Reece L. Peterson

The Color of Discipline: Sources of Racial and Gender Disproportionality in School Punishment.

The disproportionate discipline of African-American students has been extensively documented; yet the reasons for those disparities are less well understood. Drawing upon one year of middle-school disciplinary data for an urban school district, we explored three of the most commonly offered hypotheses for disproportionate discipline based on gender, race, and socioeconomic status. Racial and gender disparities in office referrals, suspensions, and expulsions were somewhat more robust than socioeconomic differences. Both racial and gender differences remained when controlling for socioeconomic status. Finally, although evidence emerged that boys engage more frequently in a broad range of disruptive behavior, there were no similar findings for race. Rather, there appeared to be a differential pattern of treatment, originating at the classroom level, wherein African-American students are referred to the office for infractions that are more subjective in interpretation. Implications for teacher training and structural reform are explored.

School Discipline at a Crossroads: From Zero Tolerance to Early Response

Dramatic incidents of school violence have thrust school discipline to the forefront of public consciousness. Despite a dramatic increase in the use of zero tolerance procedures and policies, there is little evidence demonstrating that these procedures have increased school safety or improved student behavior. Moreover, a punitive disciplinary climate may make any attempt to include more students with behavioral problems a cause for conflict between general and special educators. A preventive, early response disciplinary model increases the range of effective options for addressing violence and disruption across both general and special education. Ultimately, the effectiveness of any disciplinary system may be judged by the extent to which it teaches students to solve interpersonal and intrapersonal problems without resorting to disruption or violence.

Teaching the Social Curriculum: School Discipline as Instruction.

Abstract Though less explicit than the academic curriculum, the expectations, rules, and consequences that form the social curriculum of schools are no less important in determining school success. Methods of discipline that emphasize school removal have not yielded evidence of effectiveness in teaching appropriate behavior or ensuring safe and effective school climates. In contrast, reviews have consistently identified preventive, collaborative, and instructional methods as effective or promising in reducing school violence or disruption. One effort to increase the implementation of effective instructional methods of school discipline and the promising results from the 1st year of implementation are described. First-year results from that program provide some evidence that school discipline need not be equated with punishment and exclusion.

Beyond Guns, Drugs and Gangs: The Structure of Student Perceptions of School Safety

SUMMARY The failure to consider factors that make a key contribution to violence and its prevention may create serious problems of construct validity for school violence surveys. Further, few studies have assessed the relative importance of variables contributing to perceptions of safety by examining correlations between survey items and overall feelings of school safety. This study describes the development of a self-report survey, the Safe and Responsive Schools Safe School Survey, explicitly designed to assess perceptions regarding criminal violation and serious violence as well as day-to-day disruption and climate issues. Principal components analysis identified four factors involving student connectedness, incivility, feelings of personal safety, and delinquency/major safety. Further multivariate analysis suggests that, in at least some cases, feelings about connectedness and climate may be more critical than serious violence in shaping student perceptions of school safety.

Critical Educational Program Components for Students With Emotional and Behavioral Disorders: Science, Policy, and Practice

In spite of recent education reform and reorganization efforts requiring the use of research-based methods, the fundamental elements of an effective program for children and youth with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) have not been succinctly identified. This article presents the essential features of programs for students with EBD. Program elements include (a) qualified and committed professionals, (b) utilitarian environmental supports, (c) effective behavior management plans, (d) valid social skill and social interpretation training and social interaction programs, (e) proven academic support systems, (f) strong parent- and family-involvement programs, (g) coordinated community support mechanisms, and (h) ongoing evaluation of essential program components and student outcomes and progress. A justification for the program and a comparison of the proposed program with existing models is included in the discussion.

