Problem behavior disrupts classrooms across the United States, impacting student learning. Despite the adverse consequences, teachers often exclude disruptive students from school as a punitive and default response to problem behavior. Alternatives to exclusion are becoming increasingly popular in many school districts to improve behavior and keep…

Schools across the United States use abeyance agreements as an alternative to suspension or expulsion, yet little is known about them. These agreements allow students to avoid or reduce suspensions or expulsions, if they meet the terms of the agreement and waive certain due process rights. David Perrodin argues that these agreements enable school…

Historically, public schools have often used shaming techniques to discipline students, even though researchers have found shaming to be not just an ineffective means of curtailing misbehavior, but, more important, psychologically harmful to children. The author reviewed policy documents from nine leading charter management organizations and found…

A California high school develops a Student Justice Panel to hear student concerns about violations of the student code, providing students with a way to not just have a voice but to effect change in how students are disciplined. Restorative justice gives students a feeling of fairness and responsibility for appropriate behavior. Restorative…

Little has been discussed about the factors that contribute to reading underachievement in black boys in early childhood and elementary grades, the subject taken up in this article. Black boys are unique in that they are members of two groups that have historically underachieved in reading--boys and blacks. Gender and racial/cultural issues affect…

Attempts to raise student performance have focused primarily on either relationships between adults in the system or formal curriculum. Relatively ignored has been a focus on what sociologists believe is the primary relationship of consequence for student outcomes--authority relationships between students and educators. Successful school reform is…

Unsupported fears of youth violence in schools has led to an expansion of school-based policing and zero tolerance discipline. The historical reality is that America's public schools are very safe, even when located in high crime neighborhoods. Yet, school discipline is becoming increasingly punitive, moving from the schoolhouse to the courthouse.…

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)

After reviewing the extent of in-school truancy in the Detroit high schools, the author offers three recommendations centering on the adoption and enforcement of attendance policies that lead the student to acceptance of personal responsibility for his/her attendance. (Author/IRT)

Describes how a typical high school in Huntington Beach, California, curbed disruptive student behavior by personalizing the school experience for "problem" students. Through mostly volunteer efforts, an adopt-a-kid program was initiated that matched kids' learning styles to adults' personality styles and resulted in fewer suspensions…

Responds to the previous article by rejecting arguments that the relevance, arbitrariness, or external origin of disciplinary policies have any significant impact on those policies' effectiveness in building student character or promoting self-disciplined learning. Proposes focusing instead on observable conduct and providing encouragement for…

John Chubb, in his November 1998 "Kappan" article, does not dispute the accuracy of the author's observations about the Boston Renaissance Charter School. It was the author's job (as a journalist) to report widely held descriptions of controversial, harsh disciplinary practices, not present a story Chubb would find favorable. Chubb…

Defends the Reagan Administration's policies encouraging more effective school disciplinary practices. Argues that the critics of these policies are ignoring both the rights of students who want to learn and the true extent of the discipline problem. (PGD)