The EDJ Group envisions societies where young people have opportunities to transform their lives and achieve well-being through access to high-quality education. We believe these opportunities depend on education organizations engaging in responsive practices that engage young people's agency and implementing evidence-based practices based on excellence and equity.
Meet Our Founding Consultant
Dr. Michael G. Wilson has worked in education, behavior, and juvenile justice for over 25 years. He has been a special education teacher for students with Emotional and Behavioral Disorders, a Professor of Education, an education and policy researcher, and an expert consultant and evaluator in numerous cases involving special education, juvenile justice education, the use of restraint and seclusion, disability rights, curriculum, and disproportionate use of exclusionary practices. He has worked in education and justice in more than 20 U.S. states and internationally in Wuppertal, Germany, and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He has held appointments as Assistant Professor at Teacher’s College, Columbia University, and as an affiliate faculty member at the Center for Justice at Columbia University.
Dr. Wilson is the Managing Director and Principal Consultant for The Education, Discipline, and Justice Group LLC. In that role, he has served as a litigative/expert consultant in federal and state investigations of the denial of rights under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act ( IDEA). He has provided expert testimony in litigation dealing with restraint and seclusion, special education, and curriculum. He has worked with the American Civil Liberties Union and The Annie E. Casey Foundation’s Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative, among others, to investigate and improve educational practices in juvenile justice settings in numerous states nationwide. He has successfully worked with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to investigate and advise on the appropriate use of restraint, ending the use of seclusion, and implementing best practices for behavior management in public school districts.
Dr. Wilson is currently working on multiple projects addressing inequitable disciplinary practices, including disproportionate use of suspension, seclusion, and restraint on students with disabilities and minority students. He serves as a court-appointed monitor of a state juvenile justice agency, advising on state efforts to improve education and behavioral programming and processes. He also works with the Department of Juvenile Services in Maryland to reform transition policies and procedures and develop new programs to improve education outcomes for youth returning to their local community.