Equity for Middle School Students with Disabilities: A District Example

Post date: Mar 25, 2014 8:47:39 PM

Two middle schools in a northern Illinois district implementing PBIS are continuing to show strong, positive behavioral impact for their students with disabilities. Students with disabilities in these two schools experienced a 95% decrease in out of school suspensions (OSSs) from 2010-11 to 2012-13. This decrease in suspensions is remarkable given that middle schools typically have more suspensions on average than elementary and high schools (Losen & Skiba, 2010). Students with disabilities in these middle schools have a risk ratio of 0.75. This means that they did not receive a disproportionate number of OSSs compared to students without a disability, but are actually 30% less likely to receive a suspension than students without a disability.