Transforming Student Behavior: New Britain’s Approach to Reducing Suspensions with Restorative Practices and Online Courses

The Customer

Consolidated School District of New Britain in Connecticut

The Challenge

Reducing undesirable behaviors and the number of in-school and out-of-school suspensions, specifically for middle and high school students, while fostering a safer environment.

The Consolidated School District of New Britain was struggling with a high rate of suspensions among middle and high school students. District leaders wanted to find a way to reduce the suspension rates through a Multi-Tiered System of Support (MTSS)—supporting students at Tier I (all students), Tier II (students who need targeted/strategic support), and Tier III (students who need intensive instruction/intervention) levels.

“We knew what we were doing in the schools wasn’t working in terms of getting the kids to live up to expectations,” said Keira Soler, Assistant Coordinator of School Culture PK-12.

The Choice

The district received grant funding earmarked for programming to reduce suspension rates and used it to purchase Vector Solutions’ online Student Safety & Wellness Courses. The district was already using Vector Solutions’ courses for staff training, so it was an easy decision to expand that use to include courses for students. The courses are used in combination with SEL curriculum and restorative practices to support student success.

Vector’s courses are helping the district:

• Provide students with a baseline of knowledge about important safety and wellness topics. The Vector courses allow the district to provide preventative education about topics such as bullying, cyberbullying, good decision-making skills, building healthy relationships, vaping, and more. Keira Soler, assistant coordinator of school culture PK-12, said teachers sometimes aren’t prepared to teach about these topics, so the courses are a great way to support teachers in delivering lessons about these important issues. She especially likes the engaging nature of the video courses and that the content is delivered by peer-presenters. “Students receive it well when it’s coming from another student,” she said. Soler also appreciates that the courses are short enough to keep students’ attention and that they can be accessed in multiple languages. The district has a diverse student body with 68% of students speaking Spanish and a high number of students who speak Arabic.
• Support both prevention and remediation efforts. The Vector courses are a good solution to help the district support both prevention and remediation efforts
  • In grades 6-8 the courses are delivered during peer advisory sessions to provide all students with a baseline of knowledge to prevent challenging behavior. The courses are also used for remediation. “During advisory, we proactively assign the videos for students to watch and complete the assessment. Then, if a student is caught with a vape, for instance, we assign the video again or another video in the same library. The videos explore the peer pressure of vaping and how it affects your future.”
  • High school students don’t have peer advisory sessions, so the courses are used at the Tier II and Tier III levels for remediation. For instance, if someone is referred to the dean, they will have to take the course addressing the behavior that they were referred for. The courses are sometimes included as part of a student’s behavior contract or as part of their stipulated agreement with the school – an agreement the students sign stating that if they stay out of trouble for a year and complete the Vector courses, they can avoid being expelled.
• Help students understand district-specific rules and policies. The courses can be customized so the district is adding some of the policies from the student handbook to the courses so that they can be easily delivered to all students. Soler says sometimes students don’t realize something that they do is inappropriate—for instance, bringing a Nerf gun to school or having multi-tools on their keychains that include knives. “We want to be proactive and educate them,” she said.

The Change

The district implemented the Vector courses as part of a larger initiative aimed at improving student behavior and improving school climate. The initiative also included adding SEL curriculum, and a focus on restorative practices. It has had an extremely positive impact. Expulsions are down 40%, and the number of in-school and out-of-school suspensions is also down. So far, the courses have been provided at the district’s largest high school and middle schools, and these students have collectively completed more than 7,800 courses. Soler recently applied for and received the Connecticut Stronger Connections state grant, which will be used to expand the program next year.

About Vector Solutions

Vector Solutions Student Safety & Wellness Courses provide age-appropriate online video lessons customized for grades 6-8 and 9-12 around important safety and wellness topics. The courses include educator resources to help support discussions about the topics as well as assessments.
Course topics include:

• Mental Health and Well-Being
• Substance Misuse Prevention
• Healthy Relationships
• Personal & Community Safety
• Career Readiness & Life Skills
• CTE Training Courses

The courses are authored by subject-matter experts and delivered by peer presenters. The courses can be assigned individually or used in a facilitated group and are available in multiple languages.