A Disruptive Innovation Plan for In-School Suspension
Patricia L. Silva (L20672776) · Lamar University · EDLD-5305: Disruptive Innovation in Technology · Dr. Oge · March 15, 2026
Presentation Overview
This presentation outlines a disruptive innovation plan designed to transform In-School Suspension (ISS) into a dynamic learning environment for "clock-skewed learners." We will explore current challenges, present a three-year implementation strategy, detail assessment designs, and introduce digital tools for enhanced learning and documentation. Our goal is to foster equitable and effective educational experiences for all students.
Presentation Overview
Outline of the Innovation Proposal
This presentation guides you through each major component of the Clock-Skewed Learners framework — from its theoretical foundations to a fully articulated three-year implementation model designed for middle and high school ISS environments.
Proposal Letter to Dr. Oge
Introduces the Clock-Skewed Learners concept, its roots in distributed systems theory, and the instructional problem observed in ISS settings.
Letter to the Principal
Communicates the instructional intention of the project to campus leadership and frames ISS as a structured, pedagogically sound learning environment.
Literature Review
Draws on self-regulation theory, blended learning research, backward design, and ipsative assessment to build an evidence-based theoretical foundation.
Three-Year Implementation Plan
Describes a phased pilot beginning in middle school ISS, expanding to high school, and ultimately scaling toward district-level adoption.
Institutional Video & e-Portfolio
Provides multimedia documentation of the model, including a YouTube presentation and a public e-portfolio for ongoing record-keeping and reflection.
Proposal Letter — Dr. Oge
What Does "Clock-Skewed" Mean in Education?
The Technology Metaphor
In distributed systems theory, clock skew refers to a timing mismatch between connected components (Agarwal & Garg, 2005). A system may appear to function correctly while the information it processes becomes misaligned. Components are present, expectations are set, and resources are available — yet synchronization still breaks down.
This technical concept offers a powerful lens for examining learning. Even when curriculum, instruction, and technology are all in place, learning does not always occur as educators anticipate. The gap between instructional intention and learner interpretation is the educational equivalent of clock skew.
Translating the Metaphor to the Classroom
Students may read instructions, access materials, and produce responses that appear aligned with guidelines — yet submit work that is fragmented or only partially connected to the intended learning goals. This disconnect is not always a matter of ability or effort. It may reflect a mismatch in timing, readiness, or the clarity with which instruction reaches the learner.
As the National Research Council (2000) explains, instructional tools can create the appearance of engagement without necessarily producing deeper comprehension — particularly when learners are not yet prepared to interpret and apply what they receive. The Clock-Skewed Learners framework investigates precisely these under-articulated conditions in educational systems.
This proposal does not introduce entirely new methods. Rather, it examines how existing tools and strategies can function more effectively — especially in settings where learner readiness is limited, such as In-School Suspension (Horn & Staker, 2015).
Letter to the Principal — Mr. Vargas, PISD
Reimagining ISS as an Instructional Space
In many schools, students removed from classrooms for disciplinary reasons enter ISS without a clear instructional plan. This proposal reframes that moment as a structured pedagogical opportunity grounded in blended learning, self-regulation, and ipsative assessment.
The Instructional Problem
Administrators typically use ISS primarily as a disciplinary action. Research shows that many behavioral challenges are more closely connected to difficulties with self-regulation than to disciplinary conduct alone (Dweck, 2006). When schools fail to engage students instructionally during removal, a critical learning opportunity is lost, and the cycle of disengagement continues.
The Clock-Skewed Learner Profile
Some students demonstrate the capacity to succeed academically but still struggle to keep pace with traditional classroom structures. The challenge lies not in ability, but in a mismatch between when students are ready to learn and how the learning environment is organized. Drawing from Lamport (1978), even a fully functional system can fall out of sync due to small timing differences — a concept that maps directly onto student behavioral and learning patterns in ISS.
Blended Learning as the Structural Bridge
As Horn and Staker (2015) explain, blended learning combines face-to-face instruction with digital learning experiences, creating more flexible environments. The proposed ISS model combines direct supervision with digital activities, structured reflection tools, and clear routines — enabling students to become active participants in their own reintegration process rather than passive recipients of disciplinary consequences.
