Systemic Nuances of Racism: How Multi-Tiered System of Supports Policy Implementation Can Harm African American Students?

Abstract

Many educators and school administrators are familiar with the Multi-tiered System of Supports (MTSS), its application of data, and its effectiveness in resolving barriers to academic and social learning. Properly matched research-based interventions are likely to improve student academic and social outcomes. However, what becomes of the effectiveness of MTSS policies when subjectively and arbitrarily implemented? This case aims to promote a diverse and generative discussion among preservice educators, practitioners, and administrators, especially among those in urban school settings. This case explores systemic, educational, and racial implications of a fragmented referral and intervention of a 6-year-old African American male student. Readers are asked to consider how school-wide and district-wide MTSS policies can be amended to ensure equitable identification and implementation among African American students.

Keywords

multi-tiered system of supports policy implementation

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

American Montessori Society. (n.d.). Core components of authentic Montessori education. https://amshq.org/About-Montessori/What-Is-Montessori/Core-Components-of-Montessori

Arway

T. L.

(2023). The disproportionate identification of elementary-school-aged Black males in special education [Doctoral dissertation, Northcentral University]. https://www.proquest.com/docview/2769166831?pq-origsite=gscholar&fromopenview=true

Avant

D. W.

(2016). Using response to intervention/multi-tiered systems of supports to promote social justice in schools. Journal for Multicultural Education, 10(4), 507–520.

Blanchett

W. J.

Brantlinger

Shealey

M. W

. (2005). Brown 50 years later—exclusion, segregation, and inclusion: Guest editors’ introduction. Remedial and Special Education, 26(2), 66–69.

Blanchett

W. J.

(2006). Disproportionate representation of African American students in special education: Acknowledging the role of white privilege and racism. Educational Researcher, 35(6), 24–28.

Bornstein

(2017). Entanglements of discipline, behavioral intervention, race, and disability. Journal of Cases in Educational Leadership, 20(2), 131–144.

Burns

M. K.

Appleton

J. J.

Stehouwer

J. D.

(2005). Meta-analytic review of responsiveness-to-intervention research: Examining field-based and research-implemented models. Journal of Psychoeducational Assessment, 23, 381–394. https://doi.org/10.1177/073428290502300406

Chang-Bacon

C. K.

(2022). ‘I don’t think that’s really their wheelhouse’: Governing language policy interpretation in teacher education. Language Policy, 21(1), 25–46.

Darling-Hammond

. (2000). New standards and old inequalities: School reform and the education of African American students. Journal of Negro Education, 69(4), 263–287.

10.

Fernandez

(2018, September 6). Update: Parents express mixed views on new paddling policy at local school. WRDW. https://www.wrdw.com. https://www.wrdw.com/content/news/Local-school-wants-to-reinstate-paddle-policy-parents-weigh-in–492634691.html

11.

Gresham

. (2007). Evolution of the response-to-intervention concept: Empirical foundations and recent developments. In Jimerson

S. R.

Burns

M. K.

VanDerHeyden

A. M.

(Eds.), Handbook of response to intervention: The science and practice of assessment and intervention (pp. 10–24, Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004, Pub. L. No 108–446). Springer.

12.

Heineke

A. J.

(2015). Negotiating language policy and practice: Teachers of English learners in an Arizona study group. Educational Policy, 29(6), 843–878.

13.

Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, 20 U.S.C. § 1400. (2004).

14.

Jackson

(2021). Leveraging MTSS to ensure equitable outcomes. American Institutes of Research.

15.

Katsiyannis

Balluch

Losinski

(2016). Informed consent and functional behavioral assessment: An examination of federal guidance for school personnel. Beyond Behavior, 25(1), 35–37.

16.

Khalifa

M. A.

Briscoe

. (2015). A counternarrative autoethnography exploring school districts’ role in reproducing racism: Willful blindness to racial inequities. Teachers College Record, 117(8), 1–34.

17.

Kolbe

Dhuey

Doutre

S. M

. (2023). Unequal and increasingly unfair: How federal policy creates disparities in special education funding. Exceptional Children, 90(1), 57–75.

18.

Kramarczuk Voulgarides

Fergus

King Thorius

K. A

. (2017). Pursuing equity: Disproportionality in special education and the reframing of technical solutions to address systemic inequities. Review of Research in Education, 41(1), 61–87.

19.

Lam

. (2019, February 18). Florida student faces misdemeanor charges after refusing to stand for pledge of Allegiance. USA Today. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2019/02/17/florida-student-11-arrested-after-refusing-pledge-allegiance/2900253002/

20.

Letter to Gallo, 61 IDELR ¶ 173 (OSEP 2013).

21.

Letter to Torres, 53 IDELR ¶ 333 (OSEP 2009).

22.

Levinson

B. A.

Sutton

Winstead

(2009). Education policy as a practice of power: Theoretical tools, ethnographic methods, democratic options. Educational Policy, 23(6), 767–795.

23.

Mallett

J. D.

Schroeder

J. L.

(2015). Academic achievement outcomes: A comparison of Montessori and non-Montessori public elementary school students. Journal of Elementary Education, 25(1), 39–53.

24.

