Why Should Delaware Care?
The Student Behavior and School Climate Task Force was required to examine the causes of student behavioral issues, their impact on educators’ retention and effective school discipline policies. Its recommendations could help change some aspects of Delaware’s current disciplinary system.
Delaware teachers have recently reported that students are increasingly prone to behavioral issues and absenteeism, which coupled with a loss in available instruction time, has led to poor retention rates for educators and lower test scores for students.
It’s why the Student Behavior and Climate Task Force was created earlier this year to help address and examine the causes of these issues.
The task force submitted its recommendations to the General Assembly on Nov. 1 after taking into consideration presentations from various groups like the state’s teachers union, the Delaware State Education Association (DSEA), and the Delaware Department of Education.
Change in public education is more complicated in Delaware because the state operates under local control, meaning decisions relating to student conduct and discipline are made at the school district and charter levels – and the Delaware Department of Education can’t override individual student conduct and discipline decisions.
So the task force spent six months forming recommendations to help districts better address these behavioral issues.
However, it did notably face criticism for a lack of representation from groups like the New Castle County Consortium, which hosts two alternative education programs that serve some of the state’s most challenging students. The task force admitted to knowing little about the programs despite them being a possible tool for addressing behavioral needs.
Although the final recommendations have been submitted, State Sen. Bryan Townsend (D-Newark) said he hopes the task force will continue in some capacity in 2025.
“I think undoubtedly most people would say … [there is] still much more work to do. So the question is how to try to facilitate that,” he said.
The task force was able to form recommendations on nine different topic areas. Some of the group’s recommendations focused on legislative and policy framework, funding and resource allocation and the Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS). But all recommendations made one thing clear: changes need to be made at both the local and state level.
What is ‘school climate’?
While the recommendations called on the General Assembly and Delaware Department of Education to focus on behavioral needs in the classroom, the task force began with a lingering problem: members did not even have a clear definition for “student behavior” or “school climate.”
During the first meeting in April, Rep. Sherae’a “Rae” Moore (D-Middletown) asked members to define each, and she received different answers from different members.
The task force recommended the Delaware Department of Education’s School Climate Advisory Group define and adopt a common definition of the term.
It also recommended that the School Climate Advisory Group collaborate with the General Assembly and other education stakeholders to “examine the framework” of Senate Bill 85 – a 2018 bill that directed districts to better track and publicly report data on out-of-school suspensions of students. The bill was predicated on Department of Education data that only 2% of out-of-school suspensions in 2013 were for serious or violent offenses, and disproportionately affected Black students.
Brandywine School District Superintendent Lisa Lawson explained that school discipline improvement plans (SDIP) that grew out of Senate Bill 85 have become an onerous task that leave local leaders searching for solutions.
“We continue to have people write corrective action plans about ‘What are you going to do to make it better?’ when that’s what districts are struggling with, right?” she said at the Oct. 28 task force meeting. “That’s the help that we’re asking for.”
In July, DSEA also held a presentation on how students’ behavior affects teacher retention and job satisfaction throughout the state amid the ongoing teacher shortage.
Stephanie Ingram, president of the DSEA, said teachers understand the importance of connecting with struggling students on a personal level, but it’s impossible to do so with large class sizes.
The task force has since suggested that the General Assembly “investigate the connection” between class size and outcomes for student behavior and school culture.
Providing and updating funding
The task force also recommended that the General Assembly provide funding for a variety of methods for addressing behavioral needs.
They included funding for experts to review school climate and discipline practices, certified behavioral analysts in schools, alternative programs for the most challenging students and for schools to hire contractors to provide social emotional learning (SEL) programs for staff and students.
It was also suggested that the General Assembly update the budget language related to the outcome measures and funding for the specialty schools that serve students with significant learning or mental health needs, known as the Consortium Discipline Alternative Program (CDAP).
The Public Education Funding Commission (PEFC) was also called on to update funding mechanisms for equitable support for students with complex behavioral needs across the state. The PEFC held its first meeting in September and was formed to review the state of public education funding in Delaware and develop recommended changes to the system.
The recommendations for funding come at a time when Delaware’s lawmakers and families are already skeptical about increasing funding for public education.
In December 2023, a consultant recommended the state increase spending by as much as $1 billion to meet its 2030 goals — or roughly a sixth of the state’s current overall budget — the PEFC was created as a result of both Democratic and Republican members of the State Senate’s Education Committee raising concerns in a March meeting about how the increase would affect taxpayers.
Setting standards for interventions
The task force also had a heavy focus on the multi-tiered system of supports, or MTSS, that clues teachers and administrators into when a student is in need of more significant support inside and outside of the classroom.
It recommended that the Delaware Department of Education set minimum standards for its implementation, and that districts and charters establish MTSS teams to analyze data and recommend supports, among other suggestions.
The task force noted that these goals are already required by existing statutes or regulations, but they believe additional support or resources are needed for effective implementation.
Members voiced concerns during the June presentation — specifically when discussing Tier 3, which addresses students with “severe and persistent academic, social, emotional, and/or behavioral needs.”
Tier 3 interventions are individualized and intensive, including a mix of increased intensity through smaller group sizes, more instructional time and increased use of explicit instruction.
“Once you get to Tier 3, the available services and supports outside of the traditional school setting is where we end up falling short,” Red Clay Consolidated School District Superintendent Dorrell Green said. “Because we go through these processes where there’s six, eight, 10, 12 weeks, and then those said supports … typically falls back on that same school, and that same group of educators who have raised the issue or the particular need on behalf of a student.”
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