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Exclusionary disciplinary practices are utilized in schools despite limited benefits and associated negative student outcomes. Alternative strategies, such as Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports, reduce exclusionary discipline practices, though research is limited in secondary settings. This study examines how student and school staff input was utilized throughout the iterative refinement of the "Inclusive Skill-building Learning Approach" (ISLA), an intervention to reduce exclusionary discipline practices in middle school through instructional and restorative practices. Inclusive Skill-building Learning Approach Intentional stakeholder involvement was hypothesized to impact acceptability and fidelity of implementation, critical for achieving intervention outcomes. Data across a two-year mixed methods approach indicate that engaging stakeholders throughout implementation enhanced fidelity. Quantitative findings demonstrate better understanding of stakeholder experiences. Implications for practice, limitations, and suggestions for future research are discussed. [For the grantee submission, see ED619330.]

Exclusionary discipline practices are frequently utilized in schools despite decades of research indicating their ineffectiveness (American Psychological Association Zero Tolerance Task Force, 2008; Losen & Skiba, 2010; Muñiz, 2021). Research shows that removing students from the classroom does not change student behavior, is administered disproportionately to historically marginalized and minoritized groups, and is linked to the school-to-prison pipeline and lower academic achievement (Barnes & Motz, 2018; Losen & Martinez, 2020; Noltemeyer et al., 2015). This study explores the impact of the Inclusive Skill-Building Learning Approach (ISLA), an instructional and restorative alternative to exclusionary discipline practices, on discipline disproportionality. Pre-intervention, implementation, and post-intervention discipline data for 6th through 8th grade students were collected to understand the relation between ISLA and disproportional discipline data by race and gender. The findings suggest that ISLA is an effective tool for reducing overall in-school and out-of-school suspension rates as well as the risk indices for out-of-school suspensions for students of color, yet there is still a need for intervention adaptations to address specific disparities in exclusionary discipline practices. Research findings, study limitations, and implications and directions for future research and practice are further discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]