Marsh

L. T. S.

Walker

L. J.

(2022). Deficit-oriented beliefs, anti-black policies, punitive practices, and labeling: Exploring the mechanisms of disproportionality and its impact on black boys in one urban “no-excuses” charter school. Teachers College Record, 124, 85–116.

25.

McIntosh

Girvan

E. J.

McDaniel

S. C.

Santiago-Rosario

M. R.

St. Joseph

Fairbanks Falcon

Izzard

Bastable

. (2021). Effects of an equity-focused PBIS approach to school improvement on exclusionary discipline and school climate. Preventing School Failure: Alternative Education for Children and Youth, 65(4), 354–361.

26.

McMillian

. (2021). So you want to make a special education referral: How to foster equity and understanding special education policy. In Brooks

J. S.

Heffernan

(Eds.), The school leadership survival guide: What to do when things go wrong, how to learn from mistakes, and why you should prepare for the worst. Information Age Publishing.

27.

McMillian

. (2022). Using critical discourse analysis to operationalize discursive violence in school closure education reform policy. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 1–24. https://doi.org/10.1080/09518398.2022.2112783

28.

National Center for Education Statistics. (2022). Public school teacher data file. https://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/indicator/clr/public-school-teachers

29.

National Center for Education Statistics. (2023). Characteristics of Public School Teachers. Condition of Education. U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences. Retrieved June 12, 2023, from https://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/indicator/clr

30.

Neal-Jackson

(2018). A meta-ethnographic review of the experiences of African American girls and young women in K–12 education. Review of Educational Research, 88(4), 508–546.

31.

Office of Civil Rights. (2021). AN overview of exclusionary discipline practices in public schools for the 2017-18 school year. https://civilrightsdata.ed.gov/assets/downloads/crdc-exclusionary-school-discipline.pdf

32.

Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services, U.S. Department of Education. (2016). Significant disproportionality (equity in IDEA). https://sites.ed.gov/idea/files/20161219-Part_B_final_regulations.pdf

33.

Osher

Woodruff

Sims

A. E.

(2002). Schools make a difference: The overrepresentation of African American youth in special education and the juvenile justice system. In Losen

D. J.

Orfield

(Eds.), Racial inequity in special education (pp. 93–116). Harvard University Press.

34.

Panicali

(n.d.). What is RTI? RTI Action Network. http://www.rtinetwork.org/learn/what/whatisrti

35.

Patton

L. D.

Crenshaw

Haynes

Watson

T. N.

(2016). Why we can’t wait:(Re) examining the opportunities and challenges for Black women and girls in education (guest editorial). The Journal of Negro Education, 85(3), 194–198.

36.

Rathvon

(2008). Effective school interventions: Evidence-based strategies for improving student outcomes. Guilford Press.

37.

Renée

Welner

Oakes

(2009). Social movement organizing and equity-focused educational change: Shifting the zone of mediation. In Second international handbook of educational change (pp. 153–168). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-2660-6_9

38.

Ruby

C. T.

(2021). Analysis of disproportionality in discipline and the effects of positive behavior supports within special education. https://scholarworks.sfasu.edu/etds/397

39.

Sabnis

Castillo

J. M.

Wolgemuth

J. R.

(2020). RTI, equity, and the return to the status quo: Implications for consultants. Journal of Educational and Psychological Consultation, 30(3), 285–313.

40.

Skiba

R. J.

Arredondo

M. I.

Williams

N. T.

(2014). More than a metaphor: The contribution of exclusionary discipline to a school-to-prison pipeline. Equity and Excellence in Education, 47(4), 546–564.

41.

Skiba

R. J.

Chung

Trachok

Baker

T. L.

Sheya

Hughes

R. L.

(2014). Parsing disciplinary disproportionality: Contributions of infraction, student, and school characteristics to out-of-school suspension and expulsion. American Educational Research Journal, 51(4), 640–670.

42.

Smolkowski

Girvan

E. J.

McIntosh

Nese

R. N.

Horner

R. H.

(2016). Vulnerable decision points for disproportionate office discipline referrals: Comparisons of discipline for African American and White elementary school students. Behavioral Disorders, 41(4), 178–195. https://doi.org/10.17988/bedi-41-04-178-195.1

43.

Strassfeld

(2019). Education federalism and minority disproportionate representation monitoring: Examining IDEA provisions, regulations, and judicial trends. Journal of Disability Policy Studies, 30, 138–147.

44.

Thomas

J. Y.

Brady

K. P.

(2005). Chapter 3: The Elementary and Secondary Education Act at 40: Equity, accountability, and the evolving federal role in public education. Review of Research in Education, 29(1), 51–67.

45.

U.S. Department of Education. (n.d.). About IDEA. Individuals with Disabilities Act. https://sites.ed.gov/idea/about

46.

Wald

Losen

D. J.

(2007). Out of sight: The journey through the school-to-prison pipeline. Invisible Children in the Society and Its Schools, 3, 23–27.

47.

Watson

T. N.

(2016). “Talking back”: The perceptions and experiences of Black girls who attend city high school. The Journal of Negro Education, 85(3), 239–249.

48.

Weingarten

Zumeta Edmonds

Arden

(2020). Better together: Using MTSS as a structure for building school–family partnerships. TEACHING Exceptional Children, 53(2), 122–130.