Stumbling in the Dark: Principal Sensemaking of Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports Policy and Practice in Racially Diverse Schools

• In Event: 25.036 - Undertheorized and Understudied: New Directions in the Research of Educational Inequality

Abstract

Literature underscores the over disciplining of students of Color. Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS) is successful in decreasing disproportionate discipline for minority students in urban schools. No studies have addressed school leaders sensemaking of PBIS in the racialized context. The purpose of this study is to explore how principals make sense of PBIS policy and race in their schools and the role of racialized discourses in principal Sensemaking of policy and race. A case study methodology was conducted applying Critical Race Theory and Sensemaking Theory to understand principals’ cognition and action regarding disproportionate discipline in their schools. Various qualitative data was collected. Findings indicated two types of Sensemaking of policy and race talk were exhibited by participants.

Authors

• Marcia Faye Carmichael-Murphy, Jefferson County Public Schools

• Erica Young

• Bradley W. Carpenter, The University of Houston