2022-2023 Report on Creating Safe and Supportive Learning Environments

With Data Insights on the Implementation of Positive Behavior Intervention and Supports (PBIS) and the Use of Restraint and Seclusion

The Ohio Department of Education and Workforce is committed to fostering schools that support wellness and environments where students are safe and ready to learn. Recognizing that the use of restraint and seclusion can negatively impact a student’s optimal learning, the Department promotes practices and provides resources that ensure students and staff feel safe and supported while also reducing the use of restraint and seclusion.  

This report is organized in two parts:

Part 1: Ohio’s School Wellness Supports, which presents an overview of Ohio’s efforts to create supportive school environments that embody wellness and aim to eliminate the use of restraint and seclusion; and

Part 2: Data Insights on Positive Behavior Intervention and Supports (PBIS) and Restraint and Seclusion in Schools, which address:

  • PBIS implementation in schools; and
  • Restraint and Seclusion utilization in schools.

Part 1: Ohio’s School Wellness Supports

School wellness supports promote healthy schools and address barriers that prevent students from engaging in learning. School-based wellness initiatives are key to ensuring students are in school, healthy, ready to learn, and prepared for success. Comprehensive support includes mental health and wellness initiatives, trauma-informed practices, prevention services, and behavioral health interventions.

The Office of Whole Child Supports coordinates and leads the Department’s efforts to develop the policies, programs, guidance, and resources to reduce non-academic barriers to student success. Each of the initiatives and resources below represents a critical piece of the collaborative approach to learning and wellness.

Safe and Supportive School Environments

Students thrive and learn best in safe and supportive learning environments. The components of a safe and supportive learning environment include creating a positive school climate and culture, addressing students’ emotional safety, and ensuring the school’s physical environment and grounds are safe. Promoting and supporting staff wellness and self-care are also important components to help ensure students’ academic success and overall well-being.

Ohio law (3313.60) prescribes suicide prevention, violence prevention, social inclusion, and school safety requirements. Schools, families, and communities must work together and take a comprehensive approach to school safety. This includes meeting the physical and emotional safety of both students and educators. When implemented together, prevention education, peer-led clubs, emergency management plans, and threat assessments can create safe, caring learning environments for all students. The Ohio Departments of Education and Workforce, Public Safety, and Mental Health and Addiction Services maintain a list of approved suicide awareness and prevention, violence prevention, and social inclusion programs that meet the criteria specified in the legislation on the Suicide Prevention, Violence Prevention, Social Inclusion and School Safety Requirements webpage.

Trauma Informed Schools

A trauma informed school is one in which all students and staff feel safe, welcomed and supported and where the impact of trauma on teaching and learning is addressed at the center of the educational mission. The Department recognizes the impact of trauma and provides the Trauma Informed Schools webpage with information and resources to support schools in planning and implementing trauma informed approaches.

The Department supported the Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Service’s (OMHAS) 10th annual Trauma Informed Care Summit in May 2023 through planning, communication, and funding. The summit held sessions on classroom-based interventions, staff wellness, strategies to develop resilience, and processes for building a trauma informed organization. More than 600 educators, mental health professionals, health providers, and community members registered for the summit. Department leaders provided opening remarks about the importance of utilizing trauma informed practices in education to build resiliency in students. In addition to the summit, Department staff provided professional development on incorporating trauma informed practices in schools at other conferences for educators and school personnel.

Mental and Behavioral Health Supports

The Department provides professional learning, technical assistance, and resources to support schools in developing comprehensive mental health systems. Effective mental health systems provide a continuum of supports and services that address mental health promotion, early intervention, and treatment. The Department collaborates with the OMHAS on several initiatives focused on school and community partnerships to create safe and supportive schools that improve the mental and behavioral health of students, families, and school staff. Through this partnership, statewide resources and training are available to school staff, families, and community partners.

