Dive Brief:
- New guidance from the U.S. Department of Education promotes the use of individualized behavioral assessments and support plans for students with and without disabilities to help schools address problem behaviors and reduce suspensions and expulsions.
- The 25-page, nonregulatory guidance issued last month calls for using "functional behavioral assessments" more often to help school staff and families better understand the causes of a student's behavior. Those FBAs can inform "behavioral intervention plans" for reducing challenging behaviors and measuring progress toward those goals.
- In developing the guidance, department officials learned schools most commonly used FBAs when there were safety concerns, such as frequent aggressive behaviors, according to the guidance. But the department said the FBA and BIP approaches also have benefits for reducing classroom disruptions such as name-calling and avoiding schoolwork.
Dive Insight:
The guidance came from the Education Department's Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services and the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education.
"It is critical that we better understand student behavior, including how students’ lived experiences, such as peer pressure, poverty, social media, discrimination, and trauma, may impact behaviors that interfere with learning in the classroom," said Glenna Wright-Gallo, assistant secretary of OSERS, and Adam Schott, principal deputy assistant secretary of OESE, in a letter introducing the guidance.
Wright-Gallo and Schott said the guidance clarifies how FBAs can be used more often to understand and address behaviors that hinder learning.
Schools have reported a rise in mental health and behavioral challenges in students in the past few years. At the same time, schools say they lack the funding and staffing to address students' mental health needs.
Functional behavioral assessments have typically been a special education strategy to help schools determine — through data and observations — if a behavior resulted from a student's disability and to help guide interventions to reduce the interfering behaviors. Behavioral intervention plans are developed in collaboration with teachers, counselors, administrators, families and, sometimes, the student.
The new guidance notes that for students with disabilities or suspected disabilities, parental consent may be required for FBAs. Additionally, FBAs cannot be used to delay or deny an evaluation of a student who is suspected of having a disability.
Several federal funding sources support training and development for FBAs, including Title I, Title II, Title IV and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, Part B, according to the guidance.
The Education Department also highlights other approaches for supporting students' learning and behavioral needs, such as mutli-tiered systems of support and positive behavioral interventions and supports.
OSERS and OESE will host a webinar explaining the guidance on Dec. 3 at 1 p.m. ET.
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