Our Final Project Presentation Link & Project Website Link

Click on the picture or the following link to go to our final project presentation on Student Discipline:

http://connectpro53052519.na5.acrobat.com/tyytcbu.ikzntx/


Link to our "Student Discipline" Website:

Effective School-wide Discipline

Does your school use Effective School-wide Discipline? What positives are used to encourage your student population?

I think ESD is a great idea, especially the positives that result from the program. However, I feel that it can simply turn into another "program" to do, if it is not promoted successfully. I have seen what happens when it is not implemented appropriately. Students who shouldn't be part of the positives are included because of lack of consistency in discipline.

Discipline vs. Morale

What do you think about how the presence or lack of discipline affects morale in your school building?

I have experienced both sides. I felt like I was part of a caring community when our principal disciplined the students consistently. I personally believe that morale is a huge factor in having a successful school. Therefore, discipline must be fair and consistent to gain support from the school community. If discipline is inconsistent, morale goes down and teachers lose confidence in their leaders.

What are the components of a good discipline policy?

Waht works?
- positive reinforcement
- clearly stated rules
- good communication
- school-wide consistency
- what else????

Please add to this list!

Another question -
We can make a generic list such as the one above, but what are the specific components to achieving success? How do we get all school participants to take leadership and responsibility for school discipline?

Teacher Consistency

One thing I've been struggling with is teacher consistency when it comes to classroom discipline. From my perspective, principals make it clear at the beginning of the school year that we treachers are expected to enforce school rules, yet as the year goes on, it is clear that some teachers are doing it and others are not. So if any of us were to be principal what should we do? Should we make the teacher review process include things like keeping track of classroom discipline issues? Should the principal or level 2 disciplinarians be periodically checking tardy logs to make sure teachers are keeping track of those sorts of things? Should they be spot checking that missed lunch detentions are followed up with a reassignment or a trip to in-school suspension? What do you think a principal should do if they notice that teachers aren't being consistent?

Major/minor Offenses - let's define them

Can we make a list of student discipline issues/offenses that are considered major? Do these change when in elementary, middle or high schools?
Lets start a list -

[I once had a student throw a chair toward another student (the chair went out the window and the high-school student went to court).]

Student Input: Why Don't We Seek It?

While looking through Virginia's discipline policies I looked through a list of suggested members of a "stakeholders’ committee to discuss the management of student behavior". On the list was students. I KNOW that in my school we do not seek student input and it made me wonder why. Doing various activities in class I know that my more responsible students have very valid and interesting thoughts on student discipline. Even the students that aren't as responsible tend to have similar thoughts. So why don't we listen to them? Do you think students should have a say when it comes to the management of student behavior? Do you think they would be more likely to follow the rules if they helped create them?