  • The Department utilized federal relief funding to launch the School-based Center of Excellence for Prevention and Early Intervention with the OMHAS and Miami University. The Center builds on the Ohio School Wellness Initiative (OSWI), which includes best practice standards for student assistance programs and staff wellness frameworks. The Center provides resources for professional development, evidence-based practices, and innovative partnerships.  
  • The Department's School-Based Mental Health webpage outlines Ohio mental health trends, strategies to increase students access to care and wellness projects in Ohio. It also includes national resources and training opportunities.
  • The ABCs of Mental Health is a resource for educators developed by Ohio’s leading suicide prevention experts with teachers, administrators and school staff specifically in mind. The resource guides school staff to: Ask yourself how you are feeling; Be aware of signs and symptoms of mental health challenges; and Care for yourself and others.
  • The Supporting School Wellness Toolkit includes strategies and resources to assist school and district administrators, teachers, students, families, and communities with addressing mental and behavioral health concerns.
  • The School-based Mental Health Professionals Grant is a federally funded initiative in Ohio’s Appalachian region. The project brings together educational service centers (ESCs), universities, community mental health providers, and districts to plan and implement recruitment and retainment strategies to increase the number of school- based mental health professionals providing mental health services to students.
  • The School-Based Telehealth Services in Rural Ohio Project addresses the lack of high-speed internet by improving broadband connectivity and presenting additional ways for students to utilize telehealth to access behavioral health and other critical school-based health services in Switzerland of Ohio and Muskingum Valley schools.
  • Ohio engages in the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s Policy Academy on Supported Employment for Transition Age Youth with five other states to make a plan to improve Supported Employment services and outcomes for youth with serious emotional disorders.  

Prevention Education Efforts

Prevention-focused programs, services, and supports prevent bullying, substance use, and suicide by increasing students’ awareness of the dangers and consequences of risky behaviors and teaching skills necessary to engage in healthy decision-making and behaviors.  

Prevention education efforts can be integrated into existing district and school initiatives through schoolwide expectations, prevention-focused curriculum, or after-school activities. Like PBIS, a comprehensive approach to prevention requires a multi-tiered approach to support students:

  • Tier 1 strategies, also known as universal prevention, are offered to all students and focus on developing knowledge and skills to engage in healthy behaviors and decision ‑making.
  • Tier 2 and Tier 3 strategies, known as selective and indicated prevention, are implemented as needed to support students with increased risk factors.

When prevention services are provided through the PBIS framework, staff and students create a safe and supportive learning environment, students are more likely to engage in learning, and each student receives the supports they need to gain skills for success in school and life.

Ohio law (3313.6024) requires public schools, including traditional public schools, community schools, career-technical education schools, STEM schools, and other state-supported organizations to report the types of prevention-focused programs, services and supports implemented each year. The Prevention Services Data Report provides an overview of the prevention-focused services used throughout the state.

Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS)

Ohio rule requires districts to implement Positive Behavior Intervention and Supports (PBIS) on a system-wide basis.

PBIS is a multi-tiered system of support that utilizes instructional practices to teach students the behaviors that are expected in various school settings throughout the school day. A well implemented PBIS framework provides instructional support to all students, additional small-group interventions for some students, and individual behavioral planning for a few students, when needed. PBIS involves all school staff and requires consistency among adults. When properly implemented, PBIS has been shown to reduce discipline incidents and improve school climate.

The Department is committed to building statewide capacity to implement PBIS. The Ohio PBIS Network includes approximately 100 members from Ohio’s state support teams, educational service centers, other state agencies and collaborators like OCALI and Miami University. The Network is responsible for developing training and coaching materials and supporting resources.

In the 2022-2023 school year, the Network and OCALI collaborated on a Tier 1 virtual training. This training provides consultants the opportunity to train school and district leadership teams in a virtual or hybrid model. Tier 2 and Tier 3 virtual trainings are in the planning stages. Upon completion of each training, they will be available for online professional development and training at Ohio Online PBIS Training (ohiopbis.org).

Building State, Regional and Local Capacity for PBIS

Through the U.S. Department of Education’s School Climate Transformation Grant, the Department and regional designees worked to build Ohio’s PBIS training and coaching capacity. This grant operated through September 2023 and focused on increasing the number of PBIS master trainers within the State Support Teams and Educational Service Centers, improving coordination of resources, incorporating opioid abuse prevention and mitigation strategies (including trauma informed practices and integrating culturally responsive practices) into the PBIS framework.

Ohio’s School Climate Transformation Grant supported the creation of new PBIS video resources in partnership with OCALI. The following videos are available on the Department’s learning management system to support PBIS training.

  • The Tiered Fidelity Inventory (TFI) video which leverages the State Support Team PBIS consultants’ work, PBIS Apps, the Self-Assessment Survey, virtual TFIs for school districts during the pandemic, interviews, and a model of the TFI walkthrough;
  • The Data Collection and Analysis video which identifies trends and root causes, data interpretation, how to disaggregate data and consider the impact of race, ethnicity, and disability, and how to determine what interventions to apply; and
  • The Expanding PBIS to Address the Needs of the Whole Child video, which explores how PBIS, as a framework, can align with other initiatives that support the whole child, such as mental health, trauma informed practices, health behaviors and decision making. Community partnerships are also featured in this video.

