An 18-part CPIR article that takes a not-so-brief look at how student placement can be affected by disciplinary actions at school.
On July 19, 2022, the Department of Education’s Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS) and Office for Civil Rights (OCR) released New Guidance Helps Schools Support Students with Disabilities and Avoid Discriminatory Use of Discipline | U.S. Department of Education.
This page contains resources to support all stakeholders, including teachers, specialized instructional support personnel, administrators, local educational agencies (LEAs), State educational agencies (SEAs), and families implement this guidance.
Guidance to Help Schools Support Students with Disabilities and Avoid Disparities In the Use of Discipline
In this video, Valerie Williams, Director of Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) introduces several staff members who highlighted the guidance in advance of the 2022 OSEP Leadership and Project Directors Conference. This video also includes the following:
- OSEP Dear Colleague Letter on Implementation of IDEA Discipline Provisions (July 19, 2022)
- Questions and Answers Addressing the Needs of Children with Disabilities and IDEA’s Discipline Provisions (July 19, 2022)
- Positive, Proactive Approaches to Supporting the Needs of Children with Disabilities: A Guide for Stakeholders (July 19, 2022)
Stakeholder Guide on Positive, Proactive Approaches to Supporting Children with Disabilities
This guide provides information about resources, strategies, and evidence-based practices that (while not required by law) can help States, LEAs, schools, early childhood programs, educators, and families in their efforts to meet IDEA requirements, and in doing so, improve outcomes for children with disabilities.
Resource Guides on Positive, Proactive Approaches to Discipline
The following resource guides summarize additional resources that have been set up in tables and can support schools and early childhood programs in implementing positive, proactive approaches to support and respond to children’s behavioral needs more effectively. Following the resources in each guide is information about OSEP TA Centers that can provide additional information to support schools in implementing the practices described below.
- Addressing Discipline Disparities
- Creating a Positive Predictable Environment
- Implementing Evidence-Based Approaches to Respond to Student Needs: Data-Based Decision Making
- Implementing Evidence-Based Approaches to Respond to Student Needs: Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS)
- Implementing Evidence-Based Approaches to Respond to Student Needs: Positive Behavior Intervention and Supports (PBIS)
- Professional Development to Support Social, Emotional, and Behavioral Needs
- Personnel Preparation to Address Social, Emotional, and Behavioral Needs
- Reducing Exclusionary Practices
Additional Resources
Addressing Discipline Disparities
Disproportionality
This fact sheet was developed to provide illustrations of the measures used to understand disproportionality related to various groups of children and a particular factor or outcome. This document focuses on children grouped by race/ethnicity. However, there are other groups you might also want to review (e.g., gender, dual language learners, children with IEPs). We provide an example of the calculation of these measures using the completion of a Behavior Incident Report (BIR) for a young child. These measures of disproportionality are also used to examine other variables of interest, including suspensions, expulsions, or referrals for services.
Disproportionality in exclusionary school discipline is a longstanding challenge in general and special education. To reduce disproportionality in discipline in a way that produces measurable results, federal law provides a mechanism referred to as Coordinated Early Intervening Services (CEIS). Whether a school district has been cited for significant disproportionality, is out of compliance, or is voluntarily directing funds to reducing disproportionality in discipline, this brief provides background on CEIS and outlines best practices for how state, district, and building administrators can invest these funds most effectively to achieve equity in school discipline.
PBIS
This evaluation brief explores the relationship between (a) schools’ implementation of Tier 1 (universal) support within a Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) framework and (b) the proportion of students with disabilities suspended.
The purpose of this study was to examine discipline disproportionality among schools implementing SWPBIS compared to the entire population of schools in the U.S. Examining patterns in a large-scale evaluation of schools implementing and not implementing SWPBIS could help determine the extent to which implementation of SWPBIS is related to lower, higher, or unchanged discipline disparities.
