Sarah: Palm Beach Florida- a 14-year old disabled student was referred to the principal for “allegedly” stealing $2 from another student. The principal called the police and the student was charged with strong-armed robbery and held in an adult jail for six weeks. Charges were dropped when a 60 Minutes crew showed up at the boys hearing.
This is only one example of the over-riding problem with Zero Tolerance. (Martin II)
Alex: According to Augustina Reyes in her book titled Discipline, Achievement, Race; “Zero Tolerance is defined as a public school discipline policy that applies automatic prescribed mandatory sanctions for student discipline, infractions with little or no consideration to the conditions, circumstances, intent, or understanding of the individual committing the offense.”
Rachael: That means that for even the simplest of infractions, major consequences can ensue, without consideration for the circumstances.
Sarah: There have been many methods of discipline throughout the history of school. The three main types of discipline used were: corporal punishment, psychological abuse, and assertive discipline.
Alex: Corporal punishment is defined as the infliction of pain in response to an offense committed by the student. The classroom teacher had the most control over how much pain was inflicted. School discipline of the west generally avoids physical correction, however, paddling remains legal in several states of the U.S, but that is the only exception to the rule. The UN Study on Violence Against Children sets a target date of 2009 for universal prohibition of all corporal punishment.
Rachael: The other type of punishment that was used in the past was psychological punishment. This is a form of abuse characterized by a person subjecting or exposing another to behavior that is psychologically or emotionally harmful. This consisted of neglect, physical intimidation, scare tactics, and oppression. Any situation in which the repeated and extreme impact of a situation affects a person's emotional and rational thinking, in such a way as to adversely impact their later lives, could be termed as psychological abuse at some level (). Both corporal and psychological punishment are illegal now in the United States.
Sarah: Lastly, the type of discipline used today is assertive discipline. The main idea of assertive discipline is the use of guided direction, clear, concise rules, and rewards for good student behavior. Assertive teachers use a “take control” approach to thinking in a firm but positive manner. Assertive discipline consists of three parts:
Alex: Management – which embodies a subservient idea of thinking, “do it because I said so”
Constructivism – internalization of social skills and moral sense, students weigh consequences of their actions, self discipline.
Rewards system – Rewarding students for good behavior.
Rachel: Discipline is a natural aspect of school. Admit it, no school is perfect.
Sarah: Yeah, that’s right. Schools can reinforce discipline in many aspects such as good teaching, parent involvement, and standard school wide disciplinary codes.
Rachael: In addition, school staff should be encouraged to enforce rules, otherwise, the school code would become useless.
Alex: I’ve also seen creative ways in which schools reward good behavior, such as the Platinum Award Cards, which are given to students that display good behavior. At Selly Oak Trust School in Birmingham, students are rewarded for good behavior, and are given cards which allow them access to a “game lounge” where students can play the Nintendo wii, as well as other console games. The principle claims that the introduction of this reward system has halved the time teachers have spent on discipline. (Kuchera)
Sarah: Brooke County High School in Michigan is utilizing a PBS system, which stands for Positive Behavior Support. This Bill Bond said it best when he said, “The more you reinforce positive behavior the more positive behavior you are going to get.” But, "You have to be negative at times and you have to be consistently negative when there is a certain behavior you are trying to eliminate. You can't ignore it and think it will go away." (Brooke schools reward students’ good behavior”)
Alex: Many current studies of discipline shift attention from external punishment and reward systems to internalization of socialization skills and moral sense.
Rachael: Russ Skiba, a professor at Indiana University who researches school discipline for the Center for Education and Evaluation Policy, stated that “there is a high rate of repeat offenses among students who are suspended - so it's not a deterrent.” ( Brooke schools reward students’ good behavior”)
Alex: The major concern of most teachers in education today is how to improve student discipline. This concern is also shared by parents as reflected in the 1980 Gallup Poll Survey, which showed the number one concern of all surveyed individuals to be the decline of discipline in the public schools. In addition to this national study, a survey of Fairfax County, one of the largest public school systems in the United States, showed that the teachers' number one request centered on activities to improve student discipline.
Sarah: The major question about discipline by the teachers is where to begin.
Rachael: This is difficult because teachers are not in full control of their classrooms due to laws, requirements, and state codes. As a result, suspension and expulsion are often resorted to.
Sarah: Removal from school and the regular classroom for suspension and expulsion reverses all knowledge about “time on task”. This means that the more on task you are, the better you are learning the material. Basically this runs along the logic of, “if you’re not in school, you can’t learn”. (Reyes)
Alex: A critical aspect of student discipline is parent involvement. Schools should encourage parents to be involved in the student’s life.
