Supporting Continuous Improvement and Accountability Under the School Discipline Improvement Program (SDIP) in Delaware

REL Mid-Atlantic is building capacity in Delaware’s state and local education agencies to improve the accuracy and quality of discipline data. In turn, the Delaware Department of Education (DDOE) will be better equipped to assess the disproportionate and intersectional impacts of educators’ use of exclusionary discipline. This partnership also seeks to increase districts’ and schools’ use of these data to inform district- and school-level change management processes. Such processes include identifying trends of disproportionate use of exclusionary discipline practices, assessing student and educator needs, and implementing programs and practices that foster supportive learning environments. Over the life of the partnership, proposed work includes:

1. Providing technical support to help DDOE staff understand the evidence base on reducing overall and disproportionate exclusionary discipline, including best practices and approaches at the state educational agency level to improve data collection, reporting, and analysis.
2. Building DDOE staff capacity for improving data collection practices, reporting, and accountability measures for school-level exclusionary discipline practices, including identifying and implementing evidence-based accountability practices to address and reduce the disproportionate use of exclusionary discipline practices.
3. Building DDOE staff capacity to guide district and school staff in outlining plans to implement continuous improvement and accountability efforts under SDIP to reduce the use of exclusionary discipline.
4. Building district and school capacity to address school exclusionary discipline using data-driven action plans. These action plans will help districts and schools identify and implement promising interventions or strategies to improve the supportiveness of school learning environments, address the disproportionate use of exclusionary discipline practices, and reduce exclusionary discipline overall. In the longer term, partnership activities aim to help DDOE improve school learning environments by reducing the disproportionate use of exclusionary discipline practices and ultimately improve student academic outcomes and success as adults.

Partner organization: the Delaware Department of Education

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