Background: When children and youth feel connected to their school, family, and others in their community, they are less likely to engage in risky behaviors and experience negative health. Disruptions to school operations during the COVID-19 pandemic have led many teachers and school administrators to prioritize finding ways to strengthen and…

Research continues to reinforce the desirability of non-punitive environments for children. This article describes a school for severely emotionally impaired children that was transformed from a coercive climate to empowering children to develop their own controls. The author stresses that removing systems based on punishment and control can be…

Numerous approaches to behavior management in schools have been offered but many of these rely on strategies or procedures. A different kind of approach, which focuses on essential principles, is offered here. It includes a range of suggestions, but application of its principles depends on the particular school and community. The position adopted…

A four-phase positive discipline plan, based on William Glasser's "Reality Therapy" concepts and designed for grades K-5, is described. The goal of the plan is to teach the students to assume responsibility for their own actions; discipline is instructional, as opposed to punitive. A record is kept for each child upon which all serious behavior…

This document presents narrative descriptions of 14 selected programs for reducing truant and disruptive behavior in schools, as selected by a group of Virginia educators in a project sponsored by the Virginia Department of Education. Among the tools utilized in these programs are behavior modification using tokens, in-school tutoring, in-school…