A Spanish teacher successfully sued a student she claimed terrorized her, after school administrators ignored her complaints. Nearly 11% of teachers experience verbal and physical abuse by students. Although some states are stiffening penalties against violent students, educators' best recourse is to publicize the problem, devise policies, and…

Examines the work of several theorists who laid the groundwork for contemporary classroom management in an effort to provide educators with effective ways to encourage and teach appropriate student behavior. Notes that theoretical contributions of B.F. Skinner, Fritz Redl, William Wattenberg, William Glasser, and Thomas Gordon all have relevance…

Professor Hill Walker has identified three challenges to handling disruptive student behavior: prevention, at-risk programs, and high-intensity interventions. Principals should beware administrative traps: getting tough is enough, targeting a few difficult students, seeking quick fixes, finding one powerful trick, revering outside experts, and…

Describes how, when photos of students wearing blackface at several fraternity parties were posted online, colleges had to figure out how to respond. (EV)

Violations of alcohol policies constitute most of the judicial referrals on college campuses. Many counseling centers provide alcohol education as the primary sanction for these violations. These classes are often ineffective. This article presents a new alcohol education model that uses group counseling with peer counselors. (Contains 16…

In the current climate of school improvement, no one feels more pressure than a high school principal. A principal bears responsibility not just for the organization's daily functioning but for the performance of its students in high school and beyond. However, high school students perceive principals as individuals who held the lion's share of…

Although cell phones keep kids in touch with families and personal digital assistants (PDA's) help organize assignments and give Internet access, when they are added to the school climate, educators must reassess policies so technology does not interfere with instruction time. This article discusses the several effects of cell phones to K-6…

Socialisation theories have traditionally focused on how children are socialised in a rather unidirectional manner, according to a transmission model. However, more recent research and theories show that children are not just passive recipients, but active agents in their socialisation process. At the same time, children are subordinated to adult…

This study was conducted in response to several recent incidents in which teachers and student teachers were reprimanded for content they placed on the Internet. This study examined the Facebook postings of preservice elementary teachers to determine the extent to which these postings are congruent with expected dispositions. Profiles were…

Significant numbers of students are being pushed out of school as a result of "zero tolerance" school discipline policies. While nobody questions the need to keep schools safe, teachers, students, and parents are questioning the methods being used in pursuit of that goal. Initially enacted to counter violent behavior and drug use, zero tolerance…

Successful discipline, improved school climates, and behavioral competence are integrally related to improving academic outcomes. This policy brief presents common discipline practices in schools and discuss current discipline data from Indiana. In addition, the report examines school-wide Positive Behavior Support (PBS), an alternative approach…

The Department of Education in Northern Ireland has been reviewing the procedures for suspending and expelling pupils from school. This article reports the views of a random sample of 114 children (11-16 years) towards the proposed changes. Pupils' thoughts on: dealing with misbehaviour; setting rules; the decision-making process; appropriate…

Student discipline problems in some high schools have been exacerbated by external societal problems. This paper presents outcomes of two discipline programs implemented in a small, rural high school. One program involved the creation of a Saturday school for students serving detention. The Alternative Learning Education Center (ALEC) was…

This paper presents findings of a study that evaluated the effectiveness of an in-school suspension program (ISSP) at a suburban Atlanta high school. Data were derived from a questionnaire that explored staff's and students' perceptions of the effectiveness of the ISSP. Responses were received from 70 staff members and 190 students. Fifty percent…

The Escuela Internacional Sampedrana (EIS) in Honduras implemented a new discipline program in its Primary School during the 1996-97 school year. This paper contains findings from three evaluations of the program--an initial analysis, a midyear report, and a year-end report. The first report analyzed the number of suspensions and detentions, as…