{"id":71781,"date":"2022-06-01T09:13:00","date_gmt":"2022-06-01T14:13:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/casel.dev\/?post_type=blogposts&#038;p=71781"},"modified":"2025-10-15T12:49:34","modified_gmt":"2025-10-15T17:49:34","slug":"we-need-more-than-equity-intentions-to-guide-discipline-reforms","status":"publish","type":"blogposts","link":"https:\/\/casel.org\/blog\/we-need-more-than-equity-intentions-to-guide-discipline-reforms\/","title":{"rendered":"We Need More Than Equity Intentions to Guide Discipline Reforms"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"key-points\"><strong>Key Points<\/strong><\/h2><a class=top href=\"#top\">Back to top<\/a>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Intentions alone are insufficient to address the systemic issues in school discipline, as excluding students from classrooms often worsens outcomes, particularly for marginalized groups.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Disparities in school discipline, especially affecting African American, Native American, and disabled students, reflect and perpetuate institutionalized racism and inequity.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>To truly eradicate discipline disparities, schools must center equity by confronting historical oppression, fostering cultural responsiveness, and integrating comprehensive social-emotional supports.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p>All too often, educators have the best of intentions in supporting student behavior and increasing equity in their schools. Yet, we need more than intentions. In our recent publication \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1080\/2372966X.2020.1861911\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Good Intentions Are Not Enough: Centering Equity in School Discipline Reform<\/a>,\u201d my co-authors and I point to a systemic problem in how challenging behavior is perceived, reinforced, and addressed. Sending students out of classrooms and schools remains a \u201cgo to\u201d response for many schools. Suspended students lose valuable instructional time. Being excluded from school can catalyze worse outcomes, including drop out and arrest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The dual pandemics of COVID-19 and racism underscore concerns that racial disparities in school discipline will widen over the coming years. This will likely occur if educators take a reactive and punitive approach to students \u201cacting out\u201d their grief, loss, and racial trauma. Spanning the last three decades, studies have shown that suspensions are not meted out evenly across student groups. African-American students, Native American students, and students with disabilities receive disproportionate exclusionary discipline relative to their peers. Ultimately, disparities in discipline reflect and reinforce institutionalized racism and marginalization of students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Well-intentioned discipline reforms are widespread throughout the nation. Schools are implementing Schoolwide Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (SWPBIS), social and emotional learning (SEL), and restorative practices (RP)\u2014separately and in combination. Each of these initiatives hold promise:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>SWPBIS<\/strong>: Reducing reprimands and praising positive behavior may reduce the fraying of trust and relationships among marginalized students and educators.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>SEL<\/strong>: Increasing the social-emotional competencies of both students and adults may increase social awareness among diverse groups and foster perspective-taking about structural inequalities and racism.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>RP<\/strong>: Building community, strengthening relationships, and repairing harm may increase belonging and reduce exclusionary discipline.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>In \u201cGood Intentions Are Not Enough,\u201d we point out that the promise of these approaches to eradicate disparities will not be realized if equity is not at the center of efforts. School discipline reform is often implemented without addressing existing structural and cultural factors that undermine and contribute to the replication of inequity. Centering equity in school discipline reform asks educators to boldly:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"1-recognize-and-confront-sociohistorical-and-structural-conditions-of-oppression\"><strong>1) Recognize and confront sociohistorical and structural conditions of oppression.<\/strong><\/h2><a class=top href=\"#top\">Back to top<\/a>\n\n\n\n<p>Schools are impacted by the continuing legacy of racialized violence that relies on racial\/ethnic stereotypes. Stereotypes can justify, normalize, and perpetuate criminalizing interactions and structures in schools. A perceived threat to white majority status quo can lead to punitive discipline practices and tactics for social control (e.g., surveillance) in communities and schools with high percentages of people of color. Discipline reforms play a pivotal role in disrupting the school-to-prison pipeline and offering access to supportive SEL-oriented school environments for youth who are criminalized.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"2-incorporate-cultural-relevancy-responsiveness-competence-and-bias-awareness\"><strong>2) Incorporate cultural relevancy\/responsiveness, competence, and bias awareness.