1. Interventions for Equity in School Discipline: Universal or Specific?
Project ReACT
Kent McIntosh
University of Oregon

2. Support for this project:
IES: NCSER (R324A170034)
Goal 2: Development
OSEP: Center on PBIS (H326S03002)
Technical Assistance Center

3. Universality vs. Specificity
Is good classroom management universally effective?
School-wide Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS)
Which students are not being successful with current practice?
What is needed to improve outcomes?

4. Disproportionality in School Discipline

5. Addressing Common Questions
“Isn't it all really about poverty?”
Poverty plays a role, but racial disproportionality remains, even when controlling for poverty
Anyon et al., 2014
Skiba et al., 2002; 2005
Wallace et al., 2008

6. Addressing Common Questions
“Aren’t Black boys just more violent?”
No evidence of different base rates of behavior for any subgroups
Bradshaw et al., 2010
Losen & Skiba, 2010
Skiba et al., 2014

7. Implicit Bias in Early Learning (Gilliam et al., 2016)

8. Implicit Bias in Early Learning (Gilliam et al., 2016)

9. Implicit Bias in Early Learning (Gilliam et al., 2016)

10. Are we seeing the same events completely differently?

11. U.S. Schools using PBIS August, 2017
25,911 schools 13,832,582 students

12. PBIS Implementation around the World

13. Statistically Significant Outcomes of PBIS
Reduced problem behavior
(Bradshaw, Mitchell, & Leaf, 2010; Flannery et al., 2014; Horner et al., 2005; Metzler et al., 2001; Nelson, 1996; Nelson et al., 2002)
Increased prosocial behavior
(Metzler, Biglan, Rusby, & Sprague, 2001; Nelson et al., 2002)
Improved emotional regulation
(Bradshaw et al., 2012)
Improved academic achievement
(Horner et al., 2009; Lassen, Steele, & Sailor, 2006; Nelson et al., 2002)
Improved perceptions of school safety
(Horner et al., 2009)
Improved organizational health
(Bradshaw et al., 2008)

14. Core Practices of School-wide PBIS
Define school-wide expectations (i.e., social competencies)
Teach and practice expectations
Monitor and acknowledge prosocial behavior
Provide instructional consequences for problem behavior
Collect information and use it for decision-making

15. Is good classroom management universal?

16. Why use PBIS as a framework to enhance equity?
Proactive, instructional approach may prevent problem behavior and exposure to biased responses to problem behavior
Increasing positive student-teacher interactions may enhance relationships to prevent challenges
More objective referral and discipline procedures may reduce subjectivity and influence of cultural bias
Professional development may provide teachers with more instructional responses
(Greflund et al., 2014)

17. Effects of PBIS on Discipline Disproportionality

18. Which PBIS Features are Most Predictive of Equity?
Significant predictors of decreased disproportionality:
Regular use of data for decision making (Tobin & Vincent, 2011)
Implementation of classroom PBIS systems (Tobin & Vincent, 2011)
Use of formal reward systems (Barclay, 2017; Tobin & Vincent, 2011)

19. How can we engineer universally supportive school cultures?

20. A 5-point Intervention Approach to Enhance Equity in School Discipline

21. 5-point Intervention Approach
Collect, use, and report disaggregated discipline data
Implement a behavior framework that is preventive, multi-tiered, and culturally responsive
Use engaging academic instruction to reduce the opportunity (achievement) gap
Develop policies with accountability for disciplinary equity
Teach strategies to neutralize implicit bias

22. Coercive Cycle of Inequities
2. Beh. Framewrk
3. Acad. Instruct.
2. Beh. Framewrk
Setting event
Antecedent
Behavior
Consequence
Few positive interactions with adults
School less relevant
Academic failure, perceived slights, conflict with adults
Student engages in unwanted or unexpected behavior
Student sent to the office (escapes social interaction)
5. Implicit Bias
4. Policy
1. Use of Data

23. School-Wide Information System (www.swis.org)

24. Constructive Cycle of Increasing Equity
Setting event
Antecedent
Behavior
Consequence
Many positive interactions with adults
School more relevant
Fewer experiences of academic failure, conflict with adults
Student uses desired and functional social skills
Adult responds instructionally to student behavior

25. Initial ReACT Results
(McIntosh, Ellwood, McCall, & Girvan, 2018)

26. Initial Takeaways
Universal behavior support interventions work…until they don’t work
The principles appear to be universal…but one of the key principles is contextual fit
Persistent racial disparities probably require racially-conscious interventions
Data can help us define the challenge more precisely

27. Contact Information
Kent McIntosh
Special Education Program
University of Oregon
@_kentmc
Cannon Beach, Oregon
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