Maintaining a safe and orderly learning environment in schools is fundamental to the greater goals of education, but determining optimal disciplinary responses to student misbehavior is often complicated. While there is an abundance of research that speaks to the negative impact of exclusionary discipline (e.g., suspension, expulsion or any other disciplinary response that removes a student from the traditional classroom setting) on student behavioral and academic outcomes, there is an absence of work that examines if, when, and to what extent a student is actually better off receiving non-exclusionary dispositions. Using multivariate regression analysis on a unique dataset from an urban Texas school district, this study directly compares the impact of exclusionary vs. non-exclusionary discipline on student outcomes (controlling for student characteristics, school characteristics, and offense type). Additionally, the study examines the extent to which offense type influences the relationship between disposition and student outcomes. The study’s findings suggest that a student is generally worse off in terms of academic progress and risk of future offenses when she/he receives an exclusionary disposition for any disciplinary infraction. The impact of exclusion, however, was shown to vary by student offense. / text

Exclusionary discipline practices are often considered to be generally ineffective and inequitable, however, they are one of the more common disciplinary practices used in schools today. Although there are many positive alternatives to school exclusion, there are limited disciplinary practices specifically intended to target discipline with racial equity in mind. The GREET-STOP-PROMPT (GSP) intervention, developed by Cook and colleagues (2018), is one intervention found in the literature explicitly created to reduce racial discipline disparities. Although there is currently limited research evaluating the GSP intervention, the results indicate it to be a potentially promising method of equitably addressing student behavior. The purpose of the current study was to extend the literature to examine the effects of the GSP intervention on racial discipline disparities, as well as students’ academic engagement and disruptive behavior in the classroom. The current study evaluated the GSP intervention across three elementary classrooms in a rural school district located in the southeastern United States. Results indicated the GSP intervention did not have meaningful effects on student exclusion, racial disparities, academic engagement, and disruptive behavior, which ultimately failed to support the current researcher’s hypotheses. However, there was limited discipline data available to draw conclusions specifically related to the intervention’s effect on student exclusion and discipline disparities. Further exploration is necessary to evaluate the effectiveness of the GSP intervention in addressing student behavior in the classroom and reducing racial discipline disparities.

No description available.

The purpose of this study was to determine what change, if any, existed in the number and percentage of student discipline referrals and exclusionary discipline practices of students by race, gender, and those with disabilities after the introduction of a division-wide, systematic approach to discipline that aligned behavior, social-emotional wellness, and academics into one decision-making framework. This research used quantitative data with a nonexperimental descriptive design. The researcher sought to answer the questions: 1. What is the number and percentage of students receiving an office discipline referral by race, gender, and those with a disability? 2. What is the number and percentage of students receiving suspensions, both in-school and out-of-school, related to office discipline referrals for students by race, gender, and those with a disability? 3. How has the number and percentage changed for incidents over the three years of implementing a systematic approach that aligns behavior, social-emotional wellness, and academics into one decision-making framework for students of different races, genders, and those with a disability? 4. How has the number and percentage changed for consequences over the three years of implementing a systematic approach that behavior, social-emotional wellness, and academics into one decision-making framework for students of different races, genders, and those with a disability? This study included 39 schools (24 elementary schools, seven middle schools, five high schools, one middle/high school, one specialty high school, and one alternative school) of an urban school division in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The selected division leadership team established an outcome to decrease office discipline referrals (ODRs), In-School Suspension (ISS), and Out-of-School Suspensions (OSS) in order to increase instructional time in the classroom. The sampled schools had evidence of varying levels of implementation. This study examined the effects of a multi-tiered system of support on student discipline. This study found that the proportion of students receiving ODRs was not reduced by the implementation of a multitiered framework. Additionally, the number of ODRs increased for most subgroups over the period of the study. However, the study did find that the disproportionality for SWD decreased for ODRs. The study also found that the gap in proportions between Black students receiving ISS and White students receiving ISS increased. Despite the growing disparity between Black and White students, disproportionality for SWD receiving ISS decreased. Conversely, the proportion of Black students receiving OSS decreased over the 3-year period of the study. In conjunction to the findings related to ISS, the disproportionality of SWD receiving OSS decreased during this study period. Finally, the study found that the proportion of female students receiving LTS increased over the 3-year period of the study. This study did not include an analysis of the critical features of a multi-tiered system of support. / Doctor of Education / The purpose of this study was to determine what change, if any, existed in the number and percentage of student discipline referrals and exclusionary discipline practices of students by race, gender, and those with disabilities after the introduction of a division-wide, systematic approach to discipline that aligned behavior, social-emotional wellness, and academics into one decision-making framework. This research used quantitative data with a nonexperimental descriptive design. This study found that the proportion of students receiving ODRs was not reduced by the implementation of a multitiered framework. Additionally, the number of ODRs increased for most subgroups over the period of the study. However, the study did find that the disproportionality for SWD decreased for ODRs. The study also found that the gap in proportions between Black students receiving ISS and White students receiving ISS increased. Despite the growing disparity between Black and White students, disproportionality for SWD receiving ISS decreased. Conversely, the proportion of Black students receiving OSS decreased over the 3-year period of the study. In conjunction to the findings related to ISS, the disproportionality of SWD receiving OSS decreased during this study period. Finally, the study found that the proportion of female students receiving LTS increased over the 3-year period of the study. This study did not include an analysis of the critical features of a multi-tiered system of support.

