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A school behavior dashboard should do more than count incidents. It should help leaders see whether students have equitable access to instruction, support, and safe learning environments. Monthly equity checks turn behavior data into a system-improvement routine.
Core Principle
Do not ask only, "Which students have the most behavior incidents?" Ask, "Which systems, settings, and decisions are producing unequal outcomes?"
Review Access Before Outcomes
If one student group is overrepresented in exclusionary discipline but underrepresented in Tier 2 supports, the problem is not simply student behavior. It may be inconsistent access to prevention, feedback, and intervention.
- Who is receiving Tier 2 supports?
- Who is receiving individualized FBA/BIP support?
- Who is missing instruction because of office referrals, removals, or suspensions?
- Which classrooms, routines, or times of day produce the most referrals?
- Are students with disabilities receiving proactive support before exclusionary responses?
Use Disaggregated Data Carefully
Disaggregating data by race, ethnicity, gender, disability, grade, and program can reveal patterns that totals hide. But the goal is not to label groups of students. The goal is to identify adult decisions and system conditions that need adjustment.
Representation: Are some groups overrepresented in referrals, removals, or restrictive responses?
Decision points: Which behaviors, locations, staff responses, or times are most associated with disproportionality?
Access: Are the same groups receiving preventive supports and family communication?
Action: What adult practice, schedule, policy, or support will change before the next review?
Look for Vulnerable Decision Points
PBIS equity resources emphasize identifying situations where discipline decisions are more vulnerable to bias. These may include subjective behaviors, unstructured settings, specific times of day, or routines with unclear expectations.
More Subjective
Disrespect, defiance, attitude, disruption, noncompliance.
More Observable
Left assigned area, hit peer with open hand, used profanity, refused task for 8 minutes.
A 30-Minute Monthly Routine
- Review school-wide referral, removal, and support access data.
- Disaggregate by student group, grade, setting, time, and behavior category.
- Identify one vulnerable decision point.
- Select one adult-facing action, such as reteaching expectations, increasing active supervision, revising referral definitions, or adding Tier 2 access.
- Assign an owner and review the same pattern next month.
References
Center on PBIS. (2023). Discipline disproportionality problem solving: A data guide for school teams. University of Oregon. https://www.pbis.org/resource/discipline-disproportionality-problem-solving-a-data-guide-for-school-teams
Center on PBIS. (n.d.). Equitable Supports. https://www.pbis.org/topics/equity
Girvan, E. J., Gion, C., McIntosh, K., & Smolkowski, K. (2017). The relative contribution of subjective office referrals to racial disproportionality in school discipline. School Psychology Quarterly, 32(3), 392-404. https://doi.org/10.1037/spq0000178
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Key Takeaways
- Equity checks should review who receives support, who is excluded, and which routines produce referrals
- Disaggregated data are necessary but not sufficient; teams must act on the pattern
- Leaders should compare access to Tier 2 support with discipline outcomes
- Monthly review should include vulnerable decision points, not only student totals
- Equity work is a system responsibility, not a student-level deficit label
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