data company and published last month as K-12 Principals’ Assessment of Education. 

• Report 2. A report, Breaking Bad Behavior, published by research company EAB that validates and extends the MCH Report above relative to elementary students’ behavioral challenges.

• Report 3. A report, Teacher and Principal Perspectives on Social and Emotional Learning in America’s Schools, published earlier this year by the Rand Corporation.  It is based on a Spring, 2018 survey of the American Educator Panels that involved 15,719 nationally-representative teacher and school principal respondents.  These educators answered questions about the importance and value of SEL in schools, how they were promoting and measuring SEL, and how they thought SEL approaches could be improved.

   The School Safety and Bullying Reports included the following:

• Report 1. Published by YouthTruth, Learning from Student Voice: Bullying Today analyzed survey responses from students during the 2015-16, 2016-17, and 2017-18 school years regarding their experiences with school climate and safety. 

• Report 2. Published by Comparitech, this report discussed a survey on student bullying completed by over 1,000 parents.

   Based on these reports, our strong recommendation was that all districts and schools analyze their discipline, school climate, and classroom management data from this and past school years to determine (a) the current status of their students, staff, and schools; (b) what has been accomplished (or not) in these important areas; (c) each school’s “return on investment” relative to, for example, their SEL or PBIS program(s); and (d) what situations need to be addressed at the present time.

   Based on these reports as well as our own research and analysis, we discussed six significant flaws in the SEL framework advocated by the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL). 

   These flaws included:

• CASEL’s approach to SEL in the schools is to provide a loose implementation framework, and to tell schools to “create your own initiative.”  This means that SEL programs across schools cannot be objectively compared or validated, and that many schools may be implementing ineffective approaches that are not producing demonstrable student-focused social, emotional, or behavioral outcomes.

• CASEL’s five SEL outcomes (Self-Awareness, Self-Management, Social Awareness, Relationship Skills, and Responsible Decision-Making) were not scientifically derived, they have never been validated, and they are largely constructs that cannot be reliably or validly measured because they are not discretely observable.

• Some of the meta-analytic research used by CASEL to validate SEL approaches were conducted internally by CASEL leaders and were not independently and objectively reviewed or published.  A review of this research indicates that this research has significant methodological flaws that call their conclusions into question.

• The only CASEL-sponsored meta-analytic study that was published in an independent professional journal also had significant methodological shortcomings.

•  CASEL is now sponsoring activities focused on improving the evaluation of SEL outcomes.  This begs the question:  “If CASEL acknowledges that current SEL evaluation instruments and tools are lacking, how can it use existing studies that have utilized these instruments to validate its empirical foundation?”

• CASEL’s SEL framework does not address students’ gender, age, cultural, racial, or socio-economic differences; and it does not address the multi-tiered service and support needs of students with disabilities and other behavioral/mental health issues.

   We are also on the record relative to the many flaws in the PBIS framework:

• PBIS is a framework and not a sequential model.  Thus, schools can choose whatever PBIS activities to implement that they want—in whatever sequence, place, or student group that they want. 

[This means that cross-school comparisons of PBIS’s efficacy is virtually impossible, and one cannot generalize the (positive or negative) results from one PBIS school (or study) to another.]

• Regardless of the thousands of schools “implementing” PBIS, the National Directors believed that approximately half of the schools might be implementing with “a reasonable level of integrity.” 

[The issue here is that the number of schools implementing PBIS is not what is important, it is the objective, demonstrable, and sustainable student-centered PBIS results that are important.]

• PBIS has traditionally used decreases in Office Discipline Referrals (ODRs) and school suspensions or expulsions as the primary outcome “validating” its framework.  ODRs have been methodologically demonstrated to be horribly unreliable. 

• Most PBIS schools focus predominantly on behavior in the Common Areas of the school (i.e., the hallways, bathrooms, cafeteria, etc.) and not in the classroom where students spend 85% of their time.

• The PBIS Triangle has never been validated.  The Tier I (80%—All), Tier II (15%—Some), and Tier III (5%—Few) convention was made up by the National PBIS Directors for community-based epidemiological research that does not apply to education.

