Transformative agency for justice: Addressing racial disparity of school discipline with the Indigenous Learning Lab

Abstract

In the U.S. school systems, Native American students receive harsher and more frequent school discipline than White counterparts. Exclusionary discipline may result in adverse academic, social, and life outcomes. There is an urgent need for creating an inclusive, equity-oriented learning environment where Native American students’ identities, well-being, and dignity are promoted and nurtured. To develop a culturally responsive behavioral support system aimed to address racial disparity in school discipline, the Indigenous Learning Lab was implemented at a rural high school in Wisconsin. Indigenous Learning Lab is an inclusive problem-solving process through which Native American students, parents, and community members and non-native school staff collectively examine disproportionality in school discipline and design a new school-wide system. The purpose of this study is to examine how participation in Indigenous Learning Lab expanded local stakeholders’ individual agency to collective, transformative agency in designing a culturally responsive behavioral support system.