Schools across the U.S. are implementing PBIS in efforts to reduce racial disproportionality in school discipline, and overall, research shows that schools implementing PBIS with fidelity have more equitable school discipline. Yet eliminating disparities through standard PBIS implementation, without attention to the sociocultural context and systems that perpetuate inequities, is unlikely to produce desired outcomes. The presenters will share specific strategies and free Center resources for increasing equity in PBIS systems.
Using Data
States and LEAs must report five types of disciplinary removals for children and youth with disabilities. The EDFacts IDEA Discipline Data Infographic visualizes the information from six IDEA Discipline data EDFacts file specification documents in an interactive infographic that outlines the discipline data for children and youth with disabilities ages 3 through 21 that states must include in their annual submission of EDFacts files FS005, FS006, FS007, FS088, FS143, and FS144. Data states report in these files include counts of children and youth with disabilities with in-school and out-of-school suspensions and expulsions; length of and reason for disciplinary removal; and count of disciplinary removals due to drugs, weapons, or serious bodily injury.
If states and districts are to address discipline disparities effectively, they must first have high-quality data. IDC’s SEA Edit Check and Data Display Tools allow states to identify potential business rule errors or errors in category sets, subtotals, or totals before submitting their data to OSEP. Offering user-friendly data summaries, this resource also has edit check tools that permit states to directly copy and paste their EDFacts data files, as opposed to manually entering the data.
IDC’s Success Gaps Toolkit outlines a process that district and school teams can use to identify and address discipline disparities revealed through the state’s accountability system or through self-evaluation. The toolkit, with its process and materials, provides a manageable and defined way for districts or schools to take a closer look at their educational system to ensure an equitable education for all students. This toolkit is designed for district and school leaders responsible for conducting root cause analyses.
The Behavior Incident Report System (BIRS) is used to collect and analyze behavior incidents in early childhood settings. The system provides an efficient mechanism for gathering information on elements related to behavior incidents that are used to make decisions about providing supports to teachers and children within the program. In addition, the BIRS includes alerts about potential equity issues by calculating disproportionality related to race, ethnicity, IEP status, gender, and dual-language learners
Creating a Positive Predictable Environment
Classroom Based Practices
Behavior Support for Intensive Intervention Course: Module 3 Antecedent and Instructional Strategies
This multi-part module applies behavioral theory to strategy to use in the classroom. The focus is on antecedents and instructional strategies. By the end of this module participants should be able to maximize structure in the classroom, post, teach, prompt, review, monitor and reinforce a small number of positively stated expectations, and actively engage students in observable ways. This module is part of a larger series of course content designed to support faculty and professional development providers with designing and instructing pre-service and in-service educators who are developing and/or refining their implementation of behavior support for intensive intervention.
This self-paced module overviews important key concepts and foundational practices related to effective classroom behavior management, including cultural influences on behavior, the creation of positive climates and structured classrooms.
This practice guide is an updated version of Supporting and Responding to Student Behavior (Office of Special Education Programs, 2015). "Supporting and Responding" summarizes evidence-based, positive, and proactive practices that support and respond to students’ social, emotional, and behavioral (SEB) needs in classrooms and similar teaching and learning environments (e.g., small-group activity).
This guide highlights 5 key practices for teachers and families to support all students, including students with disabilities, at school and home. For each practice, the guide provides (a) tips for teachers to support students with disabilities during instruction; (b) tips for families that educators can share to support or enhance learning at home, especially during periods of remote instruction; and (c) free-access resources that include strategies shown to be effective by research (e.g., informational guides, downloadable materials, research-based programs).
Students with disabilities are more likely to experience exclusionary and reactive discipline practices than students without disabilities. Fortunately, when educators implement positive, proactive, and evidence-based practices within a Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) framework, students with disabilities benefit. In this practice brief, we describe the “top ten” intervention strategies effective educators implement to support all students, including students with disabilities, in their classroom.
FBA
A resource collection compiled by and for Parent Centers and others. Resources are divided by type: good reads on FBAs and BIPs; webinars, presentations, videos; and webpages. (This is part 2 of the 3-part resource collection called Resource Collection on Positive Behavior Supports, Functional Behavioral Assessment, and School Discipline.)
