Educational systems cannot be considered effective until they are effective for all student groups. PBIS provides an ideal framework for increasing equity in student outcomes. Schools implementing PBIS with fidelity have greater equity in school discipline, specifically for Black or African American students. However, most PBIS teams will need to include equity-centered strategies in their action plans to achieve equitable outcomes for all student groups. Multiple research studies show that schools implementing the Center's equity approach have significantly increased racial equity in school discipline.
What Is Equity?
In education, equity is "when educational policies, practices, interactions, and resources are representative of, constructed by, and responsive to all people such that each individual has access to, can meaningfully participate, and makes progress in high-quality learning experiences that empowers them towards self-determination and reduces disparities in outcomes regardless of individual characteristics and cultural identities."[1][2]
There are different aspects of equity in education, such as academic achievement or placement in special education or gifted and talented programs. In PBIS, the most common outcome is equity in school discipline, or the reduction of risk for exclusionary discipline such as office discipline referrals and suspensions based on individual characteristics like race/ethnicity or special education status.
A 5-point Intervention Approach for Equity in PBIS
Instead of ineffective approaches, such as one-time events or disconnected initiatives, PBIS teams are more likely to increase equity in school discipline when they add explicit equity goals to their action plans. Addressing equity works best as a multi-component approach embedded within their existing PBIS system.
In education, equity is "when educational policies, practices, interactions, and resources are representative of, constructed by, and responsive to all people such that each individual has access to, can meaningfully participate, and makes progress in high-quality learning experiences that empowers them towards self-determination and reduces disparities in outcomes regardless of individual characteristics and cultural identities."[1][2]
There are different aspects of equity in education, such as academic achievement or placement in special education or gifted and talented programs. In PBIS, the most common outcome is equity in school discipline, or the reduction of risk for exclusionary discipline such as office discipline referrals and suspensions based on individual characteristics like race/ethnicity or special education status.
A 5-point Intervention Approach for Equity in PBIS
Instead of ineffective approaches, such as one-time events or disconnected initiatives, PBIS teams are more likely to increase equity in school discipline when they add explicit equity goals to their action plans. Addressing equity works best as a multi-component approach embedded within their existing PBIS system.
The five components of equity within a PBIS framework are:
1. Collect, Use, and Report Disaggregated Discipline Data
A foundational component of any effective practice is using data to
Identify the extent of the challenge
Understand why it’s happening
Plan interventions
Monitor progress toward goals
This element of PBIS is even more central for assessing and addressing equity. Any school or district committed to reducing discipline inequities should adopt data systems that can disaggregate student data by race, ethnicity, and disability and provide instantaneous access to these data for both school and district teams. However, simply having access to disaggregated data is not enough to move the needle. Educators need to understand the various ways to measure discipline disparities, including how they are calculated and what they tell us.
2. Implement a Preventative, Multi-Tiered, Culturally-Responsive Behavior Framework
School systems can either reflect a biased society or provide a protective buffer against it. To make it a protective place, teams should adopt a behavior framework that is preventive, instructional, and flexible enough to be tailored to the strengths, needs, and values of its students, families, and community. PBIS can be implemented with fidelity only when it is adapted to fit the local context, which means attending directly to aspects of culture.
3. Use Engaging Instruction to Reduce the Opportunity Gap
Racial disparities in academic achievement are commonly called the achievement gap. This label implies the challenge lies within the student, when really it’s a lack of opportunity for effective instruction causing the divide. It is more instructive to call this disparity the opportunity gap. Teams can ensure each student group has equitable access to engaging instruction by including these four components
4. Develop Policies with Accountability for Disciplinary Equity
Even policies making no mention of race or ethnicity (e.g., zero-tolerance discipline codes) can exacerbate inequities because of their impact on student-teacher interactions. Instead, administrators and policymakers should adopt policies with clear definitions and discipline procedures, replace harmful practices with instructional responses to unwanted behavior, and install accountability for improving outcomes.
5. Teach Strategies for Neutralizing Implicit Bias in Discipline Decisions
Research increasingly shows the influence of implicit bias on classroom and school discipline decisions.[2],[3]There are strategies educators can use to identify and neutralize their implicit biases before they affect decision making including
Identifying vulnerable decision points – specific discipline situations more prone to implicit bias
Learning strategies to help educators respond in line with their values.
Equity is a Tier 1 issue. Teams cannot address inequitable student outcomes by providing Tier 2 and 3 supports to students from groups who are disproportionately excluded from the classroom.
Tier 1 Team
Honors student strengths through student voice
Staff engage in self-awareness
Use the values and norms of students, families, and communities when determining schoolwide and classroom expectations
Use acknowledgement systems equitably
Tier 2 Team
Access to Tier 2 interventions is consistent across student groups
Tier 2 increases instructional opportunities, feedback, and positive home school communication with student's families
Tier 3 Team
Individualized and contextualized
Meaningfully include students and families in goal-setting and intervention design
Trust
Two-way communication
Limit assumptions about home life and family values
Get Started…
For most schools and districts, the very first step to start addressing issues of equity will be to examine discipline data to assess disproportionality and identify an existing team that will build a plan and monitor progress.
It may seem daunting to mobilize schools to address a societal challenge like equity. However, schools are the best place to provide environments where each student feels welcome, safe, and encouraged. At the same time, they are the best places to teach each student how to be a caring and productive citizens in a diverse, multicultural society. We now have the research available to demonstrate that equity can be achieved through PBIS and the specific steps to make it a reality.
Resources
There are many resources available for addressing equity in your school. A few basics to get your started include:
This guide offers school PBIS teams a resource for using discipline data to address racial and ethnic disproportionality in school discipline practices. It describes a framework and steps for identifying levels of disproportionality, analyzing data, and monitoring effectiveness of action plans.
This guide is for districts and school developing policies and procedures to reduce racial and ethnic disproportionality in school discipline. It provides examples of key policy elements, ideas on how to apply these elements in schools, and a tool for assessing policies to enhance equitable discipline.
This guide is intended to increase the frequency and quality of conversations about race, racism, and current events regarding race in K-12 classrooms to support students and provide voice and self-reflection. It includes recommendations and tips for creating statements of support, preparing for and facilitating constructive classroom discussions, addressing harmful statements, and designing lesson plans and units for ongoing learning.
[1]Fraser, N. (2008) Social right and gender justice in the neoliberal movement: A conversation about welfare and transnational politics. Feminist Theory, 9,225-245.
[2]Great Lakes Equity Center (2012). Educational equity: What’s it all about? An Equi-learn Webinar presentation by Skelton, S & Kigamwa, J., The Great Lakes Equity Center Retrieved from http://glec.education.iupui.edu/archived-webinar-events.html
[3]Girvan, E. J., Gion, C., McIntosh, K., & Smolkowski, K. (2017). The relative contribution of subjective office referrals to racial disproportionality in school discipline. School Psychology Quarterly, 32, 392-404. doi:10.1037/spq0000178
