Positive Behavior Intervention
Supports (PBIS) Forum
“School-Wide PBIS: Implementing a
Continuum of Effective Systems &
Practices”
October 8-9, 2009
Rosemont, Illinois
Ensuring Cultural Relevancy in
Intervention
Gwendolyn Cartledge
The Ohio State University
Cartledge.1@osu.edu
Introduction
A letter from a concerned parent
A consultation to a concerned assistant
superintendent of a large urban district.
PBIS resulted in fewer office disciplinary
referrals
Numbers of referrals for African American
males still too high
Why minority (African American)
males?
Research literature: males, regardless of
race/ethnicity more likely than females to be
identified for disciplinary and special education
referrals
Assessment instruments for social and
problem behaviors give separate gender
scales, with more allowances for males than
females (e.g., Walker Problem Behavior Scale 22 boys; 12 girls for problem behavior
classification)
Need to resist overly simplistic
explanations such as:
1.Boys are exceptionally bad,
or
2. School personnel is racist
Issue is quite complex, involving
factors such as:
Poverty
Cultural discontinuities or
misperceptions
Minority status within the school
Academic failure
Inadequate classroom management
Lack of will to address race or do
something different
Data from One Elementary School:
Frequent Repeaters (Need to recognize what we are doing does
not work)
15 or more referrals (16 students)
5-14 referralsm (16 students)
1-4 referrals (9 students)
80
70
Number of office referrals
Year 1
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Sep. Oct. Nov. Dec. Jan. Feb. Mar. Apr. May. Sep. Oct. Nov. Dec. Jan. Feb. Mar. Apr. May
00
00
00
00
01
01
01
01
01
01
01
01
01
02
02
02
02
02
Month
Understanding Gender
Ann Arnett Ferguson Bad Boys.
Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press
Classroom Disruption:
Display power by disrupting class and calling attention
to self
• Making noise, noncompliance, joking, talking, etc.
Challenges and may even topple authority - particularly
if teacher is female
Will play for audience - peers more important than adults
• Teacher writes: “Whoever taught these students
when they were young must have been dumb.”
• Student responds: “Oh, I didn’t remember that was
you teaching me in the first grade.”
• Everyone cracks up.
Boys more likely to get attention from the teacher &
applause from peers
Girls more likely to be sidelined by teachers and peers
Fighting:
Physical aggression is a “male thing,”
viewed as way to solve conflict, do not see
themselves as bullies or aggressors
Little trust that teachers are able to solve
their conflicts
“Fighting emblematic ritual performance of
male power” - normal social behavior.
• Applauded by various cultures
• Embraced by academically unsuccessful
(Troublemakers) who are socialized to be
aggressive, eg., “Don’t let others take advantage of
you;” Don’t be a punk.”
• Behavior feared by schools and thus, students
treated more harshly. (Ferguson)
School orientation begins to dwindle at
about the 4th grade. Boys begin to seek
other means to affirm themselves,
perhaps due more to hostile school
climate than to peer pressure. (Ferguson)
Many African American males at a
relatively early age decide that the
existing schooling will not enable them to
achieve socially desired rewards - nothing
to lose. (Noguera)
When removal from classroom life
begins at an early age, it is even more
devastating, as human possibilities
are stunted at a crucial formative
period of life. Each year the gap in
skills grows wider and more
handicapping, while the overall
process of disidentification …
encourages those who have problems
to leave school rather than resolve
them in an educational setting
(Ferguson, p. 230).
Cultural Competence
Ways in which schools aggravate
social adjustment problems of
culturally diverse learners:
Monocultural curriculum (fail to recognize
background of culturally diverse learner)
Individualistic/competitive environments
Disproportionate disciplinary referrals with
harsher penalties
More restrictive educational placements
Low expectations
School personnel need to view
themselves as agents of change
and should take action in
More effective instruction/early
interventions
More effective classroom
management
Teaching the desired social behaviors
Developing greater cultural
competence
Culturally responsive disciplined
schools are those that
Evidence caring, fairness, behavior
management, affirmations, social skill
instruction, and commitment (Cartledge et
al., 2009).
Genuinely attempt to involve African
American parents in school rather than
simply call to express behavior and
attendance concerns. (Boyd & Correa, 2005)
Some Recommendations
Read and discuss some professional works on
school age black male culture with references
such as the following:
• Ferguson, A.A. (2001). Bad boys: Public schools in the making
of black masculinity. Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan.
• Milner, H.R. (2007). African American males in urban
schools: No excuses—Teach and empower. Theory into
Practice, 46(3), 239-246.
• Moore, J.L., & Owens, D. (2009). Educating and counseling
African American students: Recommendations for teachers
and school counselors. In The SAGE handbook of African
American education, L.C. Tillman, Ed. (pp. 351-381).
Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.
Make social skill instruction
culturally specific by:
Selecting skills that are
socially valid to the learner.
For example, teach students
how to express concern
appropriately over unfair
disciplinary actions.
Use the learner’s culture to
inform the instruction.
Use culturally specific materials such as a
workbook by Mychal Wynn (1992) to study
specific traits of black males in your
classrooms.
Conduct series of school-based in-service
sessions to review school’s disciplinary
policies relative to
A. Policy ambiguities
B. Fairness of consequences
C. Alternatives to suspensions
Involve students (including black males with
disciplinary histories) in discussions of
disciplinary policies to determine fair,
equitable procedures. Emphasize student
ownership
Recommendations con’t
Consider innovative projects such as The
Father’s Circle as initiated by
Montgomery County Schools,
Maryland that can be seen at the
following link Retrieved July 23, 2009.
November-December 2007,
http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org
/departments/itv/ITV_Webcasts_Cover
ToCover.shtm
References
Boyd, B.A., & Correa, V.I. (2005). Developing a framework for reducing the
cultural clash between African American parents and the special education
system. Multicultural Perspectives, 7(2), 3-11.
Cartledge, G., Gardner, R., Ford, D. (2009). Diverse learners with exceptionalities:
Culturally responsive teaching in the inclusive classroom. Upper Saddle River,
NJ: Pearson.
Day-Vines, N.L., & Day-Hairston, B.O. (2005). Culturally congruent strategies for
addressing the behavioral needs of urban, African American male adolescents,
Professional School Counseling, 8(3), 236-244.
Day-Vines, N.L., & Terriquez, V. (2008). A strengths-based approach to promoting
prosocial behavior among African American and Latino students. Professional
School Counseling,12(2), 170-175.
Ferguson, A.A. (2001). Bad boys: Public schools in the making of black
masculinity. Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan.
Lo, Y., & Cartledge, G. (2007). Office disciplinary referrals in an urban
elementary school. Multicultural Learning and Teaching, 2(1), 20-38.
Nevarez, C., & Wood, J.L. (2007). Developing urban school leaders:
Building on solutions 15 years after the Los Angeles riots. Educational
Studies, 42(3), 266-280.
Noguera, P.A. (2003). Schools, prisons, an social implications of
punishment: Rethinking disciplinary practices. Theory Into Practice,
42, 341-350.
Wynn, M. (1992). Empowering African-American males to succeed: A tenstep approach for parents and teachers. Marietta, GA: Rising Sun
Publishing
Thank You!
Gwendolyn Cartledge
cartledge.1@osu.edu