Our Equity Mission Statement:

At the Delaware Positive Behavior Support Project, we are committed to improving outcomes for each student. Educational systems cannot be considered effective until they are effective for all students. A Multi-Tiered System of Support (MTSS) can be a force for dismantling systemic racism and promoting equity or serve to perpetuate oppression. In recognition that black lives matter and given centuries of oppression, violence, and segregation, we must increase our commitment to improving outcomes for Black, Indigenous, and other Students of Color. PBIS teams embed equity into their implementation of all aspects of MTSS. 

We believe…

1. 1. Equity and culturally responsive practices must be ingrained into all aspects of MTSS/PBS at the state, district, and school levels.
   2. Each student deserves to feel safe and to be welcomed as a valued member of the school community.
   3. Listening to and learning from the educational experiences of Black, Indigenous, and other People of Color is essential to inform antiracist and culturally responsive work in schools.
   4. Educational systems must amplify and prioritize the voices of students and families who are black, indigenous and people of color.
   5. Representation matters in the curriculum and staffing and both should be representative of the communities they serve in and the students they serve. 
   6. Discipline policies and practices need to be equitable, preventative and restorative.
   7. Decision-making in MTSS/PBS must be data-driven and all data needs to be examined for bias, from including what is collected, how it is collected, and how it gets interpreted and reported.  
   8. Educational systems need to prioritize, educate, and continuously monitor our school community around equity and culturally responsive practices in order to best serve our students.
   9. Equity requires schools to support social emotional learning and promotion of mental wellbeing for each member of the school community. 

In translating these beliefs into practices…

1. Schools examine Tier 1 practices for bias including SW expectations and teaching matrices.  The development and revision of expectations and teaching matrices includes representation of all members of community (staff, family and students).
2. LEAs and schools ensure students have equitable access to Tier 2 and 3 interventions and interventions are responsive to the needs of all students.
3. LEAs and schools engage in and provide professional learning about racism, bias, and privilege in order to build greater awareness, sensitivity, and opportunities for reflection.
4. Educators consider our biases about student behavior and replace deficit thinking with a strengths-based approach.
5. LEAs and schools examine and change policies that disproportionately harm students who are Black, Indigenous, and People of Color.
6. LEAs support educators in replacing exclusionary responses to problem behavior with restorative, culturally responsive approaches.
7. Disaggregated data is used to guide decision-making.