The NWESD Offers Support for Equity Efforts
“Until we get equality in education, we won’t have an equal society,”
– US Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor
While it’s one of the most discussed topics right now, finding a way to create an equitable society is a winding path. Schools face similar challenges.
The NWESD offers support to districts doing this important work through in-person workshops led by OSPI. On April 20, participants will work on the second step, conducting a root cause analysis using their own live data.
Data is an important part of the process. Exclusionary practice data, which is one measure of discipline, show that American Indian/Alaska Native students were 2.28 times more likely to be excluded than their non Native counterparts. Black/African American students were 2.45 times more likely to be excluded.
The inequity goes beyond race. Students with disabilities in special education were 2.44 times more likely to be excluded than students who are not in special education. Students from low income homes were almost 3 times more likely to be excluded than higher income students.
The road map OSPI has created for this worthy journey addresses some of these causes:
- What does the data show? It starts with identifying the problem. Schools do this by analyzing disaggregated data to identify the disparities for specific groups of students at the class, grade, building and district level. The NWESD hosted a training for this first step in March..
- What are the root causes? Is exclusionary discipline being applied for subjective and poorly defined infractions, such as “disruptive behavior,” or “failure to cooperate.” Are explicit or implicit bias playing a part? Do teachers have the training they need? This step will be the focus of the NWESD training on April 20. Facilitators will share examples of how to conduct the analysis. The goal is to begin development of an action plan to address inequities in discipline, which is step 3.
- Use those answers to create an action plan. Solutions may include identifying professional learning needs that enhance teacher-student relationships, strengthening school climate and use of prevention strategies and de-escalation techniques. The solutions can go deeper, incorporating trauma-informed and restorative justice practices, as well as MTSS. The good news is that this work has a positive ripple effect on issues schools face beyond discipline.
While the final plan may look different for each school, the ultimate goal for schools, according to OSPI is to “implement evidence-based practices that improve equity in discipline while keeping students in school, and protect the civil rights of each student.”