Parent Attitudes and Discipline Practices: Profiles and Correlates in a Nationally Representative Sample

The responses of a nationally representative sample of 1,000 parents to a survey concerning parent attitudes, disciplinary practices, and other predictors of competent parenting were analyzed. Cluster analysis identified three subgroups based on their profiles of parenting attitudes and discipline. The first was high on physical discipline, neglect, verbal abuse, and attitudes that devalue children. They reported childhood abuse and domestic violence, marital difficulty, and problems managing anger. The second group was high on nonphysical as well as physical discipline, and had a more positive attitude toward children but also had a profile of psychosocial risk. The third group had low scores on all disciplinary practices, low perceived disciplinary efficacy, and a healthy marital and personal history. These groups are different from traditional parenting typologies, and the findings confirm theoretical predictions concerning the correlates of parenting problems and raise new questions concerning the convergence of physically punitive with nonpunitive discipline practices.

Physical Restraint in School.

The current emphasis on educating children in the least restrictive environment has resulted in the use of physical restraint procedures across all educational placement settings, including public schools. Since its initial use, restraint has been controversial. Professionals who use physical restraint claim that it is necessary to safely manage dangerous behaviors. Child advocates, however, argue that far too many children suffer injury and death from the very staff charged with helping them. The authors review research literature, legislation, and court decisions on topics related to the use of restraint in schools and identify position statements and recommended practices from nationally recognized professional organizations and advocacy groups. Recommendations are given for research, policy, and procedures for the use and practice of physical restraint in schools.

Creating School Climates that Prevent School Violence.

ronment is supportive of learning (or teaching), is appropriately organized, and is safe. Climate may also address other positive or negative feelings regarding the school environment. We would hypothesize that comfortable and supportive feelings would support effective and efficient learning and teaching as well as positive student behavior and attitudes. Conversely, negative feelings such as concern, fear, frustration, and loneliness would negatively affect learning and behavior. Therefore, school climate is a reflection of the positive or negative feelings regarding the school environment, and it may directly or indirectly affect a variety of learning outcomes. The typical measures of school climate are surveys of students, parents, staff, and sometimes community members regarding what they think about the school. They include judgments about issues such as teacherstudent relationships, security and maintenance, administration, student academic orientation, and student behavioral values (Kelly et al., 1986). These surveys usually use some form of Likert-type rating items and attempt to identify both specific strengths and weaknesses regarding these issues. Recently, a variety of safety-oriented surveys have attempted to identify the degree to which conflict, violence, and other disruptions contribute to a negative school climate as well. Data from these surveys may be uiseful in assessing and

A Review of Crisis Intervention Training Programs for Schools.

Recentadvocacyorganizationreports, Congressionalhearings,andproposed federallegislationhavecalledattention totheabusiveuseofphysicalrestraint proceduresinschoolsettings.Asa result,administratorsandschoolofficialswonderwhethertheyshouldpur chase“crisisintervention”trainingfor staffandfacultymembersfromoutside vendors.Unfortunately,thereislimited informationavailableregardingthe contentofthesetrainingprograms,and thevendorswhoprovidethistraining viewthesubjectmatterasproprietary andconfidential.Asaresult,itcanbe difficultforschoolstoobtaininforma tionthatmighthelpthemmakechoices aboutthetrainingtheyarepurchasing. Comparingdifferentprograms’empha sisoncertaintopics,coursecontent, duration,andtypeofinstructioncan assistadministratorsandeducatorsin selectingacrisisinterventiontraining programthatismostappropriatefor theirschool.

Using Office Referral Records in School Violence Research: Possibilities and Limitations.

SUMMARY Perhaps the most “naturally occurring” data on school misbehavior and aggression are school discipline data, including office referrals, suspensions, and expulsion data. These data constitute the most common markers of school discipline status available on school campuses. There is, however, very little information available in professional or research literature about the reliability and validity of office referrals. This article examines the sources of error that enter into the collection and use of office referrals. Despite these sources of errors, this article documents the importance of considering how office referral data provide information about how discipline systems are functioning on a school campus. Guidelines are provided for utilizing disciplinary data for school safety and school policy planning.