The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship, if any, between Florida Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) Project Model School status (e.g., Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum) and student discipline outcomes in traditional public Florida middle schools in the 2021-2022 school year. Additionally, this study analyzed how Model School status influenced in-school suspensions and out-of-school suspensions (i.e., disciplinary exclusions) for racial/ethnic subgroups and the extent to which these subgroups were overrepresented or underrepresented in disciplinary exclusion data. The analysis was conducted using post hoc student demographic data and disciplinary exclusion data from the FLDOE Know Your Schools Portal for all schools in the study sample. To complete the investigation, independent samples t-tests were used to analyze the differences in disciplinary exclusions between PBIS and non-PBIS Model Schools, one-way ANOVAs were conducted to explore differences between Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum Model Schools, and Spearman’s rank correlations were conducted to analyze the associations between PBIS Model School designations and the relative risk of racial/ethnic subgroups to experience various disciplinary exclusions.
The results of the study showed that PBIS Model School status did not significantly influence the number of disciplinary exclusions compared to non-PBIS Model Schools for the 2021-2022 school year. However, Black students experienced significantly fewer disciplinary exclusions in PBIS schools compared to non-PBIS schools, and in Platinum status PBIS schools compared to Bronze status PBIS schools. Moreover, it was observed that the relative risk for Black students to receive any disciplinary exclusion was significantly less in schools that were awarded higher Model School designations beyond Bronze status. Conversely, results showed that White and Hispanic students were more likely to experience more disciplinary exclusions in PBIS schools. Furthermore, the relative risk for White and Hispanic students was proportionate relative to their representation in the school population in PBIS schools with higher Model School designations. Results from this study may be used by school and school district leaders to inform their implementation of PBIS, especially at schools that have discipline disparity concerns.
Marjorie Ceballos and William Gordon II, Committee Chair.
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