PBIS
A resource collection compiled by and for Parent Centers and others. Resources are divided by type: good reads on behavior basics and PBS; webinars, presentations, videos; and webpages. (This is part 1 of the 3-part resource collection called Resource Collection on Positive Behavior Supports, Functional Behavioral Assessment, and School Discipline.)
Pyramid Model Implementation
The Pyramid Model Implementation Checklist is a tool designed to be used by practitioners to identify training and/or classroom implementation needs in seven areas: Responsive Relationships; Predictable Daily Schedules; Creating Effective Classroom Routines; Teaching Behavior Expectations across Classroom Routines; Teaching Social and Emotional Skills; Systematic Instructional Strategies; and Function-Based Assessment and Intervention Planning. The checklist encourages individual self-reflection and discussion between classroom teachers and practitioner coaches.
This document is a guide – a “Road Map” – for implementing widespread use of the Pyramid Model for Promoting Social and Emotional Competence in Infants and Young Children. This guide is used by state leaders to identify how to implement and sustain the use of the Pyramid Model within early childhood environments.
School Based Practices
This CPIR brief expands upon OSEP’s Dear Colleague Letter on the Use of School Resource Officers (SROs) in Schools, released September 8, 2016. Includes a listing of resources that schools can turn to and the data available to guide the use of SROs.
Positive and consistent behavioral supports are needed by all students and, for some students, are absolutely vital to support meaningful engagement in academics. Distance learning situations are no different in this regard. An initial task before educators is identifying and transferring the knowledge of things that work in school to the new reality that exists for families at home. Collaboration and communication are key. Also key are deliberately defining what those supports have been historically, and what they should be within the new context and activities so that families can best support their children with the most success. By intentionally identifying and consistently providing these supports, students with significant cognitive disabilities will be more able to participate and engage the same as their peers within the current distance learning reality.
Inside this 3-part collection, Parent Centers and other stakeholders will find: an overview of the requirements for functional behavior assessments and positive behavior supports (PBS) in the IEP under IDEA, both proactively and in response to behavioral incidents; and the discipline-related procedural safeguards under general and special education law and court cases, including manifestation determinations. Parent Centers and others can search the collection to identify key strategies, tools, and resources that they can use: when advising and supporting parents around PBS and discipline issues, and when partnering with state agencies on evidence-based strategies to improve performance on discipline-related indicators in the State Performance Plan/Annual Performance Report.
This resource list has been compiled expressly for Parent Centers (and others) and the Native families and communities they serve. You can use the list to connect with agencies and organizations, publications, bullying prevention programs, and websites that address bullying and cyberbullying.
A resource collection compiled by and for Parent Centers and others. Resources are divided by type: materials to read and share on school discipline; from the Federal Government; and what IDEA requires. (This is part 3 of the 3-part resource collection called Resource Collection on Positive Behavior Supports, Functional Behavioral Assessment, and School Discipline.)
This document is designed to guide the Program Leadership Team around considerations for supporting young children, families, and staff as they return to the program after a break. The guidance helps program leaders consider the environmental and social-emotional practices that establish predictable, safe, and nurturing classroom environments. The guide includes hyperlinks to 29 practical tools and materials.
In this CPIR webinar, Renee Bradley, of OSEP, is joined by representatives from Parent Centers, protection and advocacy agencies, and state directors of special education to unpack the important “Dear Colleague” letter released in 2016 by OSEP regarding behavior and school discipline, and discuss its impact on the field.
Implementing Evidence-Based Approaches to Respond to Student Needs
Data Based Decision Making
The National Center on Intensive Intervention publishes this chart to assist educators and families in becoming informed consumers who can select progress monitoring tools that best meet their individual needs. The Center's Technical Review Committee (TRC) on Behavior Progress Monitoring independently established a set of criteria for evaluating the technical adequacy of progress monitoring tools. The TRC rated each submitted tool against these criteria but did not compare it to other tools on the chart. The presence of a particular tool on the chart does not constitute endorsement and should not be viewed as a recommendation from either the TRC on Progress Monitoring or the National Center on Intensive Intervention.
