Case studies of a behavior inclusion model in an elementary school district

ABSTRACT

School discipline practices have traditionally been reactive and punitive in nature. Students violating a school district’s code of conduct were often met with exclusionary discipline policies such as out-of-school suspensions, long-term suspensions, and expulsions. Districts attempted to resolve these practices by creating alternative education schools to house students with high numbers of office discipline referrals, rather than have them withdrawn from school. This practice has created in some instances, a school-to-prison pipeline. In this study, for 2015-2016, there were 22 students previously enrolled in the district’s alternative education school, Spirit Academy ranging in third through eighth grades. The students were then transferred back to their home schools with supports via student behavior specialists, student behavior interventionists, and a research-based data tracking tool, Check In/Check Out, to determine the level of the model’s effectiveness. The six students out of the 22 were selected for this case study analysis because of the fidelity of the data collection at their school sites. Another factor was to include a broad cross-section of students rather than focus solely on a selected grade-level. The study showed three students who successfully passed Check In/Check Out due to higher scores in all three of their skills, while two students showed the exact opposite. Office discipline referrals (ODRs) also indicated mixed results as three students increased their number of ODRs and three showed decreases. Report cards were also mixed as only two of the students showed higher percentages in reading. For math, one student showed an increase. Finally, the school climate survey data was mixed as to meeting the district benchmark at two of the schools studied; one of the schools had lower-than-desired scores. The implications of this study showed that punitive measures were not necessarily the best for students. If suspensions, long-term suspensions, expulsions, or alternative education schools worked, then we would see less students being referred to these extreme measures of discipline. In fact, more students are being referred for punishment.