<\/strong><\/h2><a class=top href=\"#top\">Back to top<\/a>\n\n\n\n<p>Rituals, policies, and institutionalized processes can contribute to disconnects and adversities that fray the bonds between culturally and linguistically diverse students and their schools. Cultural well-being and inclusion need to be actively nurtured. For example, students need opportunities for self-reflection and sharing about their lives and society. Recognizing and building upon students\u2019 cultural resources can increase a sense of belonging, engagement, and interconnection among students and their educators\u2014a key way to prevent destructive conflict from arising in the first place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"3-integrate-complementary-approaches-to-develop-social-emotional-and-behavioral-competencies\"><strong>3) Integrate complementary approaches to develop social-emotional and behavioral competencies.<\/strong><\/h2><a class=top href=\"#top\">Back to top<\/a>\n\n\n\n<p>Environmental stress, trauma, and adversities impact students. All too often, supports are inadequate and implemented in a disconnected manner\u2014especially within under-resourced schools serving low-income neighborhoods. In response, schools are striving for integrated, coordinated, and tailored supports to strengthen students\u2019 coping and problem-solving skills. They are moving beyond narrow programming and blending SEL, reinforcement of positive behavior, and a focus on strengthening adult-student relationships.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"4-implement-instructional-reforms-that-address-opportunity-gaps\"><strong>4) Implement instructional reforms that address opportunity gaps.<\/strong><\/h2><a class=top href=\"#top\">Back to top<\/a>\n\n\n\n<p>Access to rigor and motivating conditions for learning needs to go hand in hand with relational, SEL, and behavioral supports. When students do not experience safety, belonging, <em>and<\/em> engaging instruction, they are less likely to invest in community and repairing harm. As such, efforts to eradicate opportunity gaps and discipline gaps should be interconnected.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Now more than ever, we need to center equity in our discipline processes. It is time to double down and build inclusive, equitable communities that value academic engagement and foster trusting, supportive relationships.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>The views in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of CASEL.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em><strong>Anne Gregory, Ph.D. <\/strong>is a professor in School Psychology at Rutgers University. Dr. Gregory is driven by an urgency to eradicate racial and gender disparities in discipline. She examines restorative practices and equity-oriented social and emotional learning.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Related Posts<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/casel.org\/blog\/the-overlooked-inequity\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">The Overlooked Inequity<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/casel.org\/blog\/skills-based-hiring-is-the-right-first-step-for-building-equity-and-opportunity-for-young-talent\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Skills-Based Hiring Is the Right First Step for Building Equity and Opportunity for Young Talent<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/casel.org\/blog\/a-preview-of-state-policy-bright-spots-sel-and-equity\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">A Preview of &#8220;State Policy Bright Spots: SEL and Equity&#8221;<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"write-for-us\"><strong>Write for Us<\/strong><\/h2><a class=top href=\"#top\">Back to top<\/a>\n\n\n\n<p>Are you interested in writing for CASEL\u2019s blog,&nbsp;<em>Constellations<\/em>?&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/docs.google.com\/document\/d\/1zSZFveKA8xsmlCADpfDP8t-y9emN0qswHQh1MnfmqBI\/edit\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Learn more<\/a>&nbsp;about what we\u2019re looking for and how to pitch your idea!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Key Points Back to top All too often, educators have the best of intentions in supporting student behavior and increasing equity in their schools. Yet, we need more than intentions. In our recent publication \u201cGood Intentions Are Not Enough: Centering Equity in School Discipline Reform,\u201d my co-authors and I point to a systemic problem in [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26603,"featured_media":71783,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","theme":[201],"class_list":["post-71781","blogposts","type-blogposts","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","theme-deep-dives"],"acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/casel.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/blogposts\/71781","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/casel.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/blogposts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/casel.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/blogposts"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/casel.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/26603"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/casel.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=71781"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/casel.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/71783"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/casel.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=71781"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"theme","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/casel.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/theme?post=71781"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}