.

1. Leticia Smith-Evans
Milaney Leverson
Kent Smith
Culturally Relevant Practices and PBIS

2. Your Presenters
 Leticia Smith-Evans; NAACP Legal Defense Fund
 lsevans@naacpldf.org
 Milaney Leverson; Eau Claire Area School District
 mleverson@ecasd.k12.wi.us
 Kent Smith; WI PBIS Network, Eau Claire Area School
District
 smithk@wisconsinpbisnetwork.org

3. Important Definitions
 ODR – Office
Discipline Referral
 OSS – Out of
School Suspension
 SES – Socio-
economic Status
 CRT – Culturally
Relevant Teaching
 Cultural Capital –
Ways of behaving,
talking, interacting
valued by dominant
society.
 Culture – similar
language, beliefs,
norms, values,
behaviors and
material objects held
by a unique group of
people.

4. What is Culturally Responsive
Practice?
 Congruent behaviors, attitudes and policies that come
together;
 In a system, agency or among professionals.
 To work effectively in cross-cultural situations.
 The capacity to function effectively in cultural contexts that
differ from your own.
 Awareness of your culture and the influence it has on
those around you.

5. When did segregation end?
(Skiba, et al, 2011)
 Brown v. Board of Education
 “with all deliberate speed…”
 Alexander v. Holmes County Board of Education
 “There is no reason why such a wholesale deprivation of
constitutional rights should be tolerated another minute.”
*

6. Why do we talk about this?
National and State Data showing need for CR
Practices

9. 0.0%
20.0%
40.0%
60.0%
80.0%
100.0%
120.0%
% Enrollment 08-09 Suspension % 08-09 Attendance Rate 08-09 HS Completion
Rate
District 1 (~15000)
Black
Hispanic
White

13. Culturally Relevant Teaching and PBIS
 School discipline rates are at their all time highs:
 Students are being removed from school at nearly double the rate of the early 1970s.
 2006 projections from US Dept. of Education:
 3.3 MILLION students suspended at least once each year.
 109,000 students EXPELLED each year.
http://ocrdata.ed.gov

14. More reasons
 2006 Projections from US Dep’t of Ed.:
 African-American students nearly 3 times as likely to be suspended
and 3.5 times as likely to be expelled as white peers.
 Latino students 1.5 times as likely to be suspended and twice as
likely to be expelled as white peers.
http://ocrdata.ed.gov

15. Common Justifications
This is a result
of negative peer
culture.
It is about poor
parenting who
don't value
education.
It's about a lack
of resources
and classroom
size.
Itn's not race;
it's poverty.
There are a few
difficult students
who drive the
data.
These are
students from
poor
communities.

16. Frequent Offenses
White students:
 Smoking
 Vandalism
 Leaving without
permission
 Obscene language
 Objective Offenses
African-American students:
 Disrespect
 Excessive noise
 Threat
 Loitering
 Subjective Offenses

17. Conclusions and Implications
(as posed by Skiba, et al, 2011)
 Disproportionality begins at referral.
 Administrative consequences appear to be distributed rationally in
general.
 But when disaggregated, see significant disproportionality.
 African American and Latino students are more likely to receive
harsher punishment for same ODR than white students.

18. WHAT DO WE DO ABOUT IT?

19. Understand the context
 Stereotyping & unconscious bias.
 Cultural disconnect.
 Misperceived actions on the part of both students and educators.
 Lack of proper professional development in culturally responsive teaching, de-
escalation, etc.
 WE STILL CAN’T TALK ABOUT RACE!

20. However…
 Things we were taught in the past such as:
 Not talking about race.
 Not SEEING color (“my classroom is colorblind”).
 Not talking about differences.
 Not being aware of what the practitioner’s background brings to the
class.
 Not attending to the presence and role of whiteness.
…ALL contribute to the problem

21. PBIS addresses School Wide Behaviors, but does not
impact the classroom level systems without direct
instruction.
Development of Universal supports for behavior lay
foundation for Academic supports that take place in the
same setting.
Culturally Relevant Instruction is not only best practice
but essential to the success of ALL students.
Is one part of reducing disproportionate representation in
discipline data.

23. A THREE TIERED APPROACH
*

24. UNIVERSAL LEVEL
 Embedding Culturally Relevant Teaching
practices in Classroom and School-wide
expectations and instruction.
 Frequent Review of Data.
 Examine practice and challenge the
status quo.

25. At the Universal Level: Pre-Teach Critical Concepts
Every person has a cultural and racial Identity
Staff MUST respond actively and positively to
changing social, economic and cultural patterns
Behavioral standards are tied to the dominant
culture
Behavioral interventions that are culturally
responsive are more effective
It is ESSENTIAL to teach the "cultural
captial" to succeed

26. And…
 Teachers intend the best for their students.
 Cultural mismatches MUST be examined before
selecting a behavior intervention as they can lead
to inappropriate behavior.
 Behavior occurs in a context;
 the relationship between the student, teacher, peers,
classroom, instruction and material.
 It is easy to misinterpret or misread behavior.
 Parent and family involvement is CRUCIAL for
success.