Cost-Neutral, System-Compatible Design
The proposal operates entirely within existing campus and district infrastructures. No new resources, platforms, or structural changes are required. As Elmore (2008) emphasizes, meaningful instructional improvement can occur by strengthening existing practices rather than replacing them. This makes the model administratively feasible and scalable without requiring additional budget allocation.
Literature Review
The Theoretical Foundation of Clock-Skewed Learners
The framework is grounded in four interconnected bodies of research: self-regulated learning, blended instructional design, ipsative assessment, and the science of learning. Together, these theoretical pillars explain why ISS, as currently structured, often fails students — and how intentional redesign can produce meaningful change.
Self-Regulated Learning
Panadero (2017) identifies self-regulation as encompassing self-awareness, strategic knowledge, self-motivation, and goal-directed behavior. ISS, without instructional intent, fails to cultivate any of these capacities. The model embeds structured reflection to develop these skills deliberately.
Growth Mindset
Dweck (2006) demonstrates that students' responses to challenges reflect their beliefs about learning, effort, and growth. Early labeling and exclusion without instructional support can deepen fixed mindset tendencies. The CSL model replaces punitive framing with a growth-oriented, progress-centered approach.
Blended Learning Design
Horn and Staker (2015) define blended learning as a methodology in which students learn partly through planned online instruction, with some control over time, place, path, and pace. This model is applied directly within ISS, combining digital tools with structured face-to-face supervision.
Understanding by Design
Wiggins and McTighe (2005) warn that students who are not guided as thinkers and designers tend to absorb information passively. The backward design framework — identifying learning goals, evidence, and activities in sequence — structures the ISS instructional activities throughout all three years of the model.
Literature Review — ISS Challenges
Why Current ISS Structures Fall Short
A Missing Pedagogical Framework
A review of school district websites and Texas Education Agency (2023) guidelines reveals a persistent absence of pedagogical structure guiding in-school suspension. When institutional frameworks do not align with predetermined instructional outcomes, students "understand concepts more by luck and happenstance than by design" (Wiggins & McTighe, 2005).
The National Research Council (2000) is direct: "Students come to the classroom with preconceptions about how the world works. If their initial understanding is not engaged, they may fail to grasp the new concepts and information that are taught." In ISS environments that lack intentional instructional design, this failure is systematic rather than incidental.
The Labeling Problem
Not all learners can conform to rigid control frameworks. When they cannot, the institutional response tends to be labeling rather than adaptation. Early and premature labeling in exclusionary environments directly impacts both academic performance and personal development — outcomes that extend well beyond the immediate disciplinary event (National Research Council, 2000).
Cognitivism, Metacognition, and the Learning Gap
Students may find it difficult to regulate their thinking when the principles of cognitivism are unclear and significant gaps exist in their understanding of metacognition (Dweck, 2006). ISS, as an administrative response, rarely addresses these cognitive dimensions — leaving students without the scaffolding needed to reflect, adjust, and reintegrate successfully.
Self-Regulation Requires Intentional Support
Panadero (2017) is clear that developing self-awareness, strategic knowledge, and goal-directed behavior requires intentional instructional support — not mere behavior management. Blended learning environments, as described by Horn and Staker (2015), offer a flexible, personalized approach that allows students to manage their learning rather than simply comply with rules. This is the structural shift the Clock-Skewed Learners model proposes.
Transforming Disciplinary Spaces
Transforming exclusionary environments into developmental spaces is complex but achievable. The proposed three-year growth model follows a consistent phased structure — ensuring the project's flow and sustained institutional alignment (Elmore, 2008). Each phase builds on prior data, making the process adaptive and evidence-informed rather than rigid or prescriptive.
Literature Review — Three Phases
The Three-Phase Theoretical Structure
The Clock-Skewed Learners model implements three progressive phases, each grounded in a distinct body of research. These phases are designed to be executed sequentially, with each one building on the outcomes of the previous stage.
Phase 1: Ipsative Foundation
Based on Panadero's (2017) self-regulation framework, this phase uses ipsative assessment — measuring each student's progress relative to their own prior performance rather than to peers. Van Eijnatten et al. (2014) clarify that ipsative scales reflect relative strengths within an individual rather than across different learners, making them ideal for behavioral and reflective growth tracking in ISS contexts.