The Department also supports local capacity by hosting an annual OLAC and PBIS Showcase that provides an opportunity for attendees to acquire firsthand knowledge on PBIS implementation. Schools that implement PBIS with a high degree of consistency and fidelity are eligible to be recognized as a PBIS award school or district (at gold, silver, or bronze levels). In 2023, 456 schools and districts received recognition. The showcase features award-winning and high-quality PBIS school programs sharing their knowledge, experiences, and resources in implementing and scaling-up their PBIS efforts, including training on PBIS coaching strategies.

Part 2: Data Insights on Positive Behavior Intervention and Supports (PBIS) and the Use of Restraint and Seclusion in Schools

Ohio rule for the Implementation of Positive Behavior Intervention Supports and the Use of Restraint and Seclusion went into effect at the beginning of the 2013-2014 school year and was revised in June 2021. The rule seeks to ensure Ohio school districts establish consistent policies and procedures for the use of PBIS and restraint and seclusion. The intent is to create safe environments for students and staff and reduce the need for physical restraint and seclusion through behavior supports and training. 

The following information highlights state-level data points related to the implementation of PBIS and the use of restraint and seclusion in schools. PBIS implementation is reported through the Education Management Information System (EMIS). Restraint and seclusion incidents are reported through the annual Restraint and Seclusion Survey. To ensure accurate reporting, data is collected at the school-building level. Data collected enables the Department to provide targeted support and technical assistance in the following ways:

  • Ensure all districts have adopted a policy for the implementation of PBIS and the use of restraint and seclusion.
  • Develop statewide resources and tools to support districts and schools with PBIS implementation and restraint and seclusion reduction efforts.
  • Provide targeted training and coaching through State Support Teams and Educational Service Centers.

As is best practice in continuous quality improvement science, the Department encourages schools and districts to consider effective ways to collect, analyze, and use their data to set goals and drive improvement.

District Response Rate

The Restraint and Seclusion Survey is provided to Ohio districts and schools that serve students in grades K-12. These include public districts; community schools; joint vocational or cooperative education schools; Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) schools; State School for the Deaf; State School for the Blind; and Educational Service Centers (ESCs).

The 2022-2023 restraint and seclusion survey collected responses from over 98% of the 1,045 schools and districts in Ohio. The districts and community schools that did not report restraint and seclusion incident data to the Department are listed below:

  • Cleveland Preparatory Academy
  • Maysville Local School District
  • Garfield Heights City School District
  • Menlo Park Academy
  • Hamilton County Math and Science Academy
  • Middle Bass Local School District
  • Hardin Northern Local School District
  • North Bass Local School District
  • International Academy of Columbus
  • Ottawa-Glandorf Local School District
  • Lincoln Park Academy
  • ReGeneration Bond Hill
  • Lorain County Joint Vocational School
  • Scioto Valley Local School District

Policies in Place

Ohio rule requires school districts to have written policies and procedures overseeing the use of PBIS and restraint and seclusion that are consistent with the rule. Of the 1,045 responding districts and community schools, 1,040 reported having updated PBIS and restraint and seclusion policies that align with the 2021 rule revisions.

Planning and Implementation of PBIS

PBIS is a multi-tiered framework developed and implemented for the purpose of improving academic and social outcomes and supporting learning for all students. Training for PBIS Leadership Teams is a multi-session, team-based process with follow-up coaching support. Properly implementing the PBIS Framework requires a multi-year commitment from a participating school. In addition to the PBIS training provided to the PBIS Leadership Teams, the revised rule establishes that districts will provide student personnel professional development on the implementation of PBIS at least every three years. To assist schools and districts to meet professional development needs in PBIS, the Department, in partnership with OCALI, created Ohio Online PBIS Training, which provides free on-demand online professional development in PBIS.

The National Technical Assistance Center on Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports identifies five sequential stages building leadership teams go through to plan and implement PBIS with fidelity. Ohio school districts use these phases to self-report where the district and schools are with PBIS implementation. This process guides what additional training and coaching is needed to progress to the next phase of implementation. The stages are defined below:

  1. Work on implementing PBIS has not yet begun.
  2. Exploration and Adoption – Researching PBIS, exploring readiness and securing staff and administration agreement to implement PBIS.
  3. Installation – Creating the PBIS team, completing PBIS team training and establishing initial systems, data-decisions, policies and practices that will be required to implement PBIS.
  4. Initial Implementation – Rolling out and implementing PBIS schoolwide, with a focus on Tier I supports.
  5. Full Implementation – Implementing PBIS with all systemic components and a range of interventions, known as Tier 1, 2 and 3 supports.
  6. Innovation and Sustainability – Routinely checking fidelity and outcomes of implementation using national assessments and revising and updating practices and systems as needed.

