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…

Students need a safe and supportive school environment to maximize their academic and social-emotional learning potential. A school's discipline policies and practices directly impact school climate and student achievement. Together, discipline policies and positive school climate efforts can reinforce behavioral expectations and ensure student…

This article presents Culturally Responsive Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (CRPBIS), the first framework to operationalize cultural responsiveness in the context of positive behavioral interventions and supports in the United States (Bal 2011). To develop the CRPBIS framework, the author first conducted a systematic review of…

We examine the effects of the Cleveland Metropolitan School District's (CMSD) districtwide efforts to improve school safety, order, and conditions for learning. These approaches include implementing (1) a social and emotional learning program for elementary students (PATHS); (2) a planning model for students exhibiting academic or nonacademic…

The focus of this dissertation was the use of restorative justice practices in the collegiate setting. Some have expressed concern with the legal nature of campus conduct processes. Restorative practices have been implemented in criminal justice and K-12 settings and are seen by some as an antidote to overly legalistic campus conduct processes.…

Improving student discipline is a constant challenge in the field of P-12 education. The challenge is especially great for district-level administrators who must address the educational and social needs of all students. As a district-level administrator, the author participates in a study of a midwestern district of elementary (preschool-8)…

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)

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.…

The purpose of this handbook is to stimulate thought, planning, and action. Although few of the alternatives outlined here are "canned" techniques that can be readily applied, the experiences and techniques reported should stimulate the thinking of school officials and citizens so that efforts can be initiated to develop and put into…

The author describes a successful counseling program as an alternative to suspension for disruptive students. (HMV)

When students increasingly exhibited disruptive behavior at a particular school, a comprehensive multilevel discipline program was developed to respond to the students' behavior. The conceptual model and key intervention approaches used in this multilevel discipline program are described in this paper. Previous experience convinced school…

The inservice teacher education program described here focuses on a system of employing minimum action in order to attain and maintain effective classroom discipline, and offers a survival strategy for the classroom teacher. The product title is an acronym for the five steps or options outlined for achieving classroom discipline: (1) leave things…

This paper describes a program that was developed and implemented to define better the incidents used by a rural school district to report school violence to the state. The program was also designed to decrease the use of out-of-school suspension by 90 school administrators in this Florida district. Some of the strategies used for the program…

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…