The Relationship Between School Accountability Under ESSA and Behavior Management

• In Event: Impact of Innovative School Reforms on Educators and Students

Abstract

We investigate how federal school accountability policy influences student discipline and misbehavior during the pandemic in Pennsylvania. Pre-pandemic studies demonstrated that school accountability increased instances of student discipline and misbehavior. We use contemporaneous data from Pennsylvania to explore the association between the Comprehensive Support and Improvement (CSI) designation and student behavioral management (i.e., discipline, misbehavior). Schools that received the CSI designation had 22 more truancies per year and significantly more assaults on staff members (0.387) than schools with similar academic achievement. We find the CSI designation is unrelated to discipline and misbehavior during the pandemic when school was held virtually, and accountability programs were temporarily paused. That suggests accountability policies like CSI unintentionally increased incidences of discipline and misbehavior.

Authors

• Ai Shao, University of Pittsburgh

• Joshua Bleiberg, University of Pittsburgh