One of 52 theoretical papers on school crime and its relation to poverty, this chapter explores programs designed to prevent or to reduce student crime and violence in secondary schools that are based on the assumption that pupils are competent to make rational decisions and take rational actions, and programs that assume pupils are not competent.…

In this booklet, the Council of Supervisors and Administrators of the City of New York seeks to offer hope that teachers' and principals' capacity for the reasonable exercise of authority has not been exhausted. There is a body of legal opinion that supports the authority of the principal in disciplinary matters. It is a misconception that a…

Reported are the effects of a structured inservice human relations training program on teacher coping behaviors in response to student misbehaviors. Sixty teachers from Title One elementary, junior, and senior level schools were randomly assigned to three experimental and three control groups. Changes in coping behavior were assessed by three…

A committee was formed to explore ways of helping school districts develop more effective programs for disruptive students. Committee findings revealed the need for the development of local guidelines to satisfy each school district's needs and for reliable feedback. Therefore, this report reflects efforts to sample various local approaches to the…

Incoming high school freshmen with a history of low achievement, discipline problems, and hostility towards school and society are characterized by poor self-image, frustration from encountering the regular academic program, an almost total inability to communicate, and no expectation that high school will bring educational success. The resulting…

The Program for Educational Opportunity, an institute based at the University of Michigan and established by the Office of Education pursuant to Title IV of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, is designed to assist school districts in the process of desegregation. The Program annually conducts a series of conferences. The Conference on the Role of the…

This paper reviews three studies which illustrate the use of two different techniques of behavior modification to control aggression in preschool children in classroom situations. The first technique demonstrated the use of "time-out" as a mild punishment procedure. The teacher changed events following aggression by briefly removing the child from…

This paper represents a report of a year-long case study of the implementation of a token economy in an entire elementary school. The effort was intended to provide teachers with an alternative to corporal punishment as a form of school discipline. In this report, both the successful and unsuccessful procedures are described in chronological…

The article categorizes the information needed to develop comprehensive approaches to students with chronic disciplinary problems and discusses psychological measures that can provide the necessary information. The categories include: cognitive domain (attention; concentration; memory; and psycholinguistic, conceptual, sensory, and perceptual…

The phenomenon of behavioral problems in school confronts each personally- or professionally-involved party (teacher, pupil, researcher, or psychologist) with the need to become aware of those elements in the individual identity, the role-behavior, and the institutionally-defined practice that contribute to the emergence and perpetuation of…

This book helps teachers develop personal plans of action to handle classroom discipline, offering progressive Plan A and Plan B strategies. Plan A strategies take seconds to implement. Plan B strategies take more time but are designed to turn around specific attitudes and behaviors. After an introduction, there are 9 chapters: (1) "Misbehaviors…

Teachers from predominantly Black, White, or Hispanic inner-city, elementary schools report on the factors which cause physical and mental stress. The report claims that these stresses undermine teacher morale, and ultimately, the quality of instruction suffers. (APM)

The authors examine the potential and the limitations of alternative schools for disruptive students by discussing positive features, such as small student-teacher ratio and enhancement of self-concept, and negative aspects, such as the tendency toward racial isolation and possible use as a tool for social control. (SK)

Identified voter attitudes directly affecting voter behavior in fiscal elections, including attitudes about community involvement in policy-making, school community relations, school discipline and the teaching of democracy, present level of spending, and present level of taxes. Perceptions of school quality and social conditions have little…

Describes how to handle noncompliant students in the classroom. Suggestions include eliminating excessive expectations, encouraging assertiveness, offering options and choices, giving the students specific responsibilities, taking control of homework, taking steps to avert potentially oppositional behavior, strategically rewarding compliance,…