Miami-Dade County Public Schools — Policy Analysis 2026
Grand Total
76 / 106
71.7%
Base Score
68 / 96
Extra Credit
8 / 10
Score by Section
| Section | Score | Max | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Culturally Responsive Training | 2 | 8 | Notes |
| Clear & Consistent Policies | 7 | 8 | Notes |
| Restorative Justice Practices | 5 | 8 | Notes |
| Bias Awareness & Mitigation | 4 | 8 | Notes |
| Culturally Relevant Curriculum | 6 | 8 | Notes |
| Community Engagement & Collaboration | 8 | 8 | Notes |
| Professional Development on Equity & Inclusion | 3 | 8 | Notes |
| Mental Health & Trauma-Informed Practices | 8 | 8 | Notes |
| Data Collection & Analysis | 5 | 8 | Notes |
| Student Voice & Leadership | 7 | 8 | Notes |
| Equitable Access to Support Services | 7 | 8 | Notes |
| Continuous Evaluation & Improvement | 6 | 8 | Notes |
| Extra Credit | 8 | 10 | Notes |
Suggestions to Improve the Score
Every item below its maximum, worst gap first, with the reviewer's own notes as the rationale.
Show suggestions (26)
- 1.2 [Culturally Responsive Training]: Mentorship programs for culturally diverse staff — Currently: Not Implemented (0/2 pts). M-DCPS has a general new-teacher mentorship program (MINT) but no public documentation was found of a mentorship program specifically targeted at culturally/racially diverse staff.
- 1.4 [Culturally Responsive Training]: Regular feedback/measurement on training effectiveness — Currently: Not Implemented (0/2 pts). No public documentation was found showing the district measures or collects feedback specifically on the effectiveness of cultural-competency/diversity training.
- 7.4 [Professional Development on Equity & Inclusion]: Participation in equity-focused conferences — Currently: Not Implemented (0/2 pts). No public documentation was found indicating district-sponsored or funded staff participation in external equity-focused conferences.
- EC5 [Extra Credit]: Describe additional policy… — Currently: Not rated (0/2 pts). No rationale recorded.
- 1.1 [Culturally Responsive Training]: Mandatory cultural competency training for all staff — Currently: In-work (1/2 pts). No evidence of a single mandatory, district-wide cultural-competency course for all staff; the closest structure is the court-ordered Diversity, Equity and Excellence Advisory Committee, which <cite index="92-2,92-3">was established pursuant to a federal court order to review issues and make recommendations to the School Board and Superintendent with the goal of eliminating disparities…
- 1.3 [Culturally Responsive Training]: Culturally relevant PD resources in staff learning — Currently: In-work (1/2 pts). The district's PD manual references training that <cite index="21-8,21-9">addresses the needs of diverse staff</cite>, but there is no dedicated, clearly-labeled "culturally relevant PD" catalog found for all staff.
- 2.4 [Clear & Consistent Policies]: Centralized documentation of incidents/outcomes — Currently: In-work (1/2 pts). The district maintains a centralized discipline data system required for state SESIR reporting, but a statewide grand jury found <cite index="66-7">MDCPS has significantly underreported and misrepresented the cases of school safety incidents like fights and criminal activity — as well as the number of student suspensions</cite>, raising concerns about the reliability of this centralized docume…
- 3.1 [Restorative Justice Practices]: Restorative circles/conferences to repair harm — Currently: In-work (1/2 pts). Restorative Justice Practices were rolled out as part of the district's Rethinking Discipline initiative and appear in the Code of Conduct/strategic plan, but implementation appears uneven by school (e.g., one principal's self-created "restorative justice tribunal" was a local innovation, not a uniform district mandate), so it is not confirmed as consistently mandatory district-wide.
- 3.2 [Restorative Justice Practices]: Staff training in restorative practices — Currently: In-work (1/2 pts). <cite index="10-7">M-DCPS also coordinated training on Restorative Justice Practices</cite> for staff during the 2015-2020 Rethinking Discipline push, but no evidence confirms this training is ongoing/mandatory for all current staff.
- 3.4 [Restorative Justice Practices]: Peer mediation program — Currently: In-work (1/2 pts). Peer mediation exists as an approved strategy, but <cite index="37-9">the principal may establish a peer mediation program... use of this program is solely within the principal's discretion</cite>, meaning it is not mandatory or uniformly implemented district-wide.
- 4.1 [Bias Awareness & Mitigation]: Implicit bias training for staff — Currently: In-work (1/2 pts). In 2018, a board member <cite index="28-3">hoped to expand implicit bias training on race to not only school police officers but also other school personnel</cite>, indicating aspirational/partial rather than confirmed universal implementation; Florida's Stop WOKE Act since 2022 has further constrained this type of training statewide.