This 2022 issue of CPIR’s enewsletter spotlights data basics for families (Education Data 101, also available in Spanish), a new resource from the Data Quality Campaign (Parents Are Getting Access to Student Data, But How Can We Support Them to Use It?), and a recent CPIR webinar (Sharing Info about State Assessments with Families of Children with Disabilities) presented in both English and Spanish.
The Data Decision-Making and Program-Wide Implementation of the Pyramid Model guide provides schools and programs with guidance on how to collect and use data to ensure: 1) the implementation of the Pyramid Model with fidelity and 2) decision-making that improves the provision of implementation supports, delivery of effective intervention, and the promotion of meaningful child outcomes in the early childhood classroom.
In this brief, we describe experiences of three school districts in various U.S. geographic regions as they installed screening tools as part of their screening processes. Education leaders have generously shared their advice for practitioners throughout the nation. We share five lessons learned from district leaders, including some selected quotes (see boxes). Leaders’ insights may be helpful for educators already involved in systematic screening as well as those who are newer to the process.
With multiple sources of information available, knowing how to use data efficiently and effectively with limited resources is critical to the successful implementation of schoolwide, classroom, and individual interventions. In this practice guide, we describe a scientifically-based approach for data-based decision-making called Team-Initiated Problem Solving (TIPS) that includes guidance for school-based teams on (a) the foundations needed to run more effective meetings, (b) a process for using data to identify school needs and goals for change as well as for planning practical and effective solutions, and (c) a process for using, monitoring, and adapting solutions.
The PBIS Evaluation Blueprint provides guidance regarding the evaluation process, tools, and outcomes that guide both initial adoption and sustained use of PBIS. A goal of this Blueprint is to provide a suggested format, structure, and materials to support a wide range of evaluation plans.
Schools need meaningful data to identify a variety of needs and determine effectiveness of supports provided across tiers. This session will describe the various data used within the PBIS framework to select, monitor, and evaluate outcomes, practices, and systems at both the district and school level.
This webinar challenges current thinking about how to set appropriately ambitious and measurable behavioral goals in light of the 2017 Endrew F. v. Douglas County School District decision by the United States Supreme Court. In this webinar, presenters share how to set ambitious behavioral goals for students by using a valid, reliable progress monitoring measure, and how to write measurable and realistic goals focused on the replacement behavior. This webinar is a companion to the Strategies for Setting Data-Driven Behavioral Individualized Education Program Goals Guide.
A resource produced by the CPIR expressly for the Parent Center network, this webpage addresses 1 of the 14 topics prioritized by the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) at the U.S. Department of Education.
The guides are based on a 5-point multicomponent intervention described. This guide addresses use of data.
MTSS-Intensive
This series of behavioral strategies are intended to support teachers working with students with primary academic deficits and challenging behaviors. Each strategy incorporates key terminology, an overview of the purpose, and all associated materials. The strategies also integrate approaches for intensification for students with more challenging behaviors. Although teachers supporting students with the most challenging behaviors may be able to implement some of these strategies, these students will likely need support through a more comprehensive behavioral plan. The materials are organized around three overarching areas: antecedent modification, self-management, and reinforcement strategies.
Getting along with others, paying attention, following directions, making responsible decisions, and managing emotions are challenges for many students who require intensive intervention, and may be linked to difficulties with executive functioning, communication, behavior, and academic learning. In this webinar, presenters Mara Schanfield and Zach Weingarten shared an overview of how social emotional learning (SEL) relates to intensive intervention and offer sample strategies and resources for building social and emotional competencies for students in need of intensive learning, social, emotional, or behavioral supports.
Tier 3 Practices and Supports
The purpose of this practice guide is to assist Tier 3 Systems Teams, or combined Advanced Tiers (Tier 2 and 3) Systems Teams, in developing the foundational Tier 3 school-level systems features.