The purpose of this study was to analyze high school graduation rates from prior academic achievement, attendance, and behavior in one school system over 4 years. The study addressed three questions, which of the students included in this study dropped out of high school, how exclusionary discipline affected students' attendance at school and their ability to graduate. In addition, for the students who dropped out, what was their exclusionary discipline rate, what was their chronic absenteeism rate, and what was the leading cause of students not graduating on time? By examining specific predictors, we can gain insight into why some students fail to graduate high school on time or drop out early. Keeping track of essential indicators such as attendance, behavior, and academic achievement in the classroom will increase the likelihood of students graduating after 4 years of high school. Using the comparative case study approach, this study compared four cohorts of students who graduated from one urban high school. A correlational, nonexperimental design was used. After the data were analyzed, using descriptive statistics and mean averages of the variables, it was discovered that, across three of the four study cohort clusters, there was a consistent overrepresentation of Hispanic male English language learners (ELLs) who experienced some type of exclusionary discipline, and who failed their Standards of Learning English reading/writing and mathematics assessments leading to them dropping out of school. As a result of tracking students' academics, attendance, and behaviors, schools can design professional development for teachers and school administrators to identify at-risk students early and assist them in preventing failure. In the mid-Atlantic region of the United States, academic warning indicator systems must be more representative of diverse student populations. This research supplements past fieldwork on this topic. / Doctor of Education / The purpose of this study was to analyze high school graduation rates from prior academic achievement, attendance, and behavior in one school system over 4 years. The study addressed three questions, which of the students included in this study dropped out of high school, how exclusionary discipline affected students' attendance at school and their ability to graduate. In addition, for the students who dropped out, what was their exclusionary discipline rate, what was their chronic absenteeism rate, and what was the leading cause of students not graduating on time? Using the comparative case study approach, this study compared four cohorts of students who graduated from one urban high school. A correlational, nonexperimental design was used. After the data were analyzed, using descriptive statistics and mean averages of the variables, it was discovered that, across three of the four study cohort clusters, there was a consistent overrepresentation of Hispanic male English language learners (ELLs) who experienced some type of exclusionary discipline and who failed their Standards of Learning English reading/writing and mathematics assessments leading to them dropping out of school. As a result of tracking students' academics, attendance, and behaviors, schools can design professional development for teachers and school administrators to identify at-risk students early and assist them in preventing failure.