• PBIS recommends that challenging students sequentially receive Tier I to Tier II to Tier III services, and that record reviews and functional assessments of individual student behavior be delayed until Tier III.

[There is no research to support this practice, and it has resulted in (a) individual student interventions and supports being delayed to some students; (b) an increase in student resistance to intervention (because initial interventions were inappropriate and unsuccessful as they were implemented without reviewing students’ background information and histories); and (c) the need for more intensive interventions—even within Tier III—because student problems have gotten worse or more complicated because of the delays and the previous inappropriate interventions.]

• PBIS recommends universal social, emotional, and behavioral screening of all students in a school without describing the scientifically-appropriate multiple-gated procedures needed to do this accurately and effectively.

[This has resulted in schools using unscientifically founded emotional screening procedures that have actually increased the disproportionate (and false-positive) identification of some students.]

• Most PBIS schools were found to be implementing PBIS framework activities only at the Tier I level. . . with many schools unable to sustain even this level of PBIS practices for more than three years.

• The PBIS framework is largely implemented by a PBIS team that comes from each implementing school. This team receives large-group training (with other teams) in off-site settings that are off of school grounds. 

[Said differently, virtually no PBIS training occurs by trained national or state PBIS leaders at the school site.  Moreover, there is little or no on-site and direct PBIS consultation or technical assistance provided to implementing schools by experienced and expert PBIS Trainers or Facilitators. Thus, most PBIS schools are being led by school personnel who have received generic training, no direct supervision or coaching, and who may not have the prerequisite skills to be successful.]

• In some states, a state-level PBIS team annually evaluates the PBIS implementation of its schools.  This evaluation and its “Gold,” “Silver,” and “Bronze” awards are largely based on the implementation of activities, and not students’ social, emotional, or behavioral outcomes.

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Using Data-Based Problem-Solving To Analyze Student, Classroom, and Common School Area Problems (June 15 and June 29)

   Based on the Reports in the June 3rd Blog discussed above, we addressed the importance of analyzing school discipline data with an eye toward existing bullying and cyberbullying problems in and outside of our schools in the next two Blogs.

   The “bottom line” in this Blog was that policies rarely decrease school discipline problems or increase school safety or student engagement and their prosocial interactions.  Instead, student behavior and school discipline problems are functionally changed through integrated, multi-tiered evidence-based practices.

   This June 15th Blog discussed six national actions that have slowed our progress in legitimately decreasing disproportionate disciplinary actions for students of color and with disabilities, but disciplinary actions with all students.  It then described our Special Situation Analysis process, and applied it both to analyzing school discipline data and to developing systemic interventions for school bullying when it is present. 

[CLICK HERE for the Full Blog message]

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   In the June 29th Blog, we described how to apply the Special Situation Analysis process to school situations (a) where significant numbers of disciplinary problems are occurring in the Common School Areas—the hallways, bathrooms, buses, playgrounds, and cafeteria; and where (b) excessively high levels of peer-initiated Teasing, Taunting, Bullying, Harassment, Hazing, and Fighting/Physical Aggression are present. 

   Here, we discussed the components and completion of the Special Situation Analysis process in detail, then providing detailed examples for problematic cafeteria and school bus situations, respectfully.

   Throughout this discussion, we emphasized the need for a data-based problem-solving process to comprehensively (and effectively) address existing, persistent, and/or significant Common School Area or Peer-Related Antisocial Behavior problems. 

   The components of the process include:

• Student Characteristics, Issues, and Factors

• Teacher/Staff Characteristics, Issues, and Factors

• Environmental Characteristics, Issues, and Factors—Physical Plant and Logistics

• Motivational Factors: Incentives and Consequences

• Resources 

• Peer Group Characteristics, Issues, and Factors

[CLICK HERE for the Full Blog message describing these components in detail]

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   To demonstrate the need for this ecologically-grounded assessment process, we noted that the Common Areas in a school often have:

• A larger number of multi-aged students (than in a classroom) who are in closer proximity to each other;

• A larger student-to-staff ratio (resulting in less adult supervision, and, sometimes, supervision by paraprofessionals who are less-respected by some students);

• A physical lay-out that is different than a classroom with space that is often larger (e.g., a cafeteria, the playground) and with physical boundaries that are less defined; and

• A climate that includes more noise, higher (physical) energy levels, and more external stimulation.

