In the past several years, there has been an important movement to reduce the utilization of restraint for individuals with developmental disabilities. Legislatures, local and national, are taking on the task of shaping the way that our culture supports people who, up until now, have been often treated in a punitive manner rather than truly…

Despite conflicting reports on the state of disruptive behaviour in schools it continues to be a perennial one for all teachers. The purpose of this self-study, which utilises personal experience stories in the form of vignettes taken from my experience of teaching in various high schools in London England, is to illustrate how teaching…

The PASSAGE (Positive and Safe Schools Advancing Greater Equity) initiative in Chicago brought together representatives from Chicago Public Schools (CPS), the parent organizing group COFI (Community Organizing and Family Issues), and the youth education organizing group VOYCE (Voices of Youth in Chicago Education), facilitated by the Annenberg…

Many urban high schools serving low-income families have below-average attendance rates, which can indicate that fewer students are prepared to matriculate into college and career opportunities. Through the use of participatory action research (PAR), we--a group of four educators at Wilson High School--have changed school policies and procedures…

Federal legislation is an important lever for improving the equity and efficacy of school, district, and state discipline policies. Legislation should ensure that all students are treated fairly, regardless of race, gender, or class. This paper presents three recommendations for changing federal legislation to accomplish this goal. These…

Education experts and political leaders frequently agree that in spite of many changes, American schools continue to remain in need of reforms that will expand the circle of opportunity for all children. Few such leaders, however, recognize young people themselves as a critical leadership constituency in effecting the needed reforms. Special…

Extension publication editors from around the United States are finding cases of plagiarism within manuscripts that Extension educators submit as new public education materials. When editors confront such educators with the problem, some don't understand it as such, rationalizing that reproducing published information for a new purpose qualifies…

There is no evidence that physically restraining or putting children in unsupervised seclusion in the K-12 school system provides any educational or therapeutic benefit to a child. In fact, use of either seclusion or restraints in non-emergency situations poses significant physical and psychological danger to students. Yet the first round of data…

Teaching can be a daunting endeavor for both experts and novice teachers. It is a profession that requires the ability to be responsive to new demands and changing needs. In recent years, school reform promoting high-stakes testing in the name of improving academic achievement has dominated the list of problems demanding consideration. The ability…

New Jersey's Vineland High School North faced many behavioral and vandalism problems during its first year of operation (1976-77) and adopted a program to improve this situation during its second year. This effort involved adoption and thorough dissemination of student rules, a series of parent orientation meetings, a new community information…

This second article of a two-part series describes how success counseling techniques can be used to handle discipline problems by helping campers to accept personal responsibility and develop effective problem-solving skills. Instead of using punishment, success counseling techniques enable campers to recognize what they want, identify appropriate…

Numerous studies have demonstrated that disruptive classroom behavior can be decreased by delivering tokens contingent on periods of time during which children do not engage in it or by removing tokens contingent on its occurrence. To date, the best controlled of these studies have consistently reported the two procedures to be equally effective.…

The Effective Classroom Management and Discipline Strategies Graduate Program for Educators is organized around a series of core modules designed for use in inservice teacher education. The basic skills learned in these series of modules are communication (feedback, nonverbal, listening, self disclosure, problem solving, and conflict resolution),…

Defines behavioral and educational contracts as therapeutic instruments that can be educationally and socially beneficial while enhancing students' self-image. Contracts enable schools to monitor students who have discipline problems and involve them in taking educational responsibilities. (JAC)

Traces development and implementation of a 4-day school week at an Alberta junior high school that extended the school day 40 minutes, resulted in more classes taught in a shorter time period, and decreased student discipline problems. Describes parent and community reactions. Includes recommendations for planning educational change. (LP)