Rachael: If students aren’t corrected by disciplinary measures or classroom management, school districts can implement programs to modify bad student behavior. This has been shown to be effective in Toledo, Ohio, where the Toledo Federation of Teachers and Toledo public schools joined resources to bring specialists on student misbehavior into the classroom. This is known as the Behavior Specialist Program.
Sarah: In conclusion, there are many effective ways of dealing with student discipline, and minimizing student infractions such as assertive discipline, reward systems, programs to modify student behavior, and clear, concise school wide disciplinary codes.
Butchart, Ronald E., and Barbara McEwan. Classroom Discipline in American Schools: Problems and Possibilites for Democratic Education. Albany, New York: State University of New York Press, 1998.
Kajs, Lawrence T. “Reforming the Discipline Management Process in Schools: An Alternative Approach to Zero Tolerance”Educational Research Quarterly. v29 n4 p16-28 Jun 2006
National Summit on Zero Tolerance. “Opportunities Suspended: The Devastating Consequences of Zero Tolerance and School Discipline Policies.” Washington, DC, June 15-16, 2000
Reyes, Augustina H.. Discipline, Achievement, and Race: Is Zero Tolerance the answer?. Oxford, UK: Rowman & Littlefield Education, 2006.
By:
Alex KoRachael Bruketta
Sarah Kaminski
Sarah: Palm Beach Florida- a 14-year old disabled student was referred to the principal for “allegedly” stealing $2 from another student. The principal called the police and the student was charged with strong-armed robbery and held in an adult jail for six weeks. Charges were dropped when a 60 Minutes crew showed up at the boys hearing.
This is only one example of the over-riding problem with Zero Tolerance. (Martin II)
Alex: According to Augustina Reyes in her book titled Discipline, Achievement, Race; “Zero Tolerance is defined as a public school discipline policy that applies automatic prescribed mandatory sanctions for student discipline, infractions with little or no consideration to the conditions, circumstances, intent, or understanding of the individual committing the offense.”
Rachael: That means that for even the simplest of infractions, major consequences can ensue, without consideration for the circumstances.
Sarah: There have been many methods of discipline throughout the history of school. The three main types of discipline used were: corporal punishment, psychological abuse, and assertive discipline.
Alex: Corporal punishment is defined as the infliction of pain in response to an offense committed by the student. The classroom teacher had the most control over how much pain was inflicted. School discipline of the west generally avoids physical correction, however, paddling remains legal in several states of the U.S, but that is the only exception to the rule. The UN Study on Violence Against Children sets a target date of 2009 for universal prohibition of all corporal punishment.
Rachael: The other type of punishment that was used in the past was psychological punishment. This is a form of abuse characterized by a person subjecting or exposing another to behavior that is psychologically or emotionally harmful. This consisted of neglect, physical intimidation, scare tactics, and oppression. Any situation in which the repeated and extreme impact of a situation affects a person's emotional and rational thinking, in such a way as to adversely impact their later lives, could be termed as psychological abuse at some level (). Both corporal and psychological punishment are illegal now in the United States.
Sarah: Lastly, the type of discipline used today is assertive discipline. The main idea of assertive discipline is the use of guided direction, clear, concise rules, and rewards for good student behavior. Assertive teachers use a “take control” approach to thinking in a firm but positive manner. Assertive discipline consists of three parts:
Alex: Management – which embodies a subservient idea of thinking, “do it because I said so”
Constructivism – internalization of social skills and moral sense, students weigh consequences of their actions, self discipline.
Rewards system – Rewarding students for good behavior.
Rachel: Discipline is a natural aspect of school. Admit it, no school is perfect.
Sarah: Yeah, that’s right. Schools can reinforce discipline in many aspects such as good teaching, parent involvement, and standard school wide disciplinary codes.
Rachael: In addition, school staff should be encouraged to enforce rules, otherwise, the school code would become useless.
Alex: I’ve also seen creative ways in which schools reward good behavior, such as the Platinum Award Cards, which are given to students that display good behavior. At Selly Oak Trust School in Birmingham, students are rewarded for good behavior, and are given cards which allow them access to a “game lounge” where students can play the Nintendo wii, as well as other console games. The principle claims that the introduction of this reward system has halved the time teachers have spent on discipline. (Kuchera)
Sarah: Brooke County High School in Michigan is utilizing a PBS system, which stands for Positive Behavior Support. This Bill Bond said it best when he said, “The more you reinforce positive behavior the more positive behavior you are going to get.” But, "You have to be negative at times and you have to be consistently negative when there is a certain behavior you are trying to eliminate. You can't ignore it and think it will go away." (Brooke schools reward students’ good behavior”)
Alex: Many current studies of discipline shift attention from external punishment and reward systems to internalization of socialization skills and moral sense.