Each stage has specific steps and associated actions. While the stages, steps, and actions suggest a linear sequence of events, in actual implementation, there often is a more dynamic flow to the work. Some stages or steps may be occurring simultaneously, and the work often circles back to revisit earlier stages. The data enable the Department to identify schools and districts that should be recognized or ones that could use additional resources or training.

Figure 1 demonstrates that a higher percentage of schools reached Full Implementation or Innovation and Sustainability during the 2022-2023 school year, with over 66% of schools reporting implementation at these stages. Fewer than 6% of schools had not yet reached Initial Implementation. During 2022-2023 school year, a district received a “yes” for PBIS implementation on the report card if all schools in the district reported Full Implementation, except those schools which were new or had a new IRN.

Figure 1. PBIS Stage Advancement from SY18-19 to SY22-23

Graph shows what stage schools and districts are at in implementing PBIS proactises. Of note, about half of all schools have implemented PBIS, and 25-30%25 of schools are in the early steps of implementation.

Incidents of Restraint and Seclusion

Physical Restraint is defined as the use of physical contact in a way that immobilizes or reduces the ability of an individual to move the individual’s arms, legs, body, or head freely. The term does not include a physical escort, mechanical restraint, or chemical restraint. Additionally, physical restraint does not include brief physical contact to break up a fight, to knock a weapon out of a student’s possession, to calm or comfort a student, to assist a student in completing a task or response if the student does not resist the contact, or to prevent an imminent risk to a student or others.

Seclusion is defined as the involuntary isolation of a student in a room, enclosure, or space from which the student is prevented from leaving by physical restraint or by a closed door or other physical barrier.

Crisis management, de-escalation techniques, and less restrictive interventions should always be used to reduce the need for restraint or seclusion.

For the 2022-2023 school year, 66% of the 3,835 responding schools reported no incidents of restraint and 93% reported no incidents of seclusion. Figure 2 shows the statewide reported incidents of restraint and seclusion over the past four years. The document Key Definitions and Guidance for Restraint and Seclusion Documentation and Reporting explains how incidents are counted and reported.  

Figure 2. Use of Restraint and Seclusion

Graph shows that the use of restraint has fallen since the 2018-2019 school year, but the use of seclusion has remained fairly constant. There is a large dip in the middle of the graph that shows the 2021-2022 school year during COVID.

Restraint and Seclusion Data Themes

  • Reduction of Reported Incidents of Restraint and Seclusion: Figure 2 demonstrates an encouraging reduction in the number of restraint and seclusion incidents overall. This is offset by an increase in the number of restraint and seclusion incidents involving students with disabilities compared to the previous year.   
  • Students with Disabilities Experience More Incidents of Restraint and Seclusion: Data continue to confirm that students identified with a disability under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) experience more incidents of restraint and seclusion compared to their peers, despite representing a much smaller portion of total enrollment. Figure 3 provides a detailed look at these data.
  • Students with the Disability Category of Emotional Disturbance Have More Occurrences of Restraint and Seclusion: Students identified with a disability in the category of Emotional Disturbance are restrained and secluded at higher rates than other disability categories. During the 2022-2023 school year, students in this category represented only 4.8% of all students with disabilities, yet they represented 43% of the incidents of restraint with students with disabilities. This is followed by students with Autism and Other Health Impairments. See Figure 3.

Figure 3. Incidents of Restraint and Seclusion Per Disability Category 2022-23

Disability Category % of Students With a Disability in the Disability Category Overall % of Restraint Incidents involving a Student with a Disability per Disability Category % of Seclusion Incidents involving a Student with a Disability per Disability Category
Emotional Disturbance (ED) 4.8% 42.6% 39.5%
Autism 11.5% 25.8% 29.7%
Other Health Impaired (Minor and Major) 20.3% 19.2% 21.2%
Multiple Disabilities (other than Deaf-Blind) 3.8% 6.0% 4.2%
Cognitive Disabilities 6.7% 3.3% 2.5%
Specific Learning Disabilities 36.1% 1.7% 1.5%
  • Increases in Behavior Supports Following Incidents of Restraint and Seclusion The Department prioritizes that school teams consider behavior interventions and supports following incidents of restraint and seclusion. Ohio rule requires that school teams meet following the third incident of restraint or seclusion in a school year. The purpose of the meeting is to discuss whether a Functional Behavioral Assessment (FBA) or Behavior Intervention Plan (BIP) needs completed or amended. Ninety-six percent of buildings reported having a procedure in place prompting teams to hold a meeting following the third incident of restraint or seclusion.

