In many districts and schools, the rates of classroom disciplinary referrals and suspensions are unacceptably high. Sub-groups of students may be disciplined disproportionately. Schools are often challenged by how to address high levels of classroom and public space incidents and unwanted behavior, and how to recalibrate their discipline and support models to increase student efficacy and success in school.
Engaging Schools collaborates with district leaders, school administrators, school climate-discipline teams, and school-based student support teams to engage in a rigorous assessment of their current systems. This partnership helps districts and schools make strategic changes in policies, systems, and practices that align with the school’s goals for discipline and student support. Engaging Schools aims to foster a schoolwide discipline and student support model that is fair, respectful, restorative, accountable, and viable.
Engaging Schools’ Schoolwide Discipline and Student Support services also include a focus on creating engaging classrooms. Our approach to instruction, classroom management, and discipline fosters academic, social, and emotional learning and development in all students, and establishes optimal conditions for learning.
As a result of multi-pronged changes, administrators, teachers, student support staff, and ancillary staff more effectively provide scaffolded academic and behavioral supports and interventions for all students, producing a reduction of unwanted behaviors and increased engagement.
For more in-depth information about Schoolwide Discipline and Student Support, click here.
For information about district Codes of Character, Conduct, and Support, click here.
Student Support staff learn:
“It is critically important to keep students, especially those facing inequality in other parts of their lives, enrolled in school. … The challenge is to find a way to address the situation with better practices, more alternatives, and more effective training of school personnel.”
Daniel J. Losen and Jonathan Gillespie, Opportunities Suspended: The Disparate Impact of Disciplinary Exclusion from School