Tier 3 Student Level Systems support all students who are not responding to Tier 1 and Tier 2 supports and would benefit from intensive strategies matched to individual student needs. Student challenges may include behaviors that range from disruptive behaviors to aggression (externalizing) and/or suicidal ideation, depression, or anxiety (internalizing). These behaviors might be impacted by trauma or crisis situations (temporary or permanent) or driven by mental health needs. Tier 3 behavioral supports may be helpful for any student, no matter the (dis)ability, who needs support to meet intensive social, emotional, and behavioral needs. This guide can assist all educators with understanding the systems that must be established to support students with intensive needs.
MTSS-Targeted
The National Center on Intensive Intervention publishes this chart to assist educators and families in becoming informed consumers who can select behavioral interventions that best meet their individual needs. The Center's Technical Review Committee (TRC) on Behavioral Intervention independently established a set of criteria for evaluating the scientific rigor of studies demonstrating the efficacy of behavioral intervention programs. The TRC rated each submitted study against these criteria but did not compare it to other studies on the chart. The presence of a particular program on the chart does not constitute endorsement and should not be viewed as a recommendation from either the TRC on Behavior Intervention or the National Center on Intensive Intervention.
Recordings here include keynotes and presentations about PBIS concepts.
Overview of Tier 2 practices and systems.
This Practice Brief was developed as result of the roundtable dialogue that occurred at the 2019 PBIS Leadership Forum in Chicago, IL and provides an overview of the process of designing and implementing Tier 2 systems and practices within a Positive Behavioral Interventions & Supports (PBIS) framework. Approaching Tier 2 design from the district-level is encouraged; however, considerations and suggestions for schools implementing Tier 2 independent of a district-level initiative are included.
MTSS-UDL
On the Parent Center eLearning Hub, there are 3 capacity-building self-paced modules created by CITES for CPIR and for Parent Center staff. Reserved for Parent Center staff only, not available to the public, the modules are: an overview of technology for students with disabilities; considering technology in the UDL framework and; the accessible educational materials decision-making process.
This self-paced module examines the three principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and discusses how to apply these principles to the four curricular components (i.e., goals, instructional materials, instructional methods, and assessments).
MTSS-Universal
Effective instruction can be a protective factor for student wellness, mitigating competing risk factors. In this brief, we highlight key considerations and resources for educators to (a) create an effective context for learning, (b) emphasize appropriate content, and (c) use data-driven instructional practices to increase the likelihood that all students experience academic, social, emotional, and behavioral benefit.
This technical brief is based on the 5-point multicomponent approach to reduce disproportionality. This brief elaborates on point one, regarding academic instruction, by defining key principles of evidence-based instructional practices.
The Leadership Team Implementation Manual provides leadership teams with the resources, forms, and ideas to guide program-wide implementation of the Pyramid Model within classroom programs.
This guide provides guidance to educators implementing positive behavioral interventions and supports (PBIS) in the classroom across the continuum of student need. Educators regularly provide a range of supports for students in the classroom—from universal supports for all students to intensive and individualized supports for a few students. This guide will help educators familiar with PBIS organize classroom supports for preventing, teaching, and responding to students’ social, emotional, and behavioral (SEB) needs across the continuum.
This resource collection provides early childhood educators and administrators with practical strategies and materials to guide young children's social, emotional, and behavioral skill development.
This guide highlights 5 key practices for teachers and families to support all students, including students with disabilities, at school and home. For each practice, the guide provides (a) tips for teachers to support students with disabilities during instruction; (b) tips for families that educators can share to support or enhance learning at home, especially during periods of remote instruction; and (c) free-access resources that include strategies shown to be effective by research (e.g., informational guides, downloadable materials, research-based programs).
PBIS-BIP
This brief describes how educators use a function-based approach to (a) prevent contextually inappropriate behaviors and (b) teach and encourage social, emotional, and behavioral skills throughout the PBIS continuum of support. In addition, this brief highlights critical features of effective functional behavioral assessment (FBA) and behavior support plans (BSP).