Students with disabilities are highly at-risk for administrative disciplinary actions that remove them from school for misconduct. School leaders have the authority and expertise to reduce the amount of these removals by reconsidering their current methods for discipline, reflecting on how these affect their students, and making changes to student consequences. The purpose of this study was to determine what highly skilled principals in the field have found to be the most effective strategies in reducing or eliminating out-of-school suspensions for students with disabilities. This insight is invaluable to the discussion on next steps to close the discipline gap between special education and regular education students. This study used a Delphi model for research building consensus through three rounds of surveys. This input was collected from a panel of 15 principals from 13 school divisions across Virginia that were identified as having already achieved success in eliminating out-of-school suspensions for students with disabilities. The panel concluded that principals must ensure a positive relationship with every student, use alternative, logical, and authentic consequences, and identify and implement individualized supports and accommodations when addressing student misconduct to eliminate out-of-school suspensions for their students with disabilities. Principals should implement practical strategies that proactively build positive relationships and help them better understand the child as an individual in order to reduce or eliminate suspensions in their schools. / Doctor of Education / Students with disabilities are highly at-risk for administrative disciplinary actions that remove them from school for misconduct. School leaders have the authority and expertise to reduce the amount of these removals by reconsidering their current methods for discipline, reflecting on how these affect their students, and making changes to student consequences. The purpose of this study was to determine what highly skilled principals in the field have found to be the most effective strategies in reducing or eliminating out-of-school suspensions for students with disabilities. This insight is invaluable to the discussion on next steps to close the discipline gap between special education and regular education students. This study used surveys to gather input and find agreement on best practices from a panel of elementary school principals from many school divisions across Virginia. The panel concluded that principals must ensure a positive relationship with every student, use alternative, logical, and authentic consequences, and identify and implement individualized supports and accommodations when addressing student misconduct to eliminate out-of-school suspensions for their students with disabilities. Principals should implement practical strategies that proactively build positive relationships and help them better understand the child as an individual in order to reduce or eliminate suspensions in their schools.

No description available.

Thesis advisor: Frank Gollop / My doctoral dissertation consists of three essays in the field of Industrial Organization. The first two consider exclusive dealing contracts between upstream and downstream firms theoretically, while the third measures consumer substitution among geographically differentiated air travel products empirically. In the first chapter I study the ability of an incumbent seller to use exclusive dealing contracts to foreclose efficient entry when there are n downstream buyers, where n can be viewed as a measure of the degree of downstream competition. The effect of downstream competition on the ability of the upstream incumbent to use exclusive contracts anticompetitively depends on whether upstream firms compete over linear or two-part prices. The model also highlights an interesting effect of the sunk cost of upstream entry that is ignored in models with exactly two buyers. In the second chapter I investigate the ability of an incumbent monopolist to exclude a potential entrant via exclusive dealing contracts when these contracts include an agreement over price. I find that a simple entry game yields both exclusionary and entry equilibria. The exclusionary equilibrium is unique, however, under most reasonable assumptions; for example if buyers are downstream competitors, if entry or the marginal cost of the potential entrant are uncertain, or if the incumbent can commit not to compete for unsigned buyers. When buyers compete with one another downstream, the optimal guaranteed price is above (below) the marginal cost of the incumbent when downstream buyers compete over strategic complements (substitutes). In the third and final chapter (co-authored with Kyle Buika) I study the question of geographic market definition in the US airline industry. Though an accurate definition of an economic market is important for any study of industry, there is no rule governing what exactly constitutes a market. To define a market we must ask the question "between which products do consumers substitute,'' knowing that the answer to this question will depend on how "close'' products are to one another in product space, as well as how close they are to one another, and to consumers, in geographic space. We estimate a discrete choice model of air travel demand that uses known information about the locations of products and consumers, which allows us to study substitution patterns among air travel products at different airports. We evaluate the commonly used city-pair and airport-pair definitions of a market for air travel, and conclude that a city-pair is the appropriate definition. We also employ the Hypothetical Monopolist test for antitrust market definition, as defined by the Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission, and conclude that the relevant geographic market for antitrust analysis is, according to this test, frequently more narrowly defined as an airport-pair. Finally we conduct merger simulations under different market definitions and compare the results to those obtained using our own results, and conclude that accounting for geography is important when studying mergers. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2011. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Economics.

