Examining disproportionality in school discipline practices for students with Aboriginal status in Canadian schools implementing PBIS

The purpose of the study was to investigate the extent to which students with Aboriginal status receive disproportionate levels of Office Discipline Referrals (ODRs) and more severe administrative consequences relative to students without Aboriginal status. The participants were all 1,750 students in five rural British Columbia and Alberta elementary and middle schools implementing PBIS. Binary multilevel logistic regression was used to determine to what extent disproportionality was present. Contrary to hypotheses, students with Aboriginal status were no more likely to receive ODRs than students without Aboriginal status. Students with Aboriginal status were more likely, but not statistically significantly more likely, to receive suspensions and harsh administrative consequences from ODRs. In addition, students with Aboriginal status were more likely, and statistically significantly more likely to receive other or unknown administrative consequences. Potential factors for these findings include the small sample, the Canadian educational context, and implementation of PBIS in participating schools.Education, Faculty ofEducational and Counselling Psychology, and Special Education (ECPS), Department ofGraduat