PBIS-FBA
This manual presents procedures to train school-based personnel to conduct basic functional behavioral assessments (FBA) and design function-based behavior support plans (BSP).
This brief provides considerations for conducting and implementing functional behavior assessments (FBAs) and behavior intervention plans (BIPs) using virtual technology.
Recordings here include keynotes and presentations about FBA/BIP/BSP concepts.
This self-paced module explores the basic principles of behavior and the importance of discovering the reasons that students engage in problem behavior. The steps to conducting a functional behavioral assessment and developing a behavior plan are described in detail with interactive practice opportunities embedded throughout.
The purpose of this guide is to describe how school-based personnel can build and implement a continuum of function-based supports at Tier 3 that are designed to more effectively meet the needs of a broader range of students who struggle with persistent challenging behavior. This guide is intended to be a resource for individuals and teams with a working knowledge of Tier 3 who regularly design and implement supports for students with intensive needs.
The purpose of this practice guide is to help teams conduct a comprehensive functional behavior assessment, develop a function-linked behavior intervention/support plan, and make data-based decisions. Functional behavior assessments help teams to identify the relation of targeted serious and intense (i.e., challenging) behavior to the environmental events that occur before and after the behavior is performed.
PBIS-SWPBIS
Although research indicates that PBIS effectively promotes positive student outcomes and improves school climate and culture, little is known about the involvement in and effectiveness of PBIS for students with extensive support needs (ESN). Students with ESN include students with significant cognitive disabilities. In response to two calls for continued research focused on PBIS and students with ESN, we conducted this literature review to summarize the current literature. In this report, we present the characteristics of the literature and implications for practice and future research initiatives. The review identifies 10 studies that have been conducted since the first call to action. A majority of them examined stakeholder perspectives on the importance and availability of school-wide PBIS for students with ESN, with perceptions varying across stakeholders and PBIS elements.
This guide is designed to assist the early childhood mental health consultant, behavior specialist, or school psychologist in guiding preschool teachers, teams, and families in developing and implementing an individualized plan of support that results in a reduction of challenging behavior and the promotion of communication and social skills.
This presentation answers the questions: How can trauma-informed interventions enhance the PBIS/behavioral health system in schools? / When should trauma-informed approaches be used and at what tiers? / How can the core features of an Interconnected Systems Framework (ISF) support and guide the implementation of trauma-informed approaches in schools?
Schools implementing evidence-based practices need support systems to enable effectiveness and efficiency to enhance outcomes. PBIS schools establish working structures or operational procedures to organize, sustain, and scale implementation. This session will describe the foundational system features critical to successful school-wide implementation.
The key to improving school outcomes are the strategies utilized to support the students and adults at every level. This session will describe how data-driven PBIS teams emphasize the careful selection and integration of evidence-based practices or interventions into a continuum of effective behavior support.
This video provides an overview of the Pyramid Model as a PBIS framework for promoting young children’s social and emotional development and preventing and addressing challenging behavior.
The Pyramid Model provides a PBIS framework for promoting young children's social, emotional, and behavioral outcomes. This fact sheet provides information on the components of a program-wide approach.
Personnel Preparation to Address Social, Emotional, Behavioral Needs
Culturally and Linguistically Responsive Practices
This self-paced module offers a broad overview of how diversity (i.e., culture, language, exceptionality, and socioeconomic status) affects learning and how teachers can better meet the needs of all their students in their classes.
This self-paced module examines the ways in which culture influences the daily interactions that occur across all classrooms and provides practice for enhancing culturally responsive teaching.
This self-paced module offers an overview of young children who are dual language learners. Further, it highlights the importance of maintaining children and families’ home language at the same time they are learning a new or second language, discusses considerations for screening and assessing these children, and identifies strategies for supporting them in inclusive preschool classrooms.
This self-paced module helps teachers understand second language acquisition, the importance of academic English, and instructional practices that will enhance learning for English Learners.
