Framing the Challenge: Research on Disciplinary Disproportionality and the Need for Equity-Explicit Intervention

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Framing the Challenge Research on Disciplinary
Disproportionality and the Need for
Equity-Explicit Intervention

• Russ Skiba
• The Equity Project at Indiana University
• Gerald Williams
• African American Male Achievement Project, OUSD
• 2013 PBIS National Leadership Forum
• Rosemont, IL October 10, 2013

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Discipline Disparities Research to Practice
Collaborative

• Expanding research/practice/advocacy for reducing
  disciplinary disparities
• Quarterly Meetings Publication of Findings,
  Spring 2014
• National Closing the Discipline Gap Conference
• Commissioning new research

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What Do We Know About Disciplinary Disparities

• Disparities in school exclusion are enduring and
  expanding

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(No Transcript)
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Other Groups at Risk

• Increased risk for
• Latino students May increase over time
• Students with disabilities (Losen Gillespie,
  2012)
• Gender Both male female (Toldson et al.,
  2013 Wallace et al., 2008)
• Emerging data that LGBT students also at risk
• Over half at risk for exclusion (Snapp Russell,
  2013)
• About 50 more likely to be stopped by police
• (Himmelstein Bruckner, 2011)

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What Do We Know About Disciplinary Disparities

• Consistent and severe for African Americans
• Latino less consistent
• Not due to
• SES
• More severe behavior

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Can Poverty Explain Disproportionality?

• Rates of discipline are related to SES
• SES and suspension/expulsion are correlated,
  but...
• Effects of race remain after control

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Do Black Students Misbehave More?
Of 32 infractions, only 8 significant
differences

• White students referred more for
• Smoking
• Vandalism
• Leaving w/o permission
• Obscene Language

• Black students referred more for
• Disrespect
• Excessive Noise
• Threat
• Loitering

Skiba, R.J., Michael, R.S., Nardo, A.C.
Peterson, R. (2002). The color of discipline
Sources of racial and gender disproportionality
in school punishment. Urban Review, 34, 317-342.
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What Else Predicts Disproportionality?

• Higher rates of students of color (Racial Threat
  Hypothesis)
• Diversity of staff (Representative Bureacracy)
• Classroom Contributions
• Classroom management
• Cultural mismatch/implicit bias
• Office Contributions

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Harsher Penalties for the Same Infraction

• Same punishment, different behaviors (Finn
  Servoss, 2013)
• Black students 1.8X odds of exclusion
• Hispanic 1.64 x odds of exclusion
• Contributions at office level independent of
  classroom referral
• Black/Latino increased odds of suspension for
  minor misbehavior (Skiba et al, 2011)
• Controlling for type of behavior, black students
  significantly more likely to receive OSS,
  expulsion (Skiba et al, 2013)

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What Do We Know About Disciplinary Disparities

• Consistent and severe for African Americans
• Latino less consistent
• Not due to
• SES
• More severe behavior
• Yields increased risk

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Is The School-to-Prison Pipeline Real? Pathways
from Schools to Juvenile Justice
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More Than a Metaphor

• School Climate Schools w/ harsh discipline
  policies, higher OSS rates perceived less safe
  (Steinberg, et al., 2011)
• School Engagement/Ed. Opportunity For African
  American males, more suspensions predict lower
  achievement and school engagement (Davis
  Jordan, 1994)
• School Dropout Suspended/expelled students 5
  times as likely to drop out (CSG, 2011)
• Black males 2x more likely to dropout for
  discipline (Stearns Glennie, 2006)
• Juvenile Delinquency/JJ Involvement
• OSS increases risk of antisocial behavior
  (Hemphill et al., 2006)
• Greater contact with Juv. Justice System (CSG,
  2011)

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The School-to-Prison Pipeline Pathways from
Schools to Juvenile Justice
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What Do We Know About Disciplinary Disparities

• Consistent and severe for African Americans
• Latino less consistent
• Confounds our expectations
• Not due entirely to
• SES
• More severe behavior
• Yields increased risk
• Schools make a
  difference

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Contributions of Schools

• Principal perspective on discipline contributes
  to racial disparities in suspension (Skiba et al,
  2013)
• Schools w/ high structure/high support have fewer
  suspensions/disparities (Gregory et al. 2011)
• Chicago Among schools with similar
  demographics, more suspensions lower feelings
  of safety (Steinberg, Allen Johnson, 2013)
• Relationships more important than crime, poverty
  in predicting safety

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What Should We Do to Intervene? Emerging Research

• Develop relationships
• My Teaching Partner
• Restorative Practices
• Building Emotional Literacy
• Cleveland Metro School District SEL, student
  support teams, and student-centered approach
• Restructuring Disciplinary Practices
• Va. Threat Assessment
• Codes of Conduct
• SWPBIS