Rachael: Russ Skiba, a professor at Indiana University who researches school discipline for the Center for Education and Evaluation Policy, stated that “there is a high rate of repeat offenses among students who are suspended - so it's not a deterrent.”
( Brooke schools reward students’ good behavior”)
Alex: The major concern of most teachers in education today is how to improve student discipline. This concern is also shared by parents as reflected in the 1980 Gallup Poll Survey, which showed the number one concern of all surveyed individuals to be the decline of discipline in the public schools. In addition to this national study, a survey of Fairfax County, one of the largest public school systems in the United States, showed that the teachers' number one request centered on activities to improve student discipline.
Sarah: The major question about discipline by the teachers is where to begin.
Rachael: This is difficult because teachers are not in full control of their classrooms due to laws, requirements, and state codes. As a result, suspension and expulsion are often resorted to.
Sarah: Removal from school and the regular classroom for suspension and expulsion reverses all knowledge about “time on task”. This means that the more on task you are, the better you are learning the material. Basically this runs along the logic of, “if you’re not in school, you can’t learn”. (Reyes)
Alex: A critical aspect of student discipline is parent involvement. Schools should encourage parents to be involved in the student’s life.
Rachael: If students aren’t corrected by disciplinary measures or classroom management, school districts can implement programs to modify bad student behavior. This has been shown to be effective in Toledo, Ohio, where the Toledo Federation of Teachers and Toledo public schools joined resources to bring specialists on student misbehavior into the classroom. This is known as the Behavior Specialist Program.
Sarah: In conclusion, there are many effective ways of dealing with student discipline, and minimizing student infractions such as assertive discipline, reward systems, programs to modify student behavior, and clear, concise school wide disciplinary codes.
Bibliography:
American Federation of Teachers. “Implement programs to modify student misbehavior” http://www.aft.org/topics/discipline/element4.htm
American Federation of Teachers. “Teach students how to follow disciplinary code and ensure that the code is rigorously and fairly enforced.” http://www.aft.org/topics/discipline/element2.htm
Bonfadini, John E. “Discipline: Education’s Number One Problem” 1993. <http://teched.vt.edu/VCTTE/VCTTEMonographs/VCTTEMono2(Discipline).html>
Bundy, Jennifer. “Brooke schools reward students’ good behavior” The Associated Press, February 13, 2005. <http://www.bridges4kids.org/PBS/articles/AP2-13-05.htm>
Bundy, Jennifer. “Enact district wide discipline codes” The Associated Press, February 15, 2005. <http://aft.org/topics/discipline/element1.htm>
Butchart, Ronald E., and Barbara McEwan. Classroom Discipline in American Schools: Problems and Possibilites for Democratic Education. Albany, New York: State University of New York Press, 1998.
Encyclopedia of Everyday Law “Discipline and Punishment” Homepage. 2008. <http://www.enotes.com/everyday-law-encyclopedia/discipline-and-punishment>
Kajs, Lawrence T. “Reforming the Discipline Management Process in Schools: An Alternative Approach to Zero Tolerance” Educational Research Quarterly. v29 n4 p16-28 Jun 2006
Kuchera, Ben. "School uses game lounge to reward good behavior, grades." ars technica. 17, Dec, 20007. 17 Mar 2008 <http://arstechnica.com/journals/thumbs.ars/2007/12/17/school-uses-a-game-lounge-to-reward-good-behavior-grades>.
Martin II, Ralph C. “Zero Tolerance Policy” February, 2001. <http://www.abanet.org/crimjust/juvjus/zerotolreport.html >
National Summit on Zero Tolerance. “Opportunities Suspended: The Devastating Consequences of Zero Tolerance and School Discipline Policies.” Washington, DC, June 15-16, 2000
Reyes, Augustina H.. Discipline, Achievement, and Race: Is Zero Tolerance the answer?. Oxford, UK: Rowman & Littlefield Education, 2006.
Wilson, Ruth M. “The Law and Discipline in the Classroom” 1992. Revised 2008. <http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/1992/1/92.01.10.x.html>