Entanglements of Discipline, Behavioral Intervention, Race, and Disability

Abstract

In 2011, an urban school district that had been cited for excessive and disproportionate suspension by race and disability sought to establish guidelines for Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) as a remedy. District leaders held a PBIS planning meeting that included a broad collection of stakeholders. As they discussed data-driven protocols, a significant challenge to institutionalized racism embedded in behavioral expectations, analysis, and responses emerged. However, that challenge was met with repeated assertions that the apparently neutral parameters of PBIS would suffice. Thus, PBIS protocols were used to suppress questions of the cultural competence of teachers, administrators, and clinicians.