Com base nas contribuições de (MARTÍNEZ-ALIER, 2009), (SEN,2009), (ACSELRAD,2009) e (RIBEIRO, 2008), este trabalho investigou o modelo de intervenção promovido pelo Programa Social e Ambiental dos Igarapés de Manaus PROSAMIM realizado com recursos do Governo do Estado do Amazonas e empréstimos contraídos com o Banco Interamericano de Desenvolvimento BID, para intervenções urbanísticas, habitacionais e ambientais em cursos dágua localizados na bacia hidrográfica do Educandos, decretadas, pelo município, como Área de Especial Interesse Social. Projeto urbanístico que se não fosse os 77,26% de deslocamentos, por indenizações, impactando outros cursos dágua, seria um modelo inovador de abordagem socioambiental. Neste contexto a proposta da investigação foi espacializar o fenômeno dos deslocamentos e o pós-reassentamento na dimensão da casa e do urbano para os remanejados em unidades habitacionais no Parque Residencial Manaus e na dimensão do urbano para os reassentados em casas populares nos Conjuntos Habitacionais João Paulo II, Cidadão V, Nova Cidade e Presidente Lula. Cujos resultados, fundamentados em oficinas diagnósticas e dados georreferenciados sinalizaram para as áreas remanescentes fragilidade quanto à adequação do modelo habitacional às especificidades de uma cidade sobre as águas, como é Manaus e à cultura e clima local, impondo novos hábitos de consumo e adequação nas relações sociais, com o novo entorno. Para os reassentados nos quatro Conjuntos Habitacionais, se identificou com as variáveis que as principais ameaças advêm da falta de equipamentos e serviços urbanos mínimos necessários à dignidade humana. Associado aos efeitos adversos ocasionados pela falta de proteção dos recursos hídricos levando ao comprometimento a fauna aquática, a sociedade e os ecossistemas. O método DRUP, orientou as técnicas de pesquisa com as oficinas diagnósticas, pesquisa documental, entrevistas, e registro fotográfico para o recorte temporal do ano de 2003 a 2012. / Based on contributions (MARTÍNEZ-ALIER, 2009), (SEN, 2009), (ACSELRAD,2009) and (RIBEIRO, 2008), this study investigated the intervention model promoted by the Social and Environmental Stream Program of Manaus PROSAMIM, and it was accomplished with resources from Amazonass governement and loans from the Inter-American Development Bank IDB, to urban interventions, housing and environmental in watercourses located in the water basin of Educandos, proclaimed by the town as a Special Area of Social Interest. Urban project that if it werent for the 77.26% of displacements, for indemnities, impacting other watercourses, it would be an innovative model of socio-environmental approach. In this context the proposal of the research was spatialize the phenomenon of displacement and post- resettlement in the dimension of the houses to the relocation of housing units in Parque Residencial Manaus and dimension of the urban people to the resettled citizens in popular houses in the Housing Complexes João Paulo II , Cidadão V, Nova Cidade and President Lula, whose results, based on diagnostic workshops and georeferenced data signaled to remaining weaknesses areas, in relation to the adequacy of housing model to the specifications of a city on the water, such as Manaus and the culture and local climate, imposing new consumption habits and adequacy to social relations, with the new surroundings. For the resettled citizens in the four Housing Complexes, it has been identified, with the variables, that the main threats come from the lack of equipment and minimum urban services necessary for human dignity. Associated with adverse effects caused by the lack of protection of water resources leading to commitment with the aquatic fauna, society and ecosystems. The method DRUP, guided search techniques with diagnostic workshops, data research interviews, and photographic record for the time frame of 2003 to 2012.

The purpose of Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEIA) is to protect the rights of students with disabilities and to assure that all students receive equitable access to a free and appropriate public education; yet there are explicit exclusions written in the law for students who may have experienced environmental, cultural, and economic disadvantages. An explanatory sequential mixed methods design was used to study Section Four of the exclusionary clause of Specific Learning Disability (SLD) that states students must be excluded from identification if their learning difficulties are primarily the result of environmental, cultural, or economic disadvantage. The Contextual Interaction Theory (CIT) was borrowed from water governance policy analysis to provide a theoretical framework for better understanding the complexity of context and interaction processes in special education policy implementation in Oregon. Survey (n = 100) and interview (n = 6) results showed that 87% of Oregon school psychologist respondents demonstrated some level of non-compliant behavior on Section Four implementation. Barriers to implementation included unclear state and federal guidelines, lack of measurable terms, unclear roles and responsibilities, external pressures to find students eligible, and lack of confidence that Section Four can be applied in every case for 69% or more of the sample. Recommendations for future research include defining the Section Four terms, developing a measurement tool with cut offs, and training to improve implementation; however, there is concern that this may be an impossible task. Recommendations were made to develop a state level Task Force to begin the dialogue; however, future research is needed to gain a deeper understanding of validity of CIT, definitions of Section Four terms that are measurable, identification and definitions of the mitigating mechanisms in the determination of Section Four for appropriate and possible implementation. A supplemental spreadsheet file included with this dissertation was used to illustrate the coding and mapping of Ochoa, Rivera, & Powell (1997) factors onto CIT categories.