Embed a race-equity lens in all local discipline actions and invest in supportive personnel over school police¶

Strategy · All strategies
Evidence · 2 claims (2 for) · 2 studies (1 review, 1 design), q2 · 0 of 2 report an effect size · 2 claims rest on one study

Description¶

For local implementation, the brief says all adults in schools and districts should develop a race equity lens, because "using an approach that is racially and culturally conscious is the key to addressing disparities in discipline." District leaders should use the Alliance for Resource Equity diagnostic tool and positive school climate guidebook, asking whether each student experiences a safe school with transparent, culturally sensitive, consistently enforced rules, and should replace school resource officers with counselors, social workers, psychologists, and trauma-informed and restorative practices.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• District leaders set equity-focused policies and develop educator capacity for implementing positive discipline practices

Constraints¶

• The brief states hardening practices like SROs and behavioral threat assessments have disproportionately negative impacts on underserved students and exacerbate discipline disparities

Target Learners¶

• P-12 students, particularly students of color and students with disabilities

Target Learning Goals¶

• Fair and positive discipline implementation; positive and inviting school climates

Claims¶

• Schools with school resource officers may have higher rates of exclusionary discipline, including a reported 21 percent increase in incidents [+W]
• Black students and students with disabilities are suspended at disproportionately high rates, and high-poverty schools are more likely to have a School Resource Officer [+W]

Related Strategies¶

• Six-part state and local policy strategy for reducing exclusionary discipline and suspension gaps
• Six policy areas state leaders can implement to create equitable SEAD-supportive learning environments

Examples¶

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Key Sources¶

• Blair Wriston, Nancy Duchesneau. (2023). How School Discipline Impacts Students' Social, Emotional, and Academic Development (SEAD). The Education Trust. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED628035