Indiana Disproportionality Project

Funding: Indiana Department of Education. The Indiana Disproportionality Project is a nationally-recognized collaboration of the Indiana Department of Education Center for Exceptional Learners, the Center for Evaluation and Education Policy (CEEP), and Indiana school corporations. In order to meet the disproportionality requirements of federal special education legislation (IDEIA 2004), the goals of the project are:

1. to provide a detailed description of the extent and character of disproportionality in the state of Indiana,
2. to increase our understanding of the causes of disproportionality in order to guide remediation efforts, and
3. to develop a model for addressing racial disparities in special education, and especially to place those efforts within the broader context of the achievement gap in our schools.

See also:
Discipline, Disability, and Race: Disproportionality in Indiana Schools. Download
Latino Students and Disproportionality in Special Education. Download
Using Data to Address Equity Issues in Special Education. Download
Local Equity Action Development (LEAD). Download

School Disciplinary Climate and Its Relationship to Educational and Community Outcomes for African American Students

Funding: William T. Grant Foundation. The over-representation of African American students in out-of-school suspension and expulsion has been a consistently documented phenomenon, and represents a major issue of equity to be addressed in our schools. This project is a mixed-methods investigation to extend and deepen our understanding of racial disparities in out-of-school suspension and expulsion. In this study, multivariate analyses of a statewide data base will enable us to identify more precisely the setting-level variables that contribute to suspension and expulsion above and beyond contributions of student characteristics to discipline.

Disproportionate Minority Contact: Quantitative Analyses

Funding: Indiana Criminal Justice Institute. Under the 2002 amendments to the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act (JJDP), states are now required to address not only the disproportionate confinement of youth of color, but also disproportionality in contact points throughout the juvenile justice system. This project describes the extent of disproportionate minority contact (DMC) in Indiana in order to meet this federal requirement and to help inform local and state policymaking. Data from seven Indiana counties at eight key decision points describe the extent of DMC. Results indicate that over-representation of Black youth at arrest makes a strong contribution to DMC, with further disproportionate contact at several other points of contact.

See also:
Disproportionate Minority Contact: Quantitative Analyses (Final Report). Download

Children Left Behind

Funding: Lilly Foundation. The Children Left Behind was a collaboration of the Indiana Youth Services Association and the Center for Evaluation and Education Policy. This project shares data on the use and effect of school suspension and expulsion with policymakers, educators, and community members in order to create a meaningful dialogue about suspension, expulsion, and their alternatives.

Safe and Responsive Schools

Funding: US Department of Education. The Safe and Responsive Schools model is intended to enable schools and school districts to develop a broader perspective on school safety, stressing comprehensive planning, prevention, and parent/community involvement. This project sought to implement our best knowledge of school-wide behavior planning by developing a comprehensive model of systems change in school discipline.

See also: Skiba, R.J., Ritter, S., Simmons, A.B., Peterson, R., & Miller, C. (2006). The Safe and Responsive Schools Project: A school reform model for implementing best practices in violence prevention. In S.R. Jimerson & M.J. Furlong (Eds.), Handbook of school violence and school safety: From research to practice. (pp. 631-650). Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Download