At the end of October, a month usually accompanied with increased behavioral challenges, I returned to an article that speaks to teachers’ rising frustrations with student behavior: "Is School-Discipline Reform Moving Too Fast?" To be clear, I don’t believe that discipline reform is “moving too fast.” As Dan Losen, the director of UCLA’s Center for Civil Rights Remedies, states in the article: “I don’t think you can go too fast if you are trying to remedy an injustice.” This article helps me consider the best ways to support teachers who may be feeling overwhelmed by student behaviors.
Over the past few years, school districts nationwide have drastically reduced the use of suspensions and expulsions. The catalyst to this has been recognizing exclusionary discipline’s pernicious effect on students’ life outcomes, as well as its disproportionate application on students of color, particularly black students. While many teachers believe in the intent behind these reforms, they feel the impact is increased leniency towards disruptive behaviors. They also feel unprepared to support students who previously had been frequently suspended or expelled. As a result, in many school districts, the decrease in suspension rates has meant an increase in teacher turnover.
Over the past few years, school districts nationwide have drastically reduced the use of suspensions and expulsions. The catalyst to this has been recognizing exclusionary discipline’s pernicious effect on students’ life outcomes, as well as its disproportionate application on students of color, particularly black students. While many teachers believe in the intent behind these reforms, they feel the impact is increased leniency towards disruptive behaviors. They also feel unprepared to support students who previously had been frequently suspended or expelled. As a result, in many school districts, the decrease in suspension rates has meant an increase in teacher turnover.
After reflecting on the article and considering my own experiences, I am focusing on two strategies to support teachers at my school who seem burned out due to student behavior. First, I model Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS) and restorative practices, both of which I believe will help teachers manage disruptive behaviors better than punitive or exclusionary practices. In my opinion, the teacher with the best classroom management at my school also uses the most PBIS and restorative practices. Her most common consequence is to require students to check in with her before going to recess if they are not meeting her classroom expectations. During this time, she encourages them to reflect on the root causes of their behavior and describe how they can cope with or resolve these root causes to be successful in class for the rest of the day. Students appear to recognize the purpose of this consequence—they willingly talk to the teacher—and regularly turn around their day following the check-in. Sometimes, teachers suggest to me that PBIS and restorative practices result in lower expectations and unruly classrooms; I hope, by showing that the opposite is usually true, that teachers will be more likely to buy in to these practices and lessen their own burnout.
Secondly, I encourage teachers to adopt a positive, growth-based mindset about students with challenging behaviors, a skill that I find fundamental to my own sustainability in this work. Even with strong classroom management skills, it can be easy to feel like you are failing when students consistently display oppositional behavior and struggle to meet classroom expectations. I want to help teachers not to take oppositional behavior personally and to recognize the gradual student progress that can be easy to overlook—something that I am working on as well. When teachers express to me that a student isn’t making any growth, I encourage them with data while also emphasizing the anecdotal positive effects that they are having on the student. In my experience, teachers are more supportive of inclusion, much slower to send out students for misbehavior, and happier overall when they feel like they are having a meaningful impact on a student’s development.
In the article on school discipline reform, Michael Mulgrew, president of the United Federation of Teachers, says: “It is easy to ban suspensions. It is much harder to do the real work so suspensions are no longer necessary.” I believe the Unconditional Education model has the potential to advance both. We want our school partners to minimize their use of suspensions and expulsions. However, unlike what is practiced at many of the schools cited in the article, we also attempt to build teachers’ capacity so that they can support students who now are in the classroom, instead of in the office or at home because of their behaviors. I am excited by the prospect of supporting teachers in this effort, both for their own sakes and, ultimately, for the wellbeing of our students.
Secondly, I encourage teachers to adopt a positive, growth-based mindset about students with challenging behaviors, a skill that I find fundamental to my own sustainability in this work. Even with strong classroom management skills, it can be easy to feel like you are failing when students consistently display oppositional behavior and struggle to meet