Student Support Services Student Discipline (Extension of January - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Student Support Services

Student Discipline

(Extension of January Presentation on Progressive Discipline)

Across the country, school discipline has been:

• Repeatedly described as a priority concern

for teachers, principals and parents.

• The subject of community and public

discussion and perception.

• Cited as a reason for teacher turnover.
• Discussed as a major contributor to overall

school climate.

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Student Discipline is a balance…

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• Seriousness of ensuring student

safety and maintaining a safe/

• rderly learning environment
• Allowing students to learn

appropriate behavior

Between 2011/2012 and 2012/13 school years:

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• High School – 4.1% point

reduction

• Middle School – 4.3% point

reduction

• Elementary - .5% point increase

Percentage of students who were suspended at least one time

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Georgia: Absences in 9th Grade/Graduation Rate 4 Years Later

• 0 absences
• 76.32%
• 6-10 absences
• 11-14 absences
• 15 or more absences
• 74.94%
• 50.98%
• 0-5 absences
• 26.2%
• 64.04%

Georgia Department of Education

What are we doing in APS to address the behavioral needs of students?

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Continuous Improvement Plan (CIP)

• Each school developed a plan for continuous

improvement

• Schools that had 10% of their entire student

body or any subgroup with more than 10 days of suspensions were required to develop action steps to improve student behavior and reduce suspensions.

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Student Support Teams (SST)

• Required team at each school according to

Georgia DOE Requirement

• Also known as Tier 3 in the Georgia Pyramid of Interventions
• Provides a brainstorming process for students who need

interventions (academic or behavioral)

• Includes research-based interventions, progress monitoring tools

and progress monitoring data

• Intervention Bank developed and posted on Sharepoint
• Multiple, ongoing trainings were provided to a wide variety of

personnel

• Principals
• Counselors
• School Psychologists
• Special Education Lead Teachers
• SST Chairpersons
• Training re-delivered in schools

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Student Action Teams

(Professional Learning Community)

• Cross Disciplinary Teams
• Social Workers, Graduation Coaches, School

Counselors, Behavior Specialists

• Meet bi-weekly to coordinate their efforts to

support students

• Three training sessions for the cross disciplinary

teams this year.

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Behavior Specialists - Interventions

• 14 Full-Time Employees with certifications in

Counseling, Teaching, Leadership, Social Work, or School Psychology

• Serve 28 Schools
• Schools chosen based on an analysis of data
• 15 High Schools
• 10 Middle Schools
• 1 Elementary School
• 2 Alternative Schools
• Cohorts of 25 students with the greatest

average number of suspension days

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Schools with Behavior Specialists - Interventions

High Schools

• BEST High
• Carver Arts
• Carver Health Sciences
• Carver Technology
• Douglass High
• Grady High
• Jackson High
• Mays High
• North Atlanta
• South Atlanta Health & Medical
• South Atlanta Law & Social

Justice

• Therrell Health Science &

Research

• Therrell STEMS
• Washington Banking
• Washing Health

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Middle Schools

• BEST Middle
• Brown Middle
• Coretta Scott King Middle
• Harper-Archer Middle
• Long Middle
• Martin Luther King Jr. Middle
• Bunche Middle
• Coan Middle
• Inman Middle
• Sylvan Middle

Elementary School

• Dunbar Elementary

Alternative Schools

• Crim
• Forest Hills

Behavior Specialists - Interventions

• Provide two meaningful interactions with each

student weekly such as:

• Check In Check out
• Group Sessions
• Reviewing incidents with students
• Goal Setting
• Behavior Contract
• Funded through re-directed federal special

education funds due to suspension disproportionality “I’m not your Behavior Specialist. I’m your Student Advocate.”

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Moving Forward

• Continue current activities
• Use this semester and the summer for

foundation building activities to:

• Implement Positive Behavioral Interventions

and Supports in 10-20 schools during the 2014-2015 school year

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Moving Forward

• Implement a cross-disciplinary Steering

Committee to support schools

• Principals
• Teachers
• Central Office Administrators
• Parents
• Students
• Analyze the ongoing efforts across the district to

help provide support and direction to our schools

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Moving Forward

Specific recommendations for additional support structures and interventions will be made during the FY15 budget approval process.

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