Phase 2: Blended Methodology
Following Horn and Staker's (2015) blended learning model, this phase introduces digital content with clear pedagogical structure. Content is designed using marketing principles — not to persuade, but to maintain student engagement and commitment (Marques & Romão, 2021). As the National Research Council (2000) explains, knowledge develops through active interaction with the environment, not passive reception.
Phase 3: Hybrid Monitoring
After leaving ISS, students continue building digital portfolios that serve as longitudinal behavioral and academic documentation (Butakor, 2024). Hybrid counselor follow-up — combining in-person and digital check-ins — supports both student progress and counselor well-being, reducing the risk of burnout in high-demand environments (Mullen & Gutierrez, 2016).
Implementation Plan — Year One
Year One: Middle School ISS Pilot
The first year of implementation establishes the foundational structure of the Clock-Skewed Learners model within the middle school ISS environment. The focus is on building initial data, establishing reflective routines, and creating the digital portfolio infrastructure that will carry forward into subsequent years.
Structured Reflection Activities
Students engage in intentional self-reflection using guided questions anchored in self-regulated learning principles (Panadero, 2017). Example prompts include: "How was my behavior today different from the last time I was in ISS? What could I do differently next time? How did today's session help my focus?" These questions guide students to compare current behavioral experiences with previous ones — the cornerstone of ipsative growth tracking.
Academic Recovery via Google Classroom & Blended Stations
Students use Google Classroom and blended learning stations to organize and complete academic tasks during ISS time (Horn & Staker, 2015). Activities apply backward design principles (Wiggins & McTighe, 2005) — establishing learning goals, identifying evidence of learning, and structuring instructional activities accordingly. This ensures that disciplinary time remains connected to academic progress rather than becoming a gap in learning.
Ipsative Rubric Assessment
Assessment includes three dimensions: self-reflection, behavioral regulation, and goal-setting. Each dimension is rated on a scale of 1 to 4, tracking how behavior changes across ISS visits over time. Lower scores indicate early stages of awareness; higher scores indicate stronger self-management. Students compare current rubric results to their own previous scores — not to classmates — making the entire assessment process personal and growth-oriented.
Digital Portfolio Development
Students begin building digital e-portfolios where they document behavioral experiences and upload reflection responses. Over time, these portfolios become longitudinal records of development, allowing both students and educators to observe patterns across multiple ISS visits. Rubric-based records also establish initial benchmarks that guide instructional adjustments in Years Two and Three (Butakor, 2024).
Awareness Campaign Creation
Students design awareness campaigns using Canva addressing behaviors such as bullying, physical aggression, disrespect, and inappropriate conduct. Finished posters and messages are displayed throughout the school — in the library, bathrooms, and cafeteria — and uploaded to students' digital e-portfolios as part of their reflective documentation. This activity transforms disciplinary time into a community contribution, reinforcing accountability and responsibility.
Implementation Plan
Reflection & Behavior Monitoring Rubric
The following rubric, adapted from Panadero (2017), is used throughout the three-year implementation to assess student progress across three key dimensions. Scores reflect behavioral development over time, not comparisons to peers.
Note: This rubric is ipsative in nature — students compare their current responses to their own previous scores. Each dimension (self-reflection, behavioral regulation, and goal-setting) is rated 1–4. Lower scores indicate early awareness; higher scores reflect developing self-management and stronger engagement with learning strategies. A larger version of this figure appears in the appendix section of the full written report.
Assessment Dimensions
Self-reflection, behavioral regulation, and goal-setting — each scored 1 to 4 across ISS visits
Point Scale
Progress tracked from early awareness (1) through developing (2–3) to consistent self-management (4)
Implementation Years
Rubric data collected across all three phases: middle school, high school, and district expansion
Implementation Plan — Year Two
Year Two: High School Expansion & Longitudinal Monitoring
The second year extends the Clock-Skewed Learners model to the high school ISS environment while simultaneously continuing to follow students who participated in the middle school phase during Year One. This longitudinal design allows the research team to observe behavioral and academic development across school transitions — one of the most critical and under-studied periods in student development.
