Organizational Consultation to Promote Equitable School Behavioral Data Practices Using the Participatory Culture-Specific Intervention Model

The current study describes the process of a participatory consultation framework, the Participatory Culture Specific Intervention Model (PCSIM), to plan and implement a data-based decision-making framework. The framework integrates proactive and systematic identification of emotional and behavioral needs as well as cognitive psychology techniques to promote more deliberate teacher decision making around student behavior. Using a participatory consultation framework is one way to build deeper school buy-in for implementing new initiatives by addressing immediate needs, taking into consideration school context and culture, and explicitly involving important stakeholders in all aspects of the planning and implementation process. We will describe the PCSIM consultation process for developing and piloting a decision-making framework around student behavior that emphasizes prevention and attempts to negate the role of implicit racial bias on decision making in order to reduce disproportionality in behavioral referrals. The current study describes phases 1–9 out of 11 of the PCSIM processes.