School and Classroom Practices
NCII, through a collaboration with the University of Connecticut and the National Center on Leadership in Intensive Intervention and with support from the CEEDAR Center and PBIS Center, developed course content focused on enhancing educators’ skills in behavior support for intensive intervention. The course includes eight modules that can support faculty and professional development providers with instructing pre-service and in-service educators’ knowledge of behavioral theory and skills in designing and delivering effective behavioral supports for students with intensive needs.
This self-paced module addresses the importance of engaging the families of students with disabilities in their child’s education. It highlights some of the key factors that affect these families and outlines some practical ways to build relationships and create opportunities for involvement.
To support educators who are returning to in-person instruction this school year, The TIES Center is refreshing selected articles from the Distance Learning (DL) series. Refreshed articles will be identified as Pivot to In-Person Instruction (PI) articles. This article is an exception, in that it is a new addition, with a specific focus on supporting behavior at this unique time.
Professional Development to Address Social, Emotional, Behavioral Needs
Coaching
This manual provides a valuable resource that is full of tips and guidance for coaches as they implement practitioner coaching with classroom teachers related to the implementation social, emotional, and behavioral teaching practices with young children.
The Pyramid Model Equity Coaching Guide provides the classroom coach with a reflection tool to examine the implementation of Pyramid Model practices through the lens of culturally responsive practices and identification of implicit bias. The Pyramid Model Equity Coaching Guide is used within the collaborative coaching partnership and ongoing coaching activities to identify when there are equity concerns related to practice implementation. The tool provides: reflective questions that the coach uses to identify areas of concern; guidance for identifying the concern and supportive data; links for resources that might be used to address areas of concern and; conversation starters and strategies for supporting the coachee in addressing concerns.
The purpose of this guide is to provide leadership teams with guidance for implementing coaching within their programs. Leadership teams must develop a plan for three considerations in the implementation of coaching: 1) Getting Ready for Coaching; 2) Enacting Coaching, and 3) Evaluating Coaching.
This series covers a variety of topics related to implementing coaching to improve early childhood practitioners use of evidence-based practices.
Culturally and Linguistically Responsive Practices
This self-paced module offers a broad overview of how diversity (i.e., culture, language, exceptionality, and socioeconomic status) affects learning and how teachers can better meet the needs of all their students in their classes.
This self-paced module examines the ways in which culture influences the daily interactions that occur across all classrooms and provides practice for enhancing culturally responsive teaching.
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.
This field guide outlines an integrated framework to embed equity efforts into school-wide positive behavioral interventions and supports (SWPBIS) by aligning culturally responsive practices to the core components of SWPBIS. The goal of using this guide is to make school systems more responsive to the cultures and communities that they serve. This guide is part of a 5-point intervention approach for enhancing equity in student outcomes within a SWPBIS approach.
School and Classroom Practices
The purpose of this module is to gain foundational knowledge of what behavior is, how behavior is defined, and what environmental factors influence behavior. This foundational knowledge is core to understanding behavior, supporting students with challenging behavior, and later, diagnosing function of behavior and developing effective behavioral interventions.
A CPIR resource collection in 5 parts, this one addressing the question, "What does it mean to be a trauma-informed school?". This stand-alone webpage: includes information for educators about creating a trauma-informed classroom for their students; shares tools and training resources for schools to use in professional development; and ends with a sampling of self-assessment instruments for organizations, especially schools.
Clip charts have been a common classroom strategy for many years. Once considered an effective tool for displaying behavioral progress and adherence to classroom rules, they may not be as helpful as once thought. In this practice brief, we describe how such strategies are inconsistent with a PBIS approach and, more importantly, can be harmful. We also provide alternative strategies that are evidence based and more likely to improve student behavior while promoting a safe, positive classroom.
This self-paced module addresses the importance of engaging the families of students with disabilities in their child’s education. It highlights some of the key factors that affect these families and outlines some practical ways to build relationships and create opportunities for involvement.
