Case Study: St. Louis Public Schools reduces suspensions and discipline referrals and scales to 25 schools with Kickboard

St. Louis Public Schools Reduces Suspensions and Discipline Referrals, and Expands Kickboard from 5 to 25 Schools

St. Louis Public Schools faced high suspension rates, loss of instructional time, and a lack of real‑time behavior data across its district. To address these challenges, SLPS piloted Kickboard’s school culture system — a configurable, web‑based platform combined with research‑based leadership coaching — in five elementary schools during 2015–16.

Kickboard’s platform and coaching gave teachers real‑time behavior tracking, dashboards, PBIS support (including “scholar dollars”), and automated triggers for attendance and interventions. As a result, schools saw dramatic, measurable improvements: Carver’s office referrals fell from 250 to 35 per week (an 86% drop), Farragut recorded an 84% decline in recess detentions and a 64% drop in suspensions, Lyon Academy cut referrals to its reflection room by 79%, and Patrick Henry reduced suspensions from 48 to 7 while active learning occurrences rose 149%. Based on these gains, SLPS expanded Kickboard to 20 more schools (25 total).

St. Louis Public Schools

David Hardy

Deputy Superintendent of Academics