Volume 3 - Issue 1 - DBU Journal for K-12 Educational Research - Page 21

Journal of K-12 Educational Research 19 purpose of the current study was to add to the research literature on PBIS and its effects on the overrepresentation of Black students in referrals on elementary campuses. Research Methods The current research study examined overrepresentation of Black students in referral data by answering three questions. RQ1 Does Positive Behavior Intervention Support reduce the frequency of subjective referrals for Black students in Grades 4-6? RQ2 Does Positive Behavior Intervention Support influence the rates of discipline disproportionality by Black versus Hispanic students for subjective referrals in Grades 4-6? RQ3 Does Positive Behavior Intervention Support influence the rates of discipline disproportionality by Black versus White students for subjective referrals in Grades 4-6? Data was collected via archived disciplinary district reports for school years 2011-12, 2012-13, 2013-14 (PBIS implementation year), 2014-15, and 2015-16. Specific subjective referral code data for students in Grades 4-6 was isolated from objective referral data for all five school years. From that point, Black, White, and Hispanic student data was extrapolated in order to answer the research questions. Subjective referrals from 2011- 2013 were added together to represent Pre-PBIS while referrals from 2014-2016 were added together to represent Post-PBIS. Data from 2013-14 received special notation as implementation year data. Given the gap in the literature for empirical studies on the matter (Pas, Larson, Reinke, Herman, & Bradshaw, 2016; Skiba, Shure, & Williams, 2011), the present research used quantitative methods to provide a means of potentially filling that void. A district-wide initiative was undertaken to implement School- wide PBIS (SWPBIS) into all schools, K-12, during the 2014-15 academic school year. Discipline data was extracted from a timespan of 2012 to 2017. This time frame allowed for an analysis of discipline data two years prior to PBIS implementation and two years after PBIS implementation. Data was accessed through an online system that houses discipline data for all students in the district. Setting and Population The current study took place in a North Texas K-12 suburban school district, hereinafter referred to as the District, with a student population of 63,882. The District maintains 76 schools—10 high schools, 11 junior high schools, and 55 elementary schools. The study focused on particular student demographics at the elementary level. During the 2012-16 school years, the total population of elementary students ranged from 36,523 to 38,206 with an average of 37,454 students. On average, 46% of the total elementary school population was Hispanic, 21% was White, and 24% was Black. The current research study utilized a census sampling approach, pulling all data from Hispanic, White, and Black students from Grades 4-6 across the 55 elementary schools in the District. This included roughly 13,000 students per school year. Hispanic students made up 45% of the total student population, White students at 20%, and Black students at 25%. Sixty-eight percent of the total student population qualified for free or reduced lunch. Instrumentation and Measures To answer RQ1, the researcher used an independent samples t test to compare the means between two groups: subjective referrals for Black students in Grades 4-6 during 2011-13 (two years prior to PBIS implementation) and subjective referrals for Black students in Grades 4-6 during 2014-16 (two years after PBIS implementation). The independent variable was the implementation of PBIS, and the dependent variables were the frequency of referrals. The data was examined to determine if PBIS had an impact on subjective referrals of Black students in the aforementioned grade levels. The specific code utilized was Code 21, Violation of Code of Conduct. The current study used RRR and RI to answer RQ2 and RQ3. Lewis et al. (2010) used RRR and RI for an empirical study that researched the disproportionality of office disciplinary referrals (ODR) for Black males compared to other ethnic groups. The dependent variables were the RRR, and the independent variable was the implementation of PBIS. The years 2012 and 2013 denoted the Pre-PBIS years, and the 2015 and 2016 denoted the Post-PBIS years. The 2014 school year was removed given that it was the year of implementation. The data was examined to determine if differences were present between the RRRs of Black