The resource directory is searchable and contains articles, tools, recordings, and links to websites. The resources are also categorized by topics, including the five Focus Areas suggested by the California Department of Education. Use the Search box below or click on the topical links to access the resources. (Hint: Once you have done an initial search, you will be able to sort the results by Resource Name or Publication Date.)
What causes high rates of suspensions, especially for students of color? Growing evidence points to racial bias. For instance, laboratory experiments find that teachers are more likely to knit together a series of misbehaviors as a pattern, to view a student who misbehaves as a troublemaker, and to punish them more severely, if the student is Black as compared with White.
Okonofua, J. A., Goyer, J. P., Lindsay, C. A., Haugabrook, J., & Walton, G. M. (2022). A Scalable Empathic-Mindset Intervention Reduces Group Disparities in School Suspensions. Sciences Advances, 8 (12), 1-10.
The empathic-mindset intervention is an online exercise to refocus middle school teachers on understanding and valuing the perspectives of students and on sustaining positive relationships even when students misbehave. This intervention reduced suspension rates especially for Black and Hispanic students, reduced the racial disparity over the school year by 45%. Significant reductions were also observed students with disabilities and for students with one previous suspension. These reductions persisted through the next year when students interacted with different teachers, suggesting that empathic treatment with even one teacher in a critical period can improve students’ trajectories through school.
Okonofua, Jason, J. Parker Goyer, Constance Lindsay, Johnetta Haugabrook, and Gregory Walton. 2022. “A scalable empathic-mindset intervention reduces group disparities in school suspensions.” Science Advances 8, no. 12, https://www.science.org/doi/epdf/10.1126/sciadv.abj0691 (accessed January 30, 2023).
In this article, the authors propose that pervasive negative stereotypes about racially stigmatized children influence both teachers and students, undermining teacher–student relationships over time.
Okonofua, J. A., Walton, G. M., & Eberhardt, J. L. (2016). A Vicious Cycle: A Social–Psychological Account of Extreme Racial Disparities in School Discipline. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 11(3) 381–398.
This paper reports on a blended professional learning model of online and in-person meetings during which 40 teachers in 8 school districts in the US learned about the new brain science, challenging the “math person” myth, as well as effective mathematics teaching methods. The article refers to the combination as a Mathematical Mindset Approach. Using mixed methods, they conducted a one-year study to investigate teacher and student learning in a Mathematical Mindset network. They collected data on teacher and student beliefs, teacher instructional practice, and student learning gains on state achievement tests. The results from their quantitative analyses found statistically significant positive improvements in student beliefs, teacher’s instructional practice, and on students’ math test scores. The mindset approach particularly raised the achievement of girls, English learners, and economically disadvantaged students. Based on their qualitative analysis, they propose that the success of the intervention rests upon two central factors: (1) The different forms of PD served to eradicate the learning myths that had held up teachers and learners; and that (2) Teachers had space for identity work as mathematical learners.
Anderson, Robin Keturah, Boaler, Jo, and Dieckmann, Jack A. 2018. Achieving Elusive Teacher Change through Challenging Myths about Learning: A Blended Approach. Education Sciences 8(3), 98, pgs 1-33.
https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci8030098
The article is comprehensive in both its scope and depth in explaining disproportionality. It clearly lays out what research has said about the issue since the 1960’s and offers a thorough snapshot of current understandings of inequities in special education.
Skiba, R. J., Simmons, A. D., and others. “Achieving Equity in Special Education: History, Status, and Current Challenges.” Exceptional Children. Vol. 74, No. 3, 2008: 264-288.
This activity book was developed for African American families after the tragic events of September 11, 2001. The hands-on activities and materials provide parents the resources to help students cope with extraordinary crises. Leaders of national African American organizations as well as health professional helped to identify information and strategies that would be meaningful to families coping with crisis. Contents and activities included: 1. Inspire Hope in Your Child 2. Be Still and Listen to Your Child 3. Support, Comfort, and Love You Child 4. Give you Child information that is Age-Appropriate 5. Help You Child Feel Safe 6. Make a Plan for Your Child for Emergencies 7. Help Your Child Feel Good about Himself 8. Pay Attention to What Your Child Watches on TV 9. Share you Faith with Your Child
Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development & National Black Development Institute. 2003.An Activity Book for African American Families: Helping Children Cope with Crisis. Rockville, Maryland: National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) https://www.nbcdi.org/sites/default/files/resource-files/Activity%20Book%20for%20African%20American%20Families%20-%20Helping%20Children%20Cope%20with%20Crisis_0.pdf
This article discusses the moral and ethical issues of disproportionate disciplinary practices in schools (exclusion, special education identification, and restrictive educational placement) and provides ways schools can begin to address or prevent this kind of disproportionality.
Green, Ambra L., Daniel R. Cohen, and Melissa Stormont. 2019. “Addressing and Preventing Disproportionality in Exclusionary Discipline Practices for Students of Color With Disabilities.” Intervention in School and Clinic 54 (4): 241–245.
This free ebook offers a variety of perspectives and tools on how to improve schools. It describes best school practices, including strategies for addressing classroom behavior and individualizing instruction.
Adelman, Howard, and Linda Taylor. 2017. Addressing Barriers to Learning: In the Classroom and Schoolwide. Los Angeles, CA: University of California, Los Angeles, Center for Mental Health in Schools and Student Learning Supports. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED586985.pdf
Addresses the disproportionate representation of culturally and linguistically diverse students in special education and outlines the theoretical assumptions and principles that should guide efforts to reduce the disproportionate representation of these students in special education.
Janette K. Klingner et al. (2005) Education Policy Analysis Archives.
This study compared students identified as at-risk to those presently receiving special education services within a nationally representative sample of 4,946 children. The study sought to address disproportionate representation at the referral stage of the identification process, particularly for those students at risk for a behavioral or emotional difficulty.
Dever, Bridget, Tara Raines, Erin Dowdy, and Cody Hostutler. 2016. “Addressing Disproportionality in Special Education Using a Universal Screening Approach.” The Journal of Negro Education 85 (1): 59–71.