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PBIS Implementation and Disproportionality
Decidedly Mixed

• Skiba, Horner, et al. 2011
• African American and Latino students more likely
  to be disciplined for minor infractions
• Vincent et al. 2011, Vincent Tobin, 2012
• No reduction in disparities for Afr. Amer.
  students
• Suspensions decreased in higher implementing
  schools, but even there, no reductions in
  disparities for Afr. Amer. students
• Vincent, Sprague Gau (2013)
• Some reduction in OSS rates for Hispanic, AI/AN
  students, but not for African American
  students
• Case study successes
• Canadian study (Greflund, MacIntosh, et al, 2013)
• Case studies in literature (e.g., Jones et al,
  Chee-Dodge Elem.)
• Garfield Middle School

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Mixed Results in Practice
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PBIS Indiana Building a Statewide CR-PBIS Network

• Working to increase awareness of, and
  institutional supports for
• Reflective consideration of school contributions
  to cultural issues in school discipline, so that
• PBIS may be used to develop more effective
  behavioral and disciplinary processes relating to
  culture and disproportionality.
• Activities
• Development of six model sites
• Work with out-of-compliance schools
• Scaleup of CRPBIS training throughout state

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PBIS Indiana Elements of CR-PBIS

• Awareness Building
• Discussions about race and culture are avoided
• Begin with activities to increase comfort in
  addressing disparities.
• Data Disaggregation
• Not sufficient to measure overall ODRs and
  suspension/expulsion.
• Disaggregate data by race, SES, disability, or
  any other group showing disparities. 
• Data Interpretation
• Deficit explanations (e.g., family poverty) are
  common in explaining disparities.
• Teams are encouraged to think reflectively about
  possible school contributions.
• Culturally responsive practices
• Examination of data leads to examination of
  practices and the development of new
  programs to address disparities.

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Tough to Talk About
When you say minorities, are you, what are you
speaking of?...INTERVIEWER Ethnic and racial
minorities...Oh....OK...Alright...We have
like...I guess we have about half and half. I
dont know that Ive ever really paid attention
to it . --Classroom Teacher
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Color-Blindness

• I dont see the color as being the issue. I
  think that a lot of the issues that they come
  with perhaps come from the fact that they are in
  a Black situation over here, where these kinds of
  attitudes are constant all the time.
• --(McKenzie Scheurich, 2004)

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Microaggressions Today

• I play football, so you know they expect you to
  be good in sports. But when you are on the ASB
  (Associated Student Body) council, like I am, and
  being a school leader, have good grades, and
  talking about going to college on an academic
  scholarship, then they look at you like Whoa!! I
  didnt think that they (Black males) were into
  those kind of things. One teacher even told me
  once, Youre not like the rest of them. I
  didnt ask her what that meant, but believe me, I
  knew what that meant.
• --(Howard, 2007, p. 907)

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• Not everything that is faced can be changed, but
  nothing can be changed until it is faced.
• --James A. Baldwin

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CR-PBIS Faultlines Tier 1

• Establishing (and rewarding) schoolwide
  expectations
• Respect, responsibility, safe, excellence
• But
• Is respect culturally neutral?
• Why is defiance the main source of dispro?
• Solutions?
• Self-reflection
• Mentoring?

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CR-PBIS Faultlines Tier 2

• Re-connect at-risk youth, reduce current
  misbehavior
• Check-in, check-out
• But
• Why are all the kids in Tier 2 3 Black or
  Brown?
• Solutions?
• Disaggregate our data
• Why are some teachers more successful?

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CR-PBIS Faultlines Tier 3

• Address students with challenging behavior
• Support schools, expand resources (e.g.
  school-based wraparound)
• But
• Does Tier 3 hijack the conversation?
• Solutions?
• Examine historical conditioning
• As in all PBIS implementation, disproportionality
  starts with Tier 1

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Overcoming Our History

• State sponsored discrimination 355 years
• Since its end 40 years
• Why would we assume there would not be culturally
  influenced practices in our educational systems?
• PBIS is about changing adult behavior

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• Russ Skiba
• Director, Equity Project
• Center for Evaluation and
• Education Policy
• 1900 E. 10th St.
• Bloomington, IN 47406
• 812-855-4438
• skiba_at_indiana.edu
• Website www.indiana.edu/pbisin

Gerald Williams Research Associate ,
Disproportionality  Department of Quality,
Accountability Analytics 4551 Steele
Street Oakland, CA 94619 510.336.7533 Gerald.Will
iams_at_ ousd.k12.ca.us