A BEHAVIORAL PROFESSIONAL LEARNING PROGRAM TO ADDRESS DISCIPLINE DISPROPORTIONALITY IN A RURAL MIDDLE SCHOOL

Abstract

Discipline disproportionality, the excessive disciplinary consequences imposed on students of color in comparison to the overall student population within a school (MAEC, 2020) is an area worth researching. White students are four times less likely to be suspended than their Black counterparts for the same offense (Davis, 2019). These harsher consequences for the same infraction reflect racial biases that Black students’ behaviors are more problematic when compared to their White peers (Riddle & Sinclair, 2019). The focus of this inquiry was to determine the impact of a teacher behavioral professional learning program on discipline disproportionality in a rural middle school. The inquiry examined how a teacher behavioral professional learning program impacts school discipline practices, teacher perceptions of student behavior, and the scholarly practitioner’s leadership development. Behavioral Learning Theory, the theoretical framework for this inquiry, focuses on observable behaviors and the environmental variables that impact them (Zhong, 2008). The inquiry utilized an explanatory sequential, mixed methods design grounded in improvement science. The data concluded a change in the variance of teacher perspective of student behaviors, an increase in the discipline disproportionality gap between Black and White students, an increase in participant learning because of having participated in the teacher behavioral professional learning program, and the infrequent implementation of learning by participants. The need to address discipline disproportionality remains. Failure to do so will increase program inequities, removing students from the learning environment; thereby prohibiting learning that is acquired through direct instruction and student collaboration.