Reducing disproportionality in school discipline is a grand challenge for school social work. Although the causes of disproportionality in exclusionary school discipline are interrelated and complex, one solution is to introduce alternatives to suspensions and expulsions that discipline students while keeping them engaged in school. The teen court…

Morris Jeff Community School is a brand-new, ability-inclusive, intentionally diverse charter in the Mid-City area of New Orleans, Louisiana. In a city where the educational landscape is dominated by other charter schools, Morris Jeff stands out for its International Baccalaureate curriculum, dedication to ability inclusion and diversity,…

Norwood Elementary, a Title I science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) school in Baltimore County, MD, recently realized that traditional behavior management programs and processes were not working with their students. Over time, school administrators discovered more successful approaches, and restorative practices became the way to…

Rather than creating safer schools, punitive policies--such as zero-tolerance discipline policies--appear only to have created hostile learning environments. In response, many advocacy organizations have urged schools to adopt a human rights framework, including restorative practices. Schools with restorative approaches have noted dramatic…

African-American boys are sent to the principal's office more often than any other group and disproportionately to their numbers in a school, according to Victor Cary, partner at the National Equity Project in Oakland, California. That is just one example of how the issues of society at large--racism, classism, sexism, language, and other…

The Assessment-Intervention of Student Problems (AISP) model provides a comprehensive process for understanding and helping students who are either having problems themselves or are causing problems for others on campus. There are three parts to the model: (1) the assessment of the student; (2) the campus intervention team; and (3) the…

As more and more schools adopt school-wide positive behavior support (SWPBS) as a model for school improvement and the success of initial demonstration sites becomes evident, districts are faced with expansion and sustainability issues. Careful planning of these implementation efforts requires district personnel to be familiar with the resources…

Describes a school discipline system modeled after the adult legal system. It serves two critical purposes. It establishes "discipline," allowing teachers to continue class instruction unimpeded, and it constitutes an important part of the curriculum. (Author/IRT)

The "discipline ladder" approach emphasizes that each successive offense of the same type should result in punishment made more uncomfortable by designed increments. (Author/IRT)

The successful program to reduce discipline problems described here emphasized four areas. An effort was made to change the erroneous thinking of students, parents, and teachers; to reward and punish students systematically; to clean up the campus; and to increase cooperation and responsibility. (Author/IRT)

Describes a Prescriptive Discipline Plan developed by teachers at a Florida middle school. The plan featured three offense categories: minor infractions handled by teachers, intermediate offenses (cheating, disrespect, and insubordination) handled by administrators, and serious offenses (fighting, assault, sexual misconduct) invoking automatic…

The Richland Northeast High School in Columbia, South Carolina, finds an after-school detention program and a student supreme court to be successful in handling discipline problems. (JM)

This report covers trends in discipline policies and policy-making and alternative and innovative school programs designed to diminsh behavioral problems in the classroom. The programs range from improvements in a school's physical plant to specific action plans for teachers and options in the curriculum designed to stimulate alienated students.…

Profiles two San Antonio high schools' creative discipline approaches to supplement their official policies. At one high school, staff find out what "carrot" will work for grounding their "frequent-flier" kids. This usually involves devising attendance/behavior contracts for earning driving or other privileges. The other school has an…

This Guide is intended to share the insights of SEDL's National Partnership for Quality Afterschool Learning (the National Partnership) as well as information about both the academic and the organizational and management practices that successful afterschool programs use. The authors have organized these practices into the following four focus…