27. Cultural mismatches MUST be examined before
selecting a behavioral intervention as they can
lead to inappropriate behavior
Parent and family involvement is critical for
success
Realize that behavior occurs in a a context and is
easy to misinterpret
And…

28. Setting the stage at Universal
Guiding Questions Linked to Classroom
Systems and Universal School-wide Systems

29. Practitioner Culture:
What cultural expectations do you bring to the
educational setting?
 What is your culture in relation to education, interactions and
school?
 (values, beliefs, traditions, customs, worldview, conversational
styles, non-verbal language and parenting styles).
 What are the historic experiences/implications of your culture?
 What are the differences/dissonances between your culture and
the student’s?
 Are you expecting one-way accommodation from the student for
any cultural differences? Why?
 What accommodations are you expecting?

30. Student’s Culture:
What cultural expectations does the student
bring to the educational setting?
 What is the student’s culture in relation to education,
interactions and school?
 (values, beliefs, traditions, customs, worldview, conversational
styles, non-verbal language and parenting styles).
 What are the historic experiences/implications of the
student’s culture?
 What are the cultural characteristics of this student that are
strengths in the educational environment?
 What have you determined to be motivating & reinforcing to
this student?
 What are the parents’/caretakers’ view on the student’s
behaviors of concern?

31. Good Teachers
 Teach students - not a subject or grade level.
 Maximize academic learning time.
 Have students earning their own achievement.
 Keep students actively engaged in learning.
 High quality and rigorous instruction and high
expectations for ALL students.

32. Good Teachers
 Clearly state positive expectations.
 Create a climate of positive expectations for all.
 Establish effective management techniques.

34. DATA, DATA, DATA
*

35. The BIG 5 + 2
 At each team meeting, recall your Tier I training to review
the Big 5 and look for patterns.
 Deeper data analysis allows for the disaggregation of data;
 By subgroups: race, SPED status, SES.
 Review of patterns DOES NOT imply a quick a fix.

36. Screening Tools
 A measure should be used for students who are
“internalizers”;
 No externalizing behaviors show up in ODR data, but
teachers have concerns.
 Such tools should be systemic in use as well as well
researched with regards to cultural bias.
 Screening data is considered along with Big 5 + 2 and
ODR data on student for pattern.

37. Parent/Family Involvement
 Parent/family involvement is essential at the beginning, but
even more so as need for intervention increases.
 Schools must value families and whatever level of support
they have to offer.
 Script/Consent process
 Vital at entrance to Tier II intervention for the family to
understand HOW the intervention works as well as their role
in the intervention.

38. Culturally Relevant Practice Checklist
(Initially referred to as Mismatch Checklist)
 Brief interview between school and family.
 Gauges family PERCEPTION of mismatch.
 Geared to gather the family’s perspective on:
 Student/school relationship.
 Student/classroom relationship.
 Behavior concerns.

39. Checklist continued…
 Provides starting point for discussions based on degree of
mismatch;
 Then utilizes the guiding questions to determine how to
enhance practice.
 Becomes paramount as a student moves into higher tier
interventions and wraparound is considered.
 Enhances partnership and communication.

41. Family involvement should increase as
need increases
 Functional Behavioral Assessment (FBA) helps us
understand WHAT the student is getting from the behavior.
 Need family perception:
 Why the behavior continues.
 What the student gets from the behavior.
 FBA is about changing our system to modify student
behavior. Perception is vital.

42. Wraparound
 Teams members selected by the family
 Include natural supports, not just school staff.
 Team should reflect family values based on their
perceptions of what is important to them and respecting
their natural supports.
 Progress on goals is based on measures of perception
and data (ODR, DPR, attendance, grades, etc.)

43. ACTIVITY
 In next slide, consider the information presented.
 How do you address this information with staff?
 How do you start creating change based on this one piece of
information?
Record your thoughts and impressions in your reflection
journal.
*

45. Culturally Relevant Practices in PBIS…
…is emerging. There is no “best practice”… YET.
 Research shows that CRT practices must be a part of a
system for lasting effect.

46. Resources
smithk@wisconsinpbisnetwork.org
mleverson@ecasd.k12.wi.us
 Suspended Education
 www.splcenter.org/get-
informed/publications/suspended-education
 APA Zero Tolerance Report
 www.apa.org/ed/cpse/zttfreport.pdf
 PBIS Indiana
 www.indiana.edu/~pbisin

47. Credits
 http://www.naacpldf.org
 Guiding Questions: Lisa Bardon, PhD. University of
Wisconsin – Stevens Point
 Cultural checklist: Eau Claire Area School District adapted
from University of Wisconsin – Green Bay