During the Analysis phase, I drew on a combination of classroom experience and firsthand insights to understand the challenges educators face when supporting students removed from their primary campus for disciplinary reasons. This phase laid the foundation for the course design, aligning it closely with the real-world needs and challenges observed in practice.
Business Problem and Learning Gap
Exclusionary discipline practices vary across the nation, creating inconsistent expectations for teachers managing students assigned to Disciplinary Alternative Education Programs (DAEPs). In SBISD, teachers are responsible for supporting students remotely during DAEP placements, which can last from days to an entire academic year. While DAEP staff facilitate the program, the primary educational responsibility remains with the home campus teachers, who must coordinate instruction without a structured training program to guide them.
Currently, SBISD provides no formal support for teachers in this process. Teachers receive only three days' notice to prepare when a student is assigned to DAEP, often without specific guidance. This lack of structure can hinder educational continuity for the absent student, as teachers balance these demands alongside their in-class responsibilities. A general lack of awareness about the DAEP environment further complicates their ability to provide meaningful academic and emotional support.
The recent enactment of Texas House Bill 114, mandating DAEP placement for e-cigarette infractions, has sharply increased the number of students assigned to alternative education, intensifying the need for comprehensive teacher training. Without clear guidance on maintaining educational continuity, supporting emotional well-being, and fostering successful reintegration, teachers are often unprepared to address the broader impact of exclusionary discipline on students' learning and development.
Course Objective
Provide SBISD teachers with practical, flexible training on district-specific protocols, best practices, and resources to deliver consistent academic and emotional support to DAEP-assigned students, ensuring educational continuity, effective collaboration with DAEP staff, and smooth reintegration into the home classroom.
Context of Experience
With 12 years of experience—7 in a traditional classroom setting and 5 at an alternative school—I have firsthand insight into both sides of the DAEP process. As a classroom teacher, I witnessed the challenges and lack of training faced when supporting students assigned to DAEP. My time at the alternative school deepened my understanding of the broader impacts of this training gap on both students and teachers. I drew on this dual perspective to inform the course design, ensuring it addresses the real needs of educators and supports effective DAEP transitions.
Learner Insights
Drawing on my experience, I developed learner personas and an empathy map to keep the audience’s needs central to the design process, ensuring a well-rounded, objective approach that addresses diverse learning challenges and motivations. My five years at the alternative school provided a unique, close-up view of the business problem and learning gap. Working directly with DAEP students allowed me to see the problem under a microscope, understanding firsthand the impacts of limited training on both teachers and students. While it would have been easy to design a course from the perspective of a teacher facilitating DAEP learning, I wanted to ensure the target audience remained at the forefront of the process, creating a solution that truly supports classroom teachers in meaningful, practical ways. You can interact with the learner personas and empathy map by clicking on the images below. These will open a window to take you to external pages.
Explore detailed profiles of the target audience, created to ensure the learners were front and center in all stages of the design process
Explore insights into learners’ perspectives, challenges, and motivations.
Guided by insights gathered about the target audience, along with foundational principles of adult learning and andragogy, this course was structured around essential design requirements and constraints to meet the specific needs of SBISD educators. Below, explore an overview of the requirements and constraints that informed the design, along with the key decisions that shaped the course.
Grounded in the learning needs analysis, I incorporated several key design decisions to boost the course’s engagement and effectiveness. Central to this approach are storytelling and scenario-based learning, core strategies that engage learners through relatable, practical insights. By interweaving teacher profiles and student case studies into a cohesive narrative, the course mirrors real-life classroom dynamics, allowing educators to recognize themselves in familiar scenarios. This approach encourages self-assessment, fosters personal growth, and enhances retention and emotional engagement by bridging the gap between theory and application.
Explore the sections in the accordion below to discover each design decision, including how it supports learner engagement, practical application, and the integration of theory with real-world scenarios.
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The course situates learners in realistic scenarios that bridge the gap between theory and real-world application. By immersing participants in familiar teaching challenges and offering practical strategies for overcoming them, educators gain the confidence and skills to implement what they've learned with greater precision and effectiveness. These scenarios are designed to reflect everyday obstacles teachers face, validating their experiences and demonstrating adaptable solutions. This approach ensures that the concepts taught resonate with educators' daily experiences, enabling them to translate insights into meaningful action in their classrooms.
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The student case studies are carefully designed with depth and empathy, drawing on my years of experience working with DAEP students. Each profile offers a glimpse into aspects of students’ lives that teachers may not always see in a general education setting, given the demands of a large classroom. Having worked with hundreds of students in DAEP, I approached these case studies with a focus on revealing the complex, often unseen factors that shape student behavior.
By developing characters that challenge stereotypes, the course seeks to dismantle preconceived notions about students at DAEP, encouraging teachers to see beyond labels like “troublemaker.” The contrast between a supported student and an isolated one underscores the critical role of teacher involvement in shaping student outcomes, demonstrating how empathetic, consistent support can significantly influence a student’s success. Through these case studies, teachers gain a nuanced understanding of how exclusionary discipline impacts students’ academic, social, and emotional well-being—and how their involvement can be a pivotal factor in a student’s journey.
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These profiles include two contrasting educators to mirror the diverse experiences of real-world teachers. One profile illustrates best practices that are both practical and attainable, avoiding the unrealistic or "fantastical" expectations that can sometimes make strategies seem inapplicable. The other profile portrays a well-meaning but overwhelmed teacher who is genuinely concerned about her students but struggles to effectively support excluded students due to various challenges. By presenting relatable and realistic personas, these profiles encourage participants to reflect on their practices, identify areas for improvement, and recognize that effective strategies can be achievable without being perfect. Ultimately, both profiles are designed to foster empathy and create a sense of connection that enables educators to see themselves in these characters.
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By using relatable characters and emotionally engaging narratives, the course aims to inspire empathetic teaching and meaningful support, empowering educators to help students move from exclusion to inclusion. By fostering deeper connections rooted in empathy between educators and students, the course emphasizes how tailored interventions can significantly impact students facing exclusionary discipline. This approach nurtures a sense of belonging, enabling students to reintegrate successfully and continue their educational journey in a supportive, inclusive environment.
From Analysis to Design
Jordan, one of the featured students in the case studies, represents the complex backgrounds of DAEP students. His story sheds light on the challenges these students face and illustrates how supportive teacher involvement can impact their outcomes.
In the Analysis phase, I leveraged my classroom experience and insights from working with DAEP students to identify the key challenges educators face when supporting students removed from their primary campus. This process clarified critical gaps in training and resources, particularly in maintaining academic continuity and providing emotional support. These findings established the foundation for the course design, ensuring it addresses real-world needs and equips teachers with practical strategies to support student success during and after DAEP placement.
With a clear understanding of the challenges and needs identified in the Analysis stage, the next step was to apply these insights to shape a course design that directly addresses these gaps. Continue to the Design phase to see how the course structure, strategies, and interactive elements were designed to support educators in meaningful, practical ways.