In education, equity is "when educational policies, practices, interactions, and resources are representative of, constructed by, and responsive to all people so that each person has access to, meaningfully participates in, and experiences success through high-quality learning environments that recognize and honor individual characteristics and group identities (adapted from Fraser, 2008; Great Lakes Equity Center, 2024).”1
There are different aspects of equitable supports in education, such as access to high-quality and safe learning environments, getting the supports that each student needs, and representation in in special education or gifted and talented programs. In PBIS, the most common outcome is equitable school discipline, or the reduction of risk for exclusionary discipline such as office discipline referrals and suspensions based on individual characteristics like gender, race/ethnicity, and/ or special education status.
Instead of ineffective approaches, such as one-time events or disconnected initiatives, PBIS teams are more likely to achieve equitable school discipline when they add explicit goals to their action plans. Equitable supports work best as a multi-component approach embedded within their existing PBIS system.
The five components of equitable supports within a PBIS framework are:
A foundational component of any effective practice is using data to
This element of PBIS is even more central for assessing and addressing equitable systems. Any school or district committed to reducing discipline inequities should adopt data systems that can disaggregate student data by disability, gender, and race/ethnicity and provide instantaneous access to these data for both school and district teams. However, simply having access to disaggregated data is not enough to move the needle. Educators need to understand the various ways to measure discipline disparities, including how they are calculated and what they tell us.
School systems can either reflect a biased society or provide a protective buffer against it. To make it a protective place, teams should adopt a behavior framework that is preventive, instructional, and flexible enough to be tailored to the strengths, needs, and values of its students, families, and community. PBIS can be implemented with fidelity only when it is adapted to fit the local context, which means attending directly to aspects of context and culture.
Resource: PBIS Cultural Responsiveness Field Guide: Resources for Trainers and Coaches
Disparities in academic achievement are commonly called the achievement gap. This label implies the challenge lies within the student, when really it’s a lack of opportunity for effective instruction causing the divide. It is more instructive to call this disparity the opportunity gap. Teams can ensure each student group has equitable access to engaging instruction by including these four components
Resource: Examples of Engaging Instruction to Increase Equity in Education
Even policies making no mention of student identity (e.g., zero-tolerance discipline codes) can exacerbate inequities because of their impact on student-teacher interactions. Instead, administrators and policymakers should adopt policies with clear definitions and discipline procedures, replace harmful practices with instructional responses to unwanted behavior, and install accountability for improving outcomes.
Research increasingly shows the influence of implicit bias on classroom and school discipline decisions.[2],[3]There are strategies educators can use to identify and neutralize their implicit biases before they affect decision making, including
Making systems equitable is Tier 1 work. Teams cannot address inequitable student outcomes by providing Tier 2 and 3 supports to students from groups who are disproportionately excluded from the classroom.
For most schools and districts, the very first step to start addressing these issues will be to examine discipline data to assess disproportionality and identify an existing team that will build a plan and monitor progress.
It may seem daunting to mobilize schools to address a societal challenge. However, schools are the best place to provide environments where each student feels welcome, safe, and encouraged. At the same time, they are the best places to teach each student how to be a caring and productive citizens in a diverse, multicultural society. We now have the research available to demonstrate that the specific steps to make equitable systems a reality through PBIS.
There are many resources available for addressing equitable supports in your school. A few basics to get your started include:
This guide offers school PBIS teams a resource for using discipline data to address disproportionality in school discipline practices. It describes a framework and steps for identifying levels of disproportionality, analyzing data, and monitoring effectiveness of action plans.
This guide is for trainers and coaches looking to help school teams implement culturally responsive practices to address equity in school discipline.
This guide is for districts and school developing policies and procedures to reduce disproportionality in school discipline. It provides examples of key policy elements, ideas on how to apply these elements in schools, and a tool for assessing policies to enhance equitable discipline.
Resources in this section include assessments, blueprints, examples, and materials to aid in implementing PBIS.
Publications listed below include every eBook, monograph, brief, and guide written by the PBIS Technical Assistance Center.
Presentations about their experiences, published research, and best practices from recent sessions, webinars, and trainings
Recordings here include keynotes and presentations about PBIS concepts as well tips for implementation.
