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…

Instead of time off from school, suspended students experience a long day, with minutes seeming more like hours unless they are willing to get to the tasks at hand. (Author)

Describes how a North Carolina elementary school altered teaching methods to suit the varied learning styles of the students based on the results of a learning styles inventory. Discusses changes made based on students' perceptual preferences, time of day preferences, environmental preferences, and sociological preferences. Notes that discipline…

Describes an intervention for children ages 4 through adolescence who steal. The child must apologize, return the stolen item, pay the victim an amount equal to the cost of replacing the stolen item, and lose a possession of approximately equal value. Provides a case example. (RJM)

It is proposed that a disciplinary Saturday school may be a good alternative to student suspension because it solves many of the problems involved with suspending students from school. Allowing students to attend Saturday school rather than being suspended gives them an opportunity to improve their grades and to attend all their regular classes.…

High levels of disruptive behavior, discipline referrals, and suspensions are among the symptoms of schools which have lost the bonds of respect. Educators face major challenges in transforming these school cultures. This article describes how restorative practices were implemented in certain southeastern Pennsylvania schools. The process of…

During the past ten years, many school districts have established alternative schools or programs for students who are seriously disruptive and academically unsuccessful. This bulletin describes five different types of alternative programs that have been effective in dealing with disruptive youth. They include the Tri-C Community Centered…

A means was developed to reduce the necessity for discipline among the 25 students who were the most chronic discipline problems at Thomas Jefferson High School, a 1,500-student school in suburban Pittsburgh. The students were identified by assigning point values to various disciplinary measures administered to students. The 25 students met with a…

A humanistic program implemented in a suburban Kansas City school district helped educators deal with the problems of absenteeism, poor motivation, lack of discipline, vandalism, tardiness, and drug use. The model is being looked at by many school districts throughout the United States. (RM)

The Innovative Instructional Incentive Plan represents a set of goals and action strategies for implementing the school improvement plan of the Fairway Elementary School in Miramar, Florida, where instructional time was being lost due to disruptive student behavior, and where behavioral infractions were not always dealt with quickly or…

National data dispute the value of school suspensions. This article describes specific alternatives to suspension, with special attention devoted to the creation of "in-school" suspension programs. It outlines philosophies, benefits, essential components, and major difficulties of in-school suspension centers and discusses truancy prevention,…

Describes a year-round alternative school program for disruptive students that relies on community resources to help the students and also involves parents. (IRT)

Because of widespread disillusion with suspension as a discipline procedure, school officials are developing inschool alternative programs. Institution of such a program must begin with reflection about how current disciplinary programs are succeeding or failing. The primary purposes of the program must include helping the child and identifying…

The Cooperative Community Counseling Project was designed to undertake an intensive joint individual and family counseling program to reduce maladaptive behaviors of students who were suspended from community high schools. Counselor training for this program included weekly seminars focusing on specific topics: (1) general problems associated with…

This conference presentation describes a six-week intervention training program for parents with children who exhibit negative behavior (noncompliance, temper tantrums, whining). The focus of the program is to increase positive parent-child interaction, as well as to teach parents how to make and follow through on commands to their children.…