Positive School Discipline Institute 

Innovative strategies to achieve positive learning environments for all school children to succeed.

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Positive School Discipline Institute:
A Trauma-Informed Approach
​to School Discipline Reform

The Positive School Discipline Institute (PSDI) is a year-long training initiative for school personnel to reform disciplinary practices and promote student academic success. The program will provide educators with the tools to help teachers, administrators, student resource officers and support staff improve school learning environments and reduce exclusionary discipline.
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Training topics include: positive school discipline strategies, implicit bias, culturally-responsive practices, adolescent development, restorative justice, mental health, de-escalation, and trauma-informed care. While becoming champions for change, team members from each school will attend role-specific training sessions and then share learned strategies with their colleagues. This team will help their school community jump-start reform and achieve a positive school climate.

​By the end of this training initiative, educators will be empowered to utilize best-practices, align school policies with those best-practices, develop skills to implement those policies, and apply positive school discipline reform throughout the school and district. 

Building Thriving Communities Through Positive School Discipline

​PSDI is using a national best practice model, ​The Trauma-Informed School​, to implement trauma-informed care in the participant schools, to promote a major paradigm shift in school disciplinary practices.
This paradigm shift will lead to improved student engagement, reduced suspensions, increased instructional time, improved academic achievement, and improved graduation rates in the participant schools.  This innovative, cross-disciplinary approach engages the whole school community, including parents and youth, to build a positive culture that promotes youth development and student success.

In 2010-2011, the implementation of trauma informed practices in Lincoln High School in Walla Walla, Washington  reduced school suspensions by 90%, increased academic achievement and graduation rates, and demonstrated student preparedness to successfully enter the workforce.  For additional information click here to download the PSDI Handout. 

Why Do We Need School Discipline Reform In Indiana

  • Many teachers state they need much more support with classroom management and working with underserved youth to implement positive behavioral discipline
  • During the 2012-2013 school-year, 1 in 9 students were suspended in Indiana.  For African American Students, that number was even greater - 1 in 5.
  • 87,000 Indiana students lost a total of 751,366 instructional days due to exclusionary discipline practices (that's over 4.5 million hours of lost classroom time in Indiana in just one Year) - which include suspension and expulsion for attendance related matters, such as: truancy, chronic absenteeism, and tardiness.
  • Zero tolerance practices are creating young adults who are uneducated and unemployable.  According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 22% of young people between the ages of 18-24 in Indiana do not have a high school diploma or GED.

Master Trainer Program

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Starting in 2019-2020, an essential component of the PSDI program is the Master Training Program. Each school team enrolled in PSDI chooses one member to undergo 2 full days of additional training and a capstone exercise through the Master Trainer Program for School Trauma Lead Coaches. The training equips those team members to support their schools with intensive knowledge of evidence-based, positive school discipline practices grounded in The Trauma-Informed School model. 

 CPLI has worked with ESSDACK and Jim Sporleder, National Trauma-Informed School Trainer, to develop a Master Trainer curriculum Guide based on The Trauma Informed School: A Step-by-Step Implementation Guide for Administrators and School Personnel by Jim Sporleder. ​

The Master Trainer program is funded by a generous grant from the Glick Fund of the Central Indiana Community Foundation.

​Watch the video below for more details about the Master Trainer Program. ​

 
​​The Children's Policy and Law Initiative of Indiana