    As shown in Figure 4, there was a substantial increase in the frequency of school teams creating or amending an FBA or BIP following an incident of restraint. The frequency of school teams creating or amending an FBA or BIP following an incident of seclusion remained consistent. Figures 4 and 5 provide further details.

Figure 4. Outcomes Following a Restraint

The graph shoes what happens after a restraint. Of note, suspensions are down and FBA and BIP review and development are up since the 2018-2019 school year.

Figure 5. Outcomes Following a Seclusion 

The graph shoes what happens after seclusion. It shows suspensions and FBA and BIP review and development since the 2018-2019 school year.

Restraint and Seclusion Resources

To support awareness and understanding of the standards for the use of restraint and seclusion, the Department provides the following resources:

Restraint and Seclusion Dispute Resolution

Disagreements regarding the use of restraint and seclusion should be resolved as close to the school level as possible. Ohio rule requires school districts to have a written complaint procedure allowing parents to file complaints with the superintendent of the district to initiate a district investigation.   

Parents may also choose to file a state complaint with the Department. A key revision of the Ohio rule in 2021 was the addition of a state-level complaint process for incidents of restraint and seclusion. During the 2022-2023 school year, 13 restraint and seclusion complaints were filed, a slight decrease from the 15 complaints filed during the 2021-2022 school year.

Complaint allegations from most to least common included:

  • Lack of notification and reporting regarding incidents of restraint and seclusion;
  • Training and professional development concerns;
  • Lack of district policies, including a procedure for parent complaints;
  • Multiple incidents of restraint and seclusion without holding a team meeting; and
  • Absence of monitoring procedures.

Corrective action frequently applied following a violation:

  • Completion of post-hoc restraint and seclusion incident reports;
  • Development or revision of restraint and seclusion policies;
  • Revision of district restraint and seclusion reporting forms; and
  • Professional development for staff including completion of the Restraint and Seclusion Video Modules.

Next Steps

The Department continues to prioritize its commitment to reduce the use of restraint and seclusion. The following programs and initiatives support these efforts:

  • Ohio’s Comprehensive School Threat Assessment Guidelines (CSTAG): Ohio was awarded a grant to continue offering training and coaching in the nationally recognized Comprehensive School Threat Assessment Guidelines (CSTAG) model. All Ohio schools and districts are encouraged to participate in this threat assessment training to meet threat assessment team needs and fulfill the Safety and Violence Education Students (SAVE Students) Act threat assessment requirements. Training in the CSTAG model requires districts to create multi-disciplinary threat assessment teams consisting of district and school personnel from each school. The Department’s website provides more information on the CSTAG threat assessment training.
  • Updates to Student Wellness and Success Funds:  Ohio’s districts and schools receive Disadvantaged Pupil Impact Aid and Student Wellness and Success Funds to fund initiatives providing wraparound services for Ohio’s students. For Fiscal Years 2024 and 2025, districts and schools must use at least 50% of funding for mental health or physical health care services or a combination of both. The Department created guidance that provides districts and schools with updated information on requirements, funding, uses, planning, implementation and reporting.
  • Required Mental Health training for Coaches: Ohio law requires all athletic coaches to complete a student mental health training course approved by OMHAS. The new training requirement helps coaches recognize risk factors, signs of suicidal ideation, and symptoms of common mental health disorders and learn strategies to support youth experiencing mental health concerns.
  • Opioid Mitigation Strategies within the PBIS Framework: In 2017, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services declared a public health emergency to address the expanding opioid epidemic. Opioid use has been on the rise in Ohio since 2019. The Department developed opioid mitigation strategies training as part of the School Climate and Transformation Grant. This training is designed around the Interconnected Systems Framework connecting PBIS and School Mental Health. After receiving the training, districts and schools will determine the best opioid prevention strategy and trauma informed practice to suit the needs of their student population. The Department has additional resources for opioid abuse prevention, PBIS, and other Prevention Education strategies.

Last Modified: 10/25/2024 9:52:54 AM