New High School Participants
Students entering ISS for the first time at the high school level begin the process in the same way as Year One — starting with guided self-reflection, academic recovery activities, ipsative rubric assessment, and digital portfolio documentation. The instructional structure remains consistent, ensuring that implementation quality does not vary across campuses or grade levels.
Longitudinal Follow-Up of Middle School Cohort
Students who participated in the ISS model during eighth grade and subsequently transitioned to high school remain part of the study. Their digital portfolios carry forward, allowing educators and counselors to observe whether the self-regulation skills developed during the middle school phase show continuity, growth, or regression as students navigate a new and more demanding academic environment (Dweck, 2006).
Collaborative Data Review
Teachers and counselors review the collected information collaboratively to identify patterns in student behavior and academic progress. This joint analysis supports evidence-based instructional adjustments while distributing the monitoring workload across campus staff — a design feature that helps prevent counselor burnout (Mullen & Gutierrez, 2016) and keeps the implementation sustainable over time (Elmore, 2008).
Implementation Plan — Year Three
Year Three: District-Level Expansion & Continuous Adjustment
Scaling with Structural Integrity
By the third year, two full years of implementation data provide the evidentiary foundation for district-level expansion. The model's structure remains consistent across campuses, ensuring that the instructional design established in the initial phases scales without losing fidelity. As Elmore (2008) emphasizes, sustainable improvement must remain grounded in instructional coherence — not just administrative expansion.
Critically, the same cost-neutral design principle applies at the district level. No new platforms, personnel, or budgets are required. The model works within existing school technologies, staff roles, and curriculum frameworks — making it viable for adoption across diverse campus contexts within the same ISD.
Monitoring Behavioral and Academic Trajectories
The district-level monitoring system continues tracking students based on academic grades and patterns of returning to ISS. This longitudinal structure allows educators to observe behavioral and academic development as students advance from middle to high school and beyond — providing a richer picture of the model's long-term impact than any single-year study could achieve.
Adaptive Implementation Guided by Evidence
All adjustments in Year Three are guided by data already collected in prior phases. Additional blended learning methodologies may be introduced to enhance student growth where patterns suggest specific instructional needs (Horn & Staker, 2015; Wiggins & McTighe, 2005). This adaptive, evidence-first approach prevents the common pitfall of scaling innovations before their effectiveness has been sufficiently documented — ensuring that expansion strengthens rather than dilutes the model.
Three-Year Overview
Implementation Roadmap at a Glance
This three-year roadmap reflects a phased, evidence-driven approach to implementation. Each stage builds on the structural and data foundations of the previous one, ensuring that expansion is guided by documented outcomes rather than assumptions. The model remains cost-neutral, system-compatible, and grounded in the instructional principles of self-regulated learning, blended design, and ipsative assessment throughout all three phases (Elmore, 2008; Horn & Staker, 2015; Panadero, 2017).
Key Theoretical Pillars
Scholarly Foundations Supporting the Model
The Clock-Skewed Learners framework is not built on a single theoretical lens. It draws deliberately from a diverse body of scholarly literature, integrating research on cognition, instructional design, assessment, and systemic innovation to construct a model that is simultaneously theoretically rigorous and practically applicable in K–12 settings.
Dweck (2006) — Growth Mindset
Students' beliefs about learning, effort, and growth shape their responses to academic challenges. ISS environments that lack instructional intent can reinforce fixed mindset patterns. The CSL model deliberately embeds growth-oriented framing throughout every activity.
Horn & Staker (2015) — Blended Learning
Blended learning provides students with some control over time, place, path, and pace. Applied to ISS, this principle transforms a passive disciplinary space into an active, technology-mediated learning environment with clear instructional purpose and student agency.
Panadero (2017) — Self-Regulated Learning
Self-regulation encompasses monitoring, reflection, and behavioral adjustment. Six theoretical models are reviewed in Panadero's landmark synthesis, all converging on the need for intentional instructional support — not behavior management alone — to develop these capacities in students.
Wiggins & McTighe (2005) — Understanding by Design
Backward design begins with learning goals and evidence before selecting instructional activities. Without this structure, students absorb information passively rather than learning meaningfully. The ISS model applies UbD principles to ensure every activity has a clear instructional intention and measurable outcome.