- 4.2 [Bias Awareness & Mitigation]: Processes to review discipline data for disparities — Currently: In-work (1/2 pts). The district has formal bodies reviewing achievement/discipline disparities (Achievement Gap Oversight Committee with community members from <cite index="170-5">United Teachers of Dade, NAACP, Urban League, The Children's Trust and others</cite> providing annual analysis), but a 2022 grand jury found significant discipline data misreporting, undermining confidence in disparity-review accur…
- 4.3 [Bias Awareness & Mitigation]: Cultural competence checks in hiring — Currently: In-work (1/2 pts). DEEAC is charged with reviewing <cite index="93-6">recruitment and diversity of personnel</cite> and annual diversity compliance reports, but explicit "cultural competence checks" in hiring processes are not documented, and current Florida law (SB 266) restricts DEI-based hiring practices.
- 4.4 [Bias Awareness & Mitigation]: Diverse perspectives & materials in curriculum — Currently: In-work (1/2 pts). The district runs the multicultural Cultural Passport Program, but state action blocking the AP African American Studies course and a state memo targeting the district's SEL curriculum content for review show real constraints on diverse-perspective curriculum materials currently.
- 5.2 [Culturally Relevant Curriculum]: Teacher PD on integrating diverse perspectives — Currently: In-work (1/2 pts). General PD references modules for diverse staff needs, but no specific, confirmed district-wide PD track on integrating diverse perspectives into curriculum was found.
- 5.4 [Culturally Relevant Curriculum]: Culturally specific courses/electives — Currently: In-work (1/2 pts). The district piloted an AP African American Studies course, but it was blocked statewide by the Florida DOE, and students described feeling <cite index="110-3,110-4">"robbed" of their education</cite> when it was canceled, showing culturally-specific electives exist but face significant state-level restriction.
- 7.1 [Professional Development on Equity & Inclusion]: Ongoing anti-bias/equity training — Currently: In-work (1/2 pts). Equity-related review occurs through DEEAC and the Achievement Gap Oversight Committee, but there is no confirmed ongoing, mandatory anti-bias training program for staff, and such training is legally constrained in Florida currently.
- 7.2 [Professional Development on Equity & Inclusion]: Workshops on culturally responsive teaching — Currently: In-work (1/2 pts). General professional development references support for diverse staff, but no distinct, confirmed workshop series specifically on "culturally responsive teaching" was found as currently mandatory district-wide.
- 7.3 [Professional Development on Equity & Inclusion]: Equity topics in staff meetings/PD — Currently: In-work (1/2 pts). Some federal grant-funded schools engage in an <cite index="98-9">Equity Improvement Cycle and design and implement an equity plan</cite>, but this is not shown to be a universal practice across all staff meetings/PD district-wide.
- 9.1 [Data Collection & Analysis]: Disaggregated discipline data system — Currently: In-work (1/2 pts). Disaggregated discipline data is collected for state/federal reporting, but a grand jury found the district's reported data was unreliable, e.g. <cite index="67-1">fights to zero; Carol City Senior High, 58 to zero... didn't report a single fight to the state in 2015-2016</cite>, undermining confidence in the system's accuracy.
- 9.2 [Data Collection & Analysis]: Regular audits of discipline practices — Currently: In-work (1/2 pts). <cite index="66-4">MDCPS is conducting an internal review of student discipline policies after state education officials accused the district of "laundering" its data on school safety</cite> — this is a reactive, one-time audit prompted by external investigation rather than a documented regular/standing audit practice.
- 9.4 [Data Collection & Analysis]: Transparent reporting to stakeholders — Currently: In-work (1/2 pts). The district reports achievement-gap and climate-survey data to the Board and public annually, but the exposed data-falsification issues around discipline reporting raise concerns about the transparency/accuracy of some disciplinary reporting specifically.
- 10.3 [Student Voice & Leadership]: Students facilitate restorative processes — Currently: In-work (1/2 pts). Peer mediation, where students help resolve conflicts, is an available Code of Conduct strategy, but as noted under 3.4 it is applied at principal discretion rather than as a mandatory restorative process district-wide.
- 11.4 [Equitable Access to Support Services]: Systems to remove access barriers — Currently: In-work (1/2 pts). The district is actively reviewing access barriers — a 2025 board item calls for the district to be <cite index="201-4">data-driven, equity-centered, and operationally bold</cite> regarding transportation — but currently <cite index="206-4">transportation services are limited and may not be available at all schools</cite> for magnet/choice programs, a known ongoing access barrier.
- 12.1 [Continuous Evaluation & Improvement]: Standing committee/task force for discipline equity — Currently: In-work (1/2 pts). Standing committees exist for academic achievement-gap oversight and broader diversity/equity issues, but no distinct standing committee specifically focused on discipline equity was identified.
- 12.3 [Continuous Evaluation & Improvement]: Benchmarking vs. state/national comparators — Currently: In-work (1/2 pts). The district has compared some metrics to state averages (e.g., incident rates noted as below the state average in a prior FLDOE review), but no consistent, current district-wide benchmarking process against state/national discipline-equity comparators was confirmed.
Source Documents Used
Show source documents (1)
| Document | Date | Local Copy | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miami-Dade County Public Schools Scoring Sheet | 2026 | Open file | file:///C:/_CSSD/CSSDWebsite/cssdisc.org_htdocs/DistrictPolicies/Miami-Dade_County_Public_Schools/2026/Miami-Dade_County_Public_Schools_Scoring_Sheet.xlsx |