BATON ROUGE, La. -- More than 1,400 state educators today attended the inaugural Behavioral Intervention Summit, a full day of intensive professional development designed to introduce attendees to national experts, engage them in conversations about social-emotional learning and behavioral challenges, and equip them with the tools and resources needed to build a multi-tiered system of support at both traditional public schools and alternative sites.
"The Behavioral Intervention Summit was designed to celebrate the mission of creating the most inclusive schools possible," said State Superintendent John White. "Our schools can be calm, fun, and focused, just as they can be places of empathy and forgiveness. They can have strong standards for behavior, just as they can seek an understanding of each child's unique life, circumstances, and needs."
Over the course of the day, the Summit, which was held at the Raising Cane's River Center, provided sessions centered on how schools can create behavior intervention systems that screen all students to identify needs early and provide real-time interventions and supports that can be intensified.
Session topics, for example, included how to respond to behavior rooted in trauma or stress, how to implement an effective student code of conduct, how to enhance school climate, how to engage families in behavior intervention, how educators' cultural competency impacts discipline, and how to forge community partnerships for expanded mental health supports and other services.
The Summit also hosted a moderated panel discussion focused on the redesign process for behavioral intervention at the school and school system levels through the lens of the key stakeholders involved in the process. Panel members detailed strategies for success and methods to mitigate challenges.
"It is time we rethink discipline in our schools," said Tangipahoa Parish School System Superintendent Melissa Stilley, who provided the event's opening remarks. "Most districts are using a discipline model that is over 30 years old, based primarily on punitive consequences and exclusion of students. We must begin to build supports to teach students better options--ones that will end the school-to-prison pipeline."
The inaugural Summit complements Louisiana's ongoing efforts to renew how schools approach behavioral challenges at traditional schools and alternative education sites.
In October 2017, a group commissioned by the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) to study the state's alternative education schools and programs issued its final report. The study group found a large number of Louisiana students are referred for out-of-school interventions based on infractions that could potentially be addressed within the traditional school setting. The group also found alternative schools and programs should be more focused on specific life and academic outcomes for the students they serve.
In response, a year later, BESE approved a new accountability system for alternative education schools that will rate these sites based on formulas that better align to their unique mission. BESE also raised the bar for what is expected of alternative education sites to be authorized.
At the same time, Louisiana also began annually identifying schools whose students are highly likely to experience an out-of-school behavioral intervention. These schools, labeled Urgent Intervention Required (UIR), are required to submit to the state locally-developed improvement plans. If approved by the state, plans may receive funding support to implement their plans.
To support these schools and others, the Department made available a tool kit including a behavioral intervention vendor guide, a portfolio of evidence-based interventions for use within multi-tiered systems of support, a vetted portfolio of evidence-based social-emotional learning curricula, and opportunities for ongoing face-to-face professional learning.
Following the Summit, in June 2019, UIR schools will submit their improvement plans to the state for approval. Schools will be notified of their approval in July 2019 and potentially receive funding allocations to support their plans in August 2019.
"Fostering social and emotional well-being for all of our students, but in particular those students who have previously struggled in the traditional setting, is critical if we are to ensure students are equipped to handle the demands of life outside of the classroom," said St. Bernard Parish School System Superintendent Doris Voitier, who also serves as a BESE member. "Our work to provide students with supportive school and classroom environments begins with our ability to equip our teachers and leaders with the tools necessary to provide behavioral interventions and strategies."
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