The purpose of this training is to gain foundational knowledge of how all behavior serves a purpose or function. This foundational knowledge is core to understanding behavior, supporting students with challenging behavior, and diagnosing the function of behavior and developing effective behavioral interventions. This module introduces function of behavior and provides suggestions for how you can use this understanding within the context of a data-based individualization (DBI) process. While this module briefly mentions the role of a Functional Behavioral Assessment (FBA), this is not the focus of this module. This module builds on content covered in the Behavior Basics: Understanding Principles of Behavior module. While this module provides a brief review of behavior basics, we recommend ensuring participants have a complete understanding of behavior basics, prior to engaging with this presentation.
This practice brief describes how we (a) develop habits of effective classroom practice and (b) expand effective habits in our schools, districts, and states.
This training module introduces the Taxonomy of Intervention Intensity and describes how it supports the DBI process by helping provide explicit guidance on how to select and evaluate validated behavior intervention programs to best meet students’ needs and intensify or adapt those interventions when students or groups of students do not adequately respond.
Reducing Exclusionary Practices
Culturally and Linguistically Responsive Practices
This CPIR resource page spotlights high-quality resources useful to Parent Centers and other groups working within diverse communities (e.g., Hispanic, African-American, Native American, the foreign-born, or otherwise underserved, multicultural, or minority).
This issue of CPIR's newsletter begins by connecting subscribers with a Glossary of Cultural Terms. It also announces the launching of the first two tiers of learning in CPIR's Native American Resource Collection (Native Culture and Background, and Outreach to Native Communities) and the webinar CPIR conducted about the resource collection.
This CPIR-produced training module explains what disproportionality is, which students are most often affected, and the consequences disproportionality can and does have, especially on students with disabilities. The module includes a trainer's guide, handouts for participants, and 2 PowerPoint slideshows, all downloadable. Trainers can use these materials to inform audiences about: what IDEA requires states, districts, and schools to do to monitor for disproportionality in special education programs; what happens in a state that finds significant disproportionality in the state or in any of its districts/LEAs; and the correction actions that must be taken.
This self-paced module helps teachers understand second language acquisition, the importance of academic English, and instructional practices that will enhance learning for English Learners.
Restraint and Seclusion
This brief describes a school’s transformation from using ineffective and punitive disciplinary practices to implementing effective and proactive responses to behavior by installing the PBIS framework in a unique setting. Specifically, this demonstration highlights the work of the PBIS school leadership team at the American School for the Deaf (ASD) and describes ASD’s use of PBIS strategies in alignment with the Six Core Strategies© to reduce their use of restraint and seclusion.
Removing students from the classroom and placing them in remote instruction for their behavior is an emerging form of discipline (Jones, 2020). The purpose of this brief is to describe this form of discipline, examine its implications and potential negative impacts, and provide guiding principles for improving behavior through evidence-based approaches.
This evaluation brief (a) describes methods of a systematic review of state policy and legislation on R/S, (b) summarizes how R/S is addressed in state policy and legislation, (c) discusses the extent to which policy and legislation emphasizes alternatives to R/S, and (d) based on this review, provides considerations for preventing or reducing R/S, such as organizing a continuum of evidence-based prevention practices within a positive behavioral interventions and supports (PBIS) framework to address the use of R/S.
This document describes 15 principles for States, school districts, schools, parents, and other stakeholders to consider when developing or revising policies and procedures on the use of restraint and seclusion. These principles focus on positive and proactive approaches, such as those described in the resources below, that promote positive expectations for all students, support growth in social and emotional skills, provide timely and specific feedback to students on behaviors, and reinforce behavioral accomplishments.
Suspension and Expulsion
This document provides program leadership teams with guidance to support their efforts to eliminate suspension and expulsion and promote equitable, inclusive and culturally responsive practice in all early childhood settings including public and private schools and child care centers.
This document provides state leadership teams with guidance on how to prevent suspension and expulsion by integrating with existing efforts, including the Pyramid Model, Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS), and Quality Rating Improvement System (QRIS), inclusion, and State Systemic Improvement Plan (SSIP) efforts.
In this webinar, panelists discuss their implementation of the Pyramid Model with a focus on addressing equity and eliminating the use of exclusionary discipline practices.