This booklet provides an analysis of discipline referral data from several schools and illustrates how these data call for specific interventions. It examines ways to link office discipline-referral data to schoolwide discipline, provides referral data-analysis methods, and describes how discipline data can show intervention need and success. The…

Parental attitudes toward rewards for student behavior and academic achievement as well as toward corporal punishment were assessed. The sample consisted of 195 parents from northern Mississippi. University students administered the anonymous questionnaire. Among the results was that 75 percent queried would not approve teachers being allowed to…

A continuing dichotomy in public opinion concerning the use of corporal punishment in Canadian schools provided the impetus for this paper, which includes a review of the relevant literature. Morality issues surrounding corporal punishment are discussed and public opinion data are exerpted from the Provincial Review of School Disciplinary Policy…

Educators and attorneys routinely struggle with the issue of mixing academic evaluation with student discipline, as this summary of litigation reveals. The text opens with a synopsis of academic sanctions for nonattendance and unexcused absences, advising school districts that any grade-reduction policy should have an educational purpose. The…

The basic requirements for fair school disciplinary proceedings were set down in the Supreme Court decision of Goss v. Lopez. The requirements are that students be given oral or written notice of both the nature of the rule (violation of which will result in punishment) and the nature of the specific violation and the intended punishment. In…

Over the past 5 years, McKnight Middle School in Renton, Washington, has instituted a new discipline policy, integrated a study skills program throughout the curriculum, upgraded the curriculum, created several reward and recognition policies for both students and teachers, and increased parent and district involvement. The discipline policy…

Discipline of handicapped students is the topic of the lead article in this publication. The author first reviews recent cases regarding expulsion of handicapped students, including "Kaelin v. Grubbs," a 1982 case finding that the same due process procedures that apply to changing the educational placement for handicapped students must…

In its successful program to prevent and control violence, vandalism and misbehavior by students on school buses, the Salem (Oregon) school administration utilizes a four-step reporting and followup process. Should an incident occur, the first step is mailing of a misconduct notice to parents. This notice is followed by a warning letter. If…

One explanation for unexpectedly low stress levels among assistant principals may lie in "administrative attribution theory." The demand for school discipline by the public, school boards, teachers, and students should induce high levels of stress in assistant principals, because they are usually responsible for discipline enforcement,…

In the United Kingdom, exclusion from school is the most serious sanction a school can use in response to disruptive behavior. There has been continuing concern about the rising numbers of exclusions in the United Kingdom as a whole; however, little has been known about the situation in Scotland. This report presents findings of a study that…

Elementary school principals are in a key position to prevent school violence. This document reviews five publications that feature strategies administrators and teachers can use to create a safe school. In "Creating Safe Environments for Learning in North Carolina's Public Schools," Tanya M. Suarez reviews the literature on school safety and…

One of a series of practitioner-oriented newsletters, the document provides elementary school principals with strategies for developing a school discipline code. The article recommends: (1) developing a written statement of school discipline policy; (2) launching the discipline policy at the beginning of the school year; (3) ensuring that…

Suggestions for principals to decrease school bus vandalism are presented. Guidelines are offered for the improvement of bus conditions, reorganization of the transportation system, establishment of a bus driver training program, and student involvement in an antivandalism campaign. Cooperation and regular meetings between students, parents,…

For many students in the 1990s, school is no longer a safe environment in which they feel free to learn. This brief is intended to dispel myths about peer sexual harassment and clarify the new realities of the phenomenon in schools. The brief also conveys the message that school administrators have a duty to foster a school environment based on…

Practical guidelines are presented for implementing a discipline policy at the local level for students with disabilities, with suggestions for distinguishing policies affecting students in general and students with disabilities. Emphasis is placed on emerging issues and practical consequences. Relevant federal and state court decisions are cited,…