DISPARITY IN DISCIPLINARY ACTIONS WITH STUDENTS WITH EMOTIONAL DISTURBANCES IN U.S. PUBLIC SCHOOLS ✎
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The Ohio Department of Education defines Emotional Disturbances as, “An inability to build or maintain satisfactory interpersonal relationships with peers and teachers, presenting inappropriate types of behavior or feelings under normal circumstances and a general pervasive mood of unhappiness or depression.”
Now that there is a stated definition of what an Emotional Disturbance is, racial minority students with ED are at a much higher risk of unjust disciplinary actions in U.S public schools leading them into the school-to-prison pipeline. With that being said, this essay consists of a solution of what U.S. public schools can implement, and that is preventative measures as a response. Tara E. Nusz suggests a preventative measure, Functional behavioral Assessments (FBAs) as a preventative strategy in her article, National Survey of Current Practices in Functional Behavioral Assessment.
After meeting with a local Austin mom, Margarita, who has a son with varying emotional disturbances and other cognitive disabilities, she expressed her frustration with the lack of awareness and help from the school. Margarita has constantly had to move her son from school to school due to the lack of staff when it comes to dealing with a child with EDs and disabilities. Margarita thinks that schools put more of a focus on disciplining children as opposed to assessing the issue and developing a plan to better work with her son. Not to mention, she also feels that her son has not been able to get proper education due to these factors and has had no other option other than withdrawing her son from school. By schools not offering proper assessments and help with students who have EDs and disabilities, Margarita’s son has an increased likelihood of him being a part of the school to prison pipeline, due to his withdrawal from school. Thus, in the end, Nusx mentions that they developed an FBA to determine ” a collection of methods to gather information… determine reasons for behavior..design interventions to reduce problem behaviors.”
It is essential that we first understand why FBAs are important. Specifically, why they are important in aiding in disciplinary actions with students with emotional disturbances in U.S. public schools, which would potentially lead students with EDs into the school-to-prison pipeline. Nusz provides a definition of FBA as “ an assessment procedure that strives to discover the reason for, or function of, the problem behavior in an attempt to link specific environmental variables to effective intervention strategies”, having this assessment for students helps track early on what the root issue in disruptive behaviors. After identifying disruptive behaviors, the next step is to develop an action plan to improve or eliminate these behaviors. Having U.S. public schools assess students with FBAs, is preventing the school to prison pipeline by providing support for students and helping them develop strategies to combat disruptive behaviors during classes.
Some evidence of FBAs’ limitations is mentioned in Tara E. Nusz’s, National Survey of Current Practices in Functional Behavioral Assessment, “Drasgow and Yell (2001) conducted a national review of due process hearings that directly involved FBAs”, and it was there that it was discovered that FBAs had 14 cases in which they were the main dispute conducted by schools. Nusz includes the result of these 14 cases regarding FBAs, “Ninety-four percent (13 out of 14 cases) of the rulings favored the parents. In 11 of the cases, the school districts did not conduct an FBA when it was required. In three hearings, hearing officers ruled against school districts because the IEP team conducted an inadequate FBA.”, which adds to the limitation of schools not knowing when to adequately assess students. And whether or not the developed plan will be the best-suited choice to help the student.
To view Margarita’s video interview: ↴