Relating to best practices for student engagement and expectations for student behavior

This bill requires the director of the department of education to provide guidance based on best practices and to offer technical assistance relating to service-learning projects to school districts, and establishes requirements for the director and school districts relating to expectations for student behavior. The guidance and technical assistance must be designed to engage middle and secondary school students in service-learning projects, which may be completed as part of required coursework. The director must also identify or develop, in consultation with education practitioners involved in school discipline and classroom behavior, and distribute to school districts guidance based on best practices for communicating to students the school district’s expectations of student behavior. The board of directors of a school district must develop and implement programs to introduce students in grades one, six, and nine to the school district’s expectations for student behavior. The programs must be provided prior to the beginning of the school year and may be provided at the school principal’s discretion. The expectations shall address personal development, conflict resolution, social and emotional intelligence, and cultural competency, and include messages of encouragement. The school district shall provide means of support to help children meet or exceed the expectations. The program shall include professional development aligned to the expectations and also include best practices for comprehensive school discipline, positive behavioral interventions, and consequences for failure to meet the expectations for student behavior in the classroom.3.16.2. The inclusion of this specification is intended to reinstate the requirement of political subdivisions to comply with any state mandates included in the bill.