Culturally responsive check-in/check-out : implementation of a tier 2 SWPBS intervention

There is a plethora of data reporting the imbalance of office referrals and suspensions for culturally diverse students (Vincent & Tobin, 2011; Skiba, Michael, Nardo & Peterson, 2002; Skiba, Peterson, Williams, 1997). Specifically, African American students are frequently referred for behaviors such as noncompliance and disrespect at much higher rates than their White counterparts. Without addressing these disproportionate discipline practices, the achievement gap in many schools will continue to persist. Given the significance of addressing inconsistent discipline practices, School Wide Positive Behavior Supports (SWPBS) has the potential to significantly address this phenomenon (Vincent, Randall, Cartledge, Tobin & Swain-Bradway, 2011). SWPBS involves a continuum of support to prevent inappropriate student behavior and increase student achievement. Numerous studies support the use of evidenced based behavioral interventions within a SWPBS system as a means to reducing challenging behavior for students. One such intervention is the Behavior Education Program which incorporates a Check-in/Check-out procedure (Hawken, O’Neil & MacLeod, 2011; Hawken, 2006). Check-in/Check-out has been noted in the literature as an effective intervention resulting in a decrease of office referrals in several studies (Fairbanks, Sugai, Guardino & Lathrop, 2007). Likewise, there are a number of qualitative studies that identify culturally responsive strategies when working with African American students (Milner, 2011;Bondy, Ross, Gallingane and Hambacher, 2007). One strategy involves the use of a culturally responsive discourse style. The purpose of this study was to increase the effectiveness of the Check-in/Check-out intervention by incorporating the use of the culturally responsive discourse style for African American males at the middle level. A nonconcurrent multiple baseline design was used to identify the relationship between the intervention and student behaviors. Results showed a positive impact for student participants as measured by an increase in points on a daily monitoring form and an overall decline in office discipline referrals.