Assessment Design
Ipsative Assessment: Measuring Personal Growth, Not Peer Comparison
What Is Ipsative Assessment?
Ipsative assessment is a self-referenced evaluation approach in which a student's current performance is measured against their own prior performance — not against a class average or peer benchmark (van Eijnatten et al., 2014). In an ipsative scale, variables sum to a constant within each individual case, meaning results reflect relative strengths and tendencies within the same person across time rather than across different individuals.
This approach is philosophically aligned with Dweck's (2006) growth mindset framework, which holds that meaningful improvement comes from effort and learning over time. Even small, incremental gains represent real progress when the reference point is the student's own trajectory rather than a normative standard.
Why Ipsative Assessment Fits ISS
Traditional grading in ISS settings is both inappropriate and counterproductive. The CSL model explicitly decouples instructional work from traditional grades. Instead, educators observe gradual improvement in behaviors such as self-monitoring, task completion, reflection quality, and accountability. Technology-supported formative tools — including structured digital surveys and portfolio entries — capture engagement, reflection, and readiness to return to classroom routines over time (Horn & Staker, 2015).
Addressing the Limitations
Van Eijnatten et al. (2014) note that ipsative measures carry well-documented limitations: initial scores may lack strong reliability, construct foundations can be unclear, and using them to predict outcomes remains speculative. The Clock-Skewed Learners model acknowledges these critiques directly.
The ipsative component is not used for diagnostic classification, normative ranking, or predictive decision-making. Its purpose is narrowly and explicitly defined: to support the development of self-awareness and behavioral regulation — areas where a student's own prior performance is the most meaningful and contextually appropriate point of comparison (Panadero, 2017).
What Educators Observe Over Time
- Patterns of behavioral improvement across multiple ISS visits
- Growing capacity for self-monitoring and task management
- Quality and depth of digital portfolio reflection entries
- Readiness indicators for successful classroom reintegration
- Longitudinal academic engagement trends from middle to high school
This information allows educators to observe developmental patterns rather than make high-stakes decisions based on short-term compliance (Dweck, 2006).
Digital Tools & Documentation
e-Portfolios, Canva Campaigns & Technology Integration
The Clock-Skewed Learners model integrates specific digital tools to make the learning process visible, traceable, and personally meaningful for students. Technology functions here not as the central solution but as a supporting structure that amplifies instructional clarity and learner readiness (Horn & Staker, 2015).
Digital e-Portfolios
Students document behavioral experiences, upload reflection responses, and track their own progress across ISS visits. Over time, the portfolio becomes a longitudinal record that both the student and the school can reference to observe changes in behavior and academic engagement. Butakor (2024) validates e-portfolios as effective tools for teaching, learning, and assessment — particularly for capturing developmental progress that traditional grades cannot measure.
Google Classroom & Blended Stations
Google Classroom provides the academic recovery infrastructure during ISS time. Blended learning stations allow students to engage with content at their own pace while maintaining clear instructional structure. Digital deadlines, task tracking, and reflection logs make the learning process visible and easier to follow — supporting both student accountability and educator monitoring (Horn & Staker, 2015).
Canva Awareness Campaigns
Students design posters and simple visual messages addressing school community behaviors — bullying, physical aggression, disrespect, and inappropriate conduct. These campaigns are displayed in the library, bathrooms, and cafeteria, and uploaded to students' digital portfolios. This activity transforms disciplinary time into a constructive community contribution, reinforcing personal responsibility and social awareness (Marques & Romão, 2021).
Digital Formative Surveys
Structured digital surveys capture levels of student engagement, reflection depth, and readiness to return to classroom routines. This data supports instructional decisions and provides educators with a clearer picture of each student's development over time — enabling pattern-based observation rather than judgment based solely on short-term behavior (Dweck, 2006).
Institutional Presentation & Portfolio
Video Presentation & e-Portfolio Documentation
Institutional Video: March 14, 2026
A short video presentation explains the Clock-Skewed Learners model, the instructional design of the ISS environment, and the stages of implementation. The video was produced as part of the final deliverables for EDLD-5305: Disruptive Innovation in Technology at Lamar University.
YouTube Presentation: March 14, 2026 — Clock-Skewed Learners
e-Portfolio
The public e-portfolio documents the full scope of the Clock-Skewed Learners project — including instructional design artifacts, reflection documentation, campaign samples, and implementation records.
