ReACT Initial Efficacy: Testing the Effects of a Promising Intervention to Achieve Equity in School Discipline

Research shows that students of color, particularly African-American students, are at significantly increased risk for being excluded from instruction through office discipline referrals (ODRs) and suspensions. These disparities are troubling because of the negative effects of exclusionary discipline on academic achievement, graduation, and school climate. In this grant, researchers will evaluate the initial efficacy of ReACT, an IES-funded intervention designed to reduce racial discipline disparities. ReACT stands for Racial equity through: Assessing data for vulnerable decision points, Culturally responsive behavior strategies, and Teaching focus on implicit bias and strategies to neutralize it. In ReACT, all school personnel receive professional development and coaching through a problem-solving model to (a) identify which racial/ethnic groups are experiencing discipline disparities and find specific situations with the largest disparities (called vulnerable decision points, or VDPs), (b) select and implement a strategy-focused intervention package tailored to their school's VDPs, and (c) implement a universal strategy for school personnel and students to respond to challenges positively and instructionally. In the initial IES-funded pilot study, ReACT significantly decreased racial discipline disparities and exclusionary discipline for all students, in four schools compared to four control schools. This project will provide a more rigorous test of efficacy with a larger sample.

Austin, S. C., McIntosh, K., & Girvan, E. J. (2024). National patterns of vulnerable decision points in school discipline. Journal of School Psychology.

Markowitz, D., Kittelman, A., Girvan, E. J., Santiago-Rosario, M. R., & McIntosh, K. (in press, accepted 6-22-2023). Taking note of our biases: How language patterns reveal bias underlying the use of office discipline referrals in exclusionary discipline. Educational Researcher.