Addressing Discipline Disparities for Black Male Students: Linking Malleable Root Causes to Feasible and Effective Practices

• Published in: School psychology review Vol. 47; no. 2; pp. 135 - 152
• Main Authors: Cook, Clayton R., Duong, Mylien T., McIntosh, Kent, Fiat, Aria E., Larson, Madeline, Pullmann, Michael D., McGinnis, Jenna
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Bethesda Taylor & Francis 01.06.2018; National Association of School Psychologists; Taylor & Francis Ltd
• Subjects: Action Research; African American Students; Behavior Problems; Bias; Black students; Case Studies; Classroom management; Classroom Techniques; Discipline disparities; Discipline Problems; disproportionality; Disproportionate Representation; Educational Environment; Educational psychology; Elementary Schools; Empathy; exclusionary discipline; Faculty Development; Fidelity; Inservice training; Intervention; Learner Engagement; Males; malleable root cause factors; Positive Behavior Supports; Program Effectiveness; Program Implementation; Punishment; Questionnaires; Rating Scales; Referral; Responses; School discipline; School environment; Self Control; Statistical Analysis; Student Behavior; Teacher Attitudes; Teacher Student Relationship; Teachers; United States > US
• ISSN: 2372-966X; 0279-6015; 2372-966X
• DOI: 10.17105/SPR-2017-0026.V47-2

Longstanding discipline disparities for Black male students are associated with untoward outcomes and necessitate feasible and effective school-based solutions. This study examined the efficacy of GREET-STOP-PROMPT (GSP) as a low-cost, potentially high-yield strategy designed to intervene on putative malleable root causes proximal to teacher-student interactions. GSP relies on three core components to mitigate proximal causes of exclusionary discipline decisions, including: (a) proactive classroom management strategies; (b) a self-regulation technique to mitigate the impact of teacher biases on the response to problem behavior; and (c) reactive strategies to increase empathic, consistent, and appropriate responses to problem behavior. Overall, results from a single case experimental concurrent multiple baseline design across schools indicated that the GSP strategy yielded systematic reductions in risk ratios. More specifically, these results showed that the likelihood of Black male students receiving an office referral was cut by two thirds following implementation of the GSP strategy. In addition, findings from this study indicated that Black male students' self-reported school connections significantly improved from pre- to postintervention. Implications, limitations, and future directions of the results are discussed.