Portfolio Link: unknown link
Contact & Institutional Information
Patricia L. Silva
Allen, Texas 75002
(214) 425-7040
[email protected]
Student ID: L20672776
Course & Supervision
Lamar University
Master of Education in Applied Digital Learning
EDLD-5305: Disruptive Innovation in Technology
Supervised by Dr. Oge
Campus Partner
Felipe Vargas, Director and Principal
Plano Independent School District
(469) 752-5200
[email protected]
Conclusion
From Disciplinary Removal to Instructional Reconnection
The Clock-Skewed Learners model demonstrates that the instructional, methodological, and technological resources already present in most school systems are sufficient — when used intentionally, dynamically, and interactively — to transform disciplinary spaces into environments that support genuine learning, behavioral growth, and academic reconnection.
Self-Regulation Over Compliance
Students in the CSL model are not asked to comply passively. They are guided to monitor their own behavior, reflect on their choices, set goals, and track their progress. These are the cognitive habits that support long-term academic success — and they can begin developing even within an ISS setting (Panadero, 2017).
Avoiding Premature Labeling
By framing behavioral challenges as timing misalignments rather than fixed deficits, the model creates space for students to be understood as capable learners whose readiness simply needs realignment. This reframing protects students from the developmental harm associated with early exclusionary labeling (National Research Council, 2000; Dweck, 2006).
Systemic Feasibility
The model is cost-neutral, system-compatible, and phased over three years to ensure structural integrity and institutional buy-in. It does not require systemic rupture — only the intentional strengthening of what already exists (Elmore, 2008; Horn & Staker, 2015). This makes it viable for adoption across diverse K–12 contexts within any ISD.
A Human-Centered, Evidence-Driven Vision
Ultimately, the Clock-Skewed Learners framework is both a practical implementation plan and a statement of educational values: that every student who enters ISS deserves not just supervision, but a structured, compassionate, and purposeful instructional experience that supports their growth as a learner and as a person.
Scholarly References
References
Agarwal, A., & Garg, V. K. (2005). Efficient dependency tracking for relevant events in shared-memory systems.
In Proceedings of the 24th Annual ACM Symposium on Principles of Distributed Computing (PODC '05) (pp. 19–28). ACM.
https://doi.org/10.1145/1073814.1073818
Butakor, P. K. (2024). Use of e-portfolios as a teaching, learning, and assessment tool in higher education.
European Journal of Education and Pedagogy, 5(6), 35–45.
https://doi.org/10.24018/ejedu.2024.5.6.858
Dweck, C. S. (2006). Mindset: The new psychology of success. Random House.
Elmore, R. F. (2008). Improving the instructional core. Harvard Graduate School of Education.
Horn, M. B., & Staker, H. (2015). Blended: Using disruptive innovation to improve schools. Jossey-Bass.
Lamport, L. (1978). Time, clocks, and the ordering of events in a distributed system.
Communications of the ACM, 21(7), 558–565.
https://lamport.azurewebsites.net/pubs/time-clocks.pdf
Marques, M. O., & Romão, P. (2021). Práticas de marketing educacional nas escolas públicas.
Interacções, 17(57), 204–228.
https://doi.org/10.25755/int.24133
Mullen, P. R., & Gutierrez, D. (2016). Burnout, stress, and direct student services among school counselors.
The Professional Counselor, 6(4), 344–359.
https://doi.org/10.15241/pm.6.4.344
National Research Council. (2000). How people learn: Brain, mind, experience, and school. National Academy Press.
Panadero, E. (2017). A review of self-regulated learning: Six models and four directions for research.
Frontiers in Psychology, 8, 422.
https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00422
Texas Education Agency. (2023). Student discipline.
https://tea.texas.gov/texas-schools/health-safety-discipline/student-discipline
van Eijnatten, F. M., van der Ark, L. A., & Holloway, S. S. (2014). Ipsative measurement and the analysis of organizational values.
Quality & Quantity, 49(2), 559–579.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11135-014-0009-8
Wiggins, G., & McTighe, J. (2005). Understanding by design (Expanded 2nd ed.). ASCD.
Clock-Skewed Learners