BALTIMORE — Washington state is working to decrease restraint and isolation in schools by providing technical assistance and professional development and by building awareness about how the practices leave lingering trauma on students, families and staff, a state education official and a researcher told special educators last week.
The efforts follow a 2023 report that "really, really emphasized that restraint and isolation are outdated practices, and they're actually a liability for districts. There is no science or evidence basis for doing these practices, even though staff believe that they're helping students," said Anna Marie Dufault, superintendent of student engagement at the Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction.
Dufault was referring to a joint report from Disability Rights Washington and the ACLU of Washington that revealed high incidents of restraint and isolation in schools across the state — and explained the ongoing trauma faced by those involved. In Washington, the term isolation is used for seclusion.
Dufault and Dia Jackson, a project director and senior researcher at the American Institutes for Research who has helped the state with these efforts, spoke about Washington's approach to better understanding the lingering impacts of restraint and isolation on students, families and educators during a session at the Council for Exceptional Children's convention on March 13.
In Washington, 4,282 students were involved in at least one restraint or isolation incident in the 2023-24 school year, according to Dufault and Jackson's presentation. Of that group, 83% were students with disabilities
The number of incidents of restraint or isolation reported statewide in the 2023-24 school year was 23,677, with 93% involving students with disabilities. During 2019-20, such incidents numbered about 27,900.
Nationwide, about 105,700 public school students were physically restrained, mechanically restrained, or placed in seclusion at schools during the 2021-22 school year, according to the most recent available figures from the U.S. Department of Education's Civil Rights Data Collection.
In a Jan. 8 letter to state and local education leaders, then-U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona called restraint and seclusion harmful to students, saying the practices can lead to serious physical injury, emotional trauma and even death. The Education Department under Cardona developed resolution agreements with several school systems found to have inappropriate restraint and seclusion practices or insufficient reporting protocols.
There is no federal law banning restraint or seclusion in schools. But the practices have been debated for decades. Some advocates, policymakers and educators want them prohibited, while others suggest a more nuanced approach that factor in student and staff safety for specific crisis incidents.
Reforms in Washington state
In Washington, state law prohibits the use of restraint and isolation for K-12 students during school-sponsored instruction and activities, unless "necessary to stop behaviors that will cause serious harm," according to the state education agency.
After the Disability Rights Washington-ACLU of Washington report was published in 2023, the State Legislature provided $2.5 million each over fiscal years 2024-2025 for the state superintendent's office to begin eliminating student isolation and to track and reduce the use of restraint.
The work has included talking to school staff about their understanding of the practices and the approaches used for behavior supports before resorting to restraint and isolation. State data shows that during the 2023-24 school year, 2,457 staff and 602 students were injured from the practices. That's down from 3,384 staff and 612 student injuries in 2022-23.
Families, students, teachers and principal unions and others were also interviewed, involved in focus groups or surveyed regarding restraint and isolation practices, said Jackson. This work was conducted by AIR in conjunction with the state education agency and other partners. The information helped pinpoint priority areas, such as focusing on prevention and addressing disparities with restraint and isolation practices.
Another key effort involved identifying six demonstration and 16 pilot school districts across the state for targeted professional development, as well as providing free statewide pre-recorded trainings.
"We wanted to impact the whole state as best as we could," Dufault said.
Washington's Spokane Public Schools is one of the pilot districts. In 2023, the school system entered a settlement agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice to address the discriminatory use of seclusion and restraint against students with disabilities. In the 2017-18 school year, Spokane recorded 6,087 incidents of restraint and isolation. In 2023-24, there were 183.
The district made several adjustments over those school years, including holding trainings on positive behavioral interventions and supports and the use of behavior intervention plans and functional behavioral assessments. Spokane Public Schools also reduced some class sizes, improved reporting, and added emergency response protocols to individualized education programs when appropriate, according to a presentation posted on the University of Washington, College of Education website.
The state is currently recruiting districts to receive technical assistance with the goal of implementing a systemic approach to preventing restraint and isolation. It is also developing a technical assistance manual that will include evidence-based positive behavior support practices, according to Dufault and Jackson.
"We are proud of the fact that we've been able to get so much done in such a short amount of time," said Dufault.