   Relative to the ecological assessment of Peer-Related Antisocial interactions, we noted that student-to-student teasing or bullying (for example) often:

•  Occur in the Common Areas of a school (hence, the remaining characteristics below are interfaced with the Common Area characteristics above);

• Include one or more student aggressors, some of whom are teased or bullied by other peers, and are “passing the aggression” along;

•  Include one or more student targets, some of whom lack critical social skills which either set them up as targets or undermine their ability to appropriately handle the situation—so it does not reoccur;

• Include one or more by-standing students whose inaction (when that occurs) serves to inadvertently reinforce the aggressors’ teasing or bullying;

• Include no adults near the incidents, or adults who observe the incidents and do not intervene (for various reasons); and, in summary,

• Involve clear goals or intents on the part of the aggressors who, in the absence of timely and meaningful consequences, are empowered and reinforced by their anti-social acts.

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The Importance of Student Voice and Involvement (August 31)

   In this last Blog (in this specific “Year in Review” cluster), we focused intensely on the “anti-social” media and cyberbullying epidemic in this country by (a) defining cyberbullying and discussing its current prevalence levels; (b) describing eight interdependent elements that schools should include in their comprehensive cyberbullying prevention to intervention plans; and (c) highlighting the importance of student voice and involvement in analyzing and helping to solve the problem.

   Early in this discussion, we noted that, while involving elements of teasing, taunting, bullying, and harassment, cyberbullying is somewhat unique and potentially more traumatic or harmful than face-to-face bullying because:

• Victims may not know who the bully is, how or why they have been selected, or what the bully’s intent or goal is;

• Even when they do know the bully, victims may not know who else has seen or received the message or post—thus putting them in a potentially powerless and defensive position;

• Victims may decide to (unwisely) respond with a return post—running the risk of being misinterpreted, exacerbating the problem, or being perceived as a bully-victim or a victim-casualty;

• A post or exchange can inadvertently escalate to involve entire schools, communities, states, and countries if the story, picture, or post “goes viral;”

•    The bullying may be easier (for the bully) because (a) it is anonymous or invisible, (b) it is empowering as it cannot be immediately defended, or (c) it has no immediate consequences—as there are no bystanders to provide negative feedback or administrators to hold the bully accountable; and

• The post may result in others “liking it,” or forwarding it to others— resulting in a continuation, reinforcement, or compounding of reactions (or assaults to) the victim. 

   Later in the Blog, we recommended a number of actions that districts and schools should consider when preventing and responding to social media and cyberbullying offenses, and a series of student questions when involving them in school-wide initiatives to address ongoing anti-social media/cyberbullying problems.

[CLICK HERE for the Full Blog message]

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   Once again, please feel free to re-read the original Blogs to get a more detailed analysis of the Reports and summary discussed above.

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The School Seclusion and Restraint Epidemic

   The following Blogs addressed a national issue—the seclusion or restraint of students demonstrating significant behavioral upsets in our schools today—that was especially highlighted this past year.  As usual, I reviewed a number of new national reports that addressed this issue, and then added my analysis, perspectives, and recommendations on the topic at-hand.

   If you CLICK on the date of the Blogs below, you will link directly to the Blog that is posted on my website (www.projectachieve.info/blog).

March 2, 2019

Congress Take Note: How to Really Address the School Seclusion and Restraint Epidemic.  The U.S. Department of Education Keeps Pushing PBIS, but PBIS Ain’t Got Nothing to Give (Part I)

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March 16, 2019

States Take Note: How to Really Address the School Seclusion and Restraint Epidemic.  What State Departments of Education Need to Learn If Using PBIS to “Solve” This Problem (Part II)

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July 13, 2019

Revisiting the School Seclusion and Restraint Epidemic:  The Federal Government Says It's Worse than Thought.  While the Numbers are Important, We Need to Focus on the Reasons and Solutions

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Synopsis of these Blogs

   The first two Blogs in this cluster formed a two-part Series.  In Part I of this Series (March 2), the following areas were discussed:

• The definitions of seclusion and restraints

• The historical and current incident levels of these actions in schools

• The U.S. Department of Education’s formal attention to this issue since 2009

• The U.S. Department of Education’s faulty advocacy of the PBIS framework as a solution to this problem

   Relative to the latter bullet above, we were particularly struck by the fact that—yet again—the U.S. Department of Education (USDoE) selected Dr. George Sugai, the Director of the National PBIS Technical Assistance Center, to present at a February 27, 2019 House of Representatives hearing on seclusions and restraints.

   The lack of surprise came as (a) the USDoE—and its Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) has used the Directors of the National PBIS TA Center to testify virtually every time (since its first 1997 funding) a national issue in school discipline arises; and (b) Dr. Sugai predictably touted PBIS as the “solution to all school problems behavioral” despite the fact that PBIS has never been independently validated as an evidence-based program.

   But Part II of this Blog (March 16) went one step further, as it posted a Table with the most-recent (2013-2014) national data for seclusion and restraints for students with disabilities.  Analyzing the “Top Ten” states ranked either by their Total Number of Seclusion and Restraint Incidents, or their Number of Seclusion and Restraint Incidents per School, respectively, the Table showed that Connecticut, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, and Oregon were prominently cited on the two lists. 

   Critically, these Top Ten Seclusion and Restraint states house some of the most well-established and touted state PBIS networks in the country.  Indeed, the PBIS National TA Center has been jointly housed for many years at the University of Oregon and the University of Connecticut.  And National PBIS leaders are often drawn from the state PBIS centers in Illinois, Maryland, and Michigan. 

   While we noted that state-specific issues certainly always present, one would think that these well-established PBIS state programs would be so well-established in the schools in their respective states that these states would not be on the Top-Ten Seclusion and Restraint lists.

   In the end, we concluded the March 2nd Blog with a warning:

     Districts and schools to be cautious—if not wary—about the U.S. Department of Education’s (and, perhaps, your State Department of Education’s) advocacy of the PBIS (Positive Behavior Intervention and Supports) Framework as a viable one to help you decrease seclusions and restraints with your most behaviorally-challenging students.

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   In the March 16th Blog, we discussed (a) the seclusion and restraint data that states are supposed to be reporting to the USDOE (and its Office for Civil Rights) each year; (b) the fact that most states are not analyzing their data to determine why their district-level seclusion and restraints are occurring; and (c) the professional development gaps, present in most states, relative to the science-to-practice interventions that can prevent or decrease the need for these “last resort” student actions.

   Significantly, we made three points after analyzing the publicly-available data from a number of state departments of education (SDoEs):

• SDoEs are not fully analyzing their state’s seclusion and restraint data such that they understand the functional nature of the problem, and how and why the numbers are changing over time.

• SDoEs often focus predominantly on the incident numbers.  They typically do not collect data that would help functionally identify the root causes of the student behaviors that are prompting the need for seclusions and restraints.

• Many SDoEs are doing a lot of PBIS framework-driven training.  This training rarely (if at all) is aligned with the information and root cause analyses noted as needed in the two bullets above.  Moreover, the training rarely (if at all) is coherent, comprehensive, or scientifically-based.  The training misses many of the social, emotional, and behavioral interventions that, once again, can help prevent the need for crisis-oriented seclusions and restraints.

   Critically, if SDoEs were analyzing these data, they would find that students with autism, developmental delays, emotional disturbances, and other health impairments are the ones being frequently secluded or restrained.

   They would also find that—in many states—these disability areas are most-responsible for the increases in seclusions and restraints, because the number of students classified in these areas have often increased over the past number of years.

   Finally, if they did an audit of the interventions (not) being used to address the need to seclude or restrain certain students, the SDoEs would find many of the (a) Emotional Control and Coping Interventions/Therapies, (b) Student Motivation Interventions, and (c) Social Skill (and other) Instructional interventions that we specifically listed in this Blog message “missing in action.”

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   In the July 13th Blog, we revealed how our concerns with the seclusion and restraint data collected by SDoEs across the country were confirmed.

   Here, we described and quoted from a June 18, 2019 letter to the respective leaders of the Senate and House of Representatives Subcommittees on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies Committee on Appropriations by Jacqueline M. Nowicki, the Director of the Education, Workforce, and Income Security Office in the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO).

   This letter was titled:  K-12 Education: Education Should Take Immediate Action to Address Inaccuracies in Federal Restraint and Seclusion Data, and it described the results of an investigation that was prompted when a number of states were incredulously found to have no (or blank) incidents of seclusions or restraints in key districts.

[CLICK HERE for the Full Blog message]

   Consistent with this quote, the July 13th Blog also provided a number of charts showing the most-recent national seclusion and restraint data by race, student disability, and enrollment.  It is also discussed the importance of disaggregating these data by specific disability category.  And, it again emphasized that SDoEs, districts, and schools need to go beyond even this disaggregation by determining the root causes underlying the behavior of each individual student who is restrained or secluded.

   This Blog concluded by encouraging SDoEs to determine whether they have the “right” services, supports, strategies, and interventions available to prevent and respond to the root causes of excessive seclusions and restraints in districts in their respective states, and whether there are training needs or gaps that need to be addressed.  The Blog also identified a number of root causes underlying the social, emotional, and behavioral challenges that put some students at-risk of experiencing a seclusion or restraint.

[CLICK HERE for the Full Blog message]

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   Once again, please feel free to re-read the original Blogs to get a more detailed analysis of the Reports and summary discussed above.

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Summary

   We started this Blog with a Steve Jobs quote that emphasized—from my perspective—that none of us should be limited in our professional lives to the boundaries, parameters, and constraints of present frameworks, programs, or traditions.

   Let’s end, in the spirit of New Years, with a quote about setting (professional) resolutions.

   In this regard, Catherine Pulsifer noted:

We set resolutions because we want something to change in our life. But if we are not specific and have no detailed plans about how we are going to change it, then we can expect things to remain as they currently are. And then, we will end the year without the resolution accomplished.

So rather than set them. . . if we should recognize what we have accomplished in the past year and build on them, where is there the potential to do more, to be more?

   In writing the two parts of this “Year in Review,” my goal was to summarize the issues, analyses, and recommendations made through my 2019 Blogs to help all schools and districts to improve the academic and social, emotional, and behavioral outcomes of all students.

   To accomplish this, we need to focus on the scientific practices that should guide our success. . . rather than embracing the testimonials of others who tout frameworks or approaches that have not been objectively proven, nor sustained across time, settings, and circumstances.

   We also need to focus on implementation science . . . the planning, implementation, and formative and summative evaluation practices that ensure that initiatives are well-conceived, well-resourced, implemented with fidelity, and evaluated in ways that demonstrate student-sensitive outcomes.

   Finally, to accomplish our goals, we need to celebrate our own and others’ resolution. 

   That is, their commitment to excellence, and their excellence when taking action.  This is needed not just when things are going well, but when challenges and road-blocks arise.

   In the end, as in the quote above, we need to start from our current positions . . . building off of our last successes.

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   I hope that this, and the previous, “Year in Review” Blog will help you to envision your “next steps toward sustained success”. . . having thought about your past successes and “lessons learned.” 

   I hope that these Blogs will help you create your plan for the future, so that that future will result—for yourself, your students, and your colleagues—in the successes that you expect.

   As we enter the New Year: Remember that if any of you—with your school or district team—would like to talk with me by phone, Skype, Google Hangouts, etc. about any of practices shared in these last two Blogs, all you need to do is contact me and get on my schedule.  The first conference call is totally free.

   Moreover, as we also enter a New Decade, please accept my best wishes for productive and prodigious New Year.

   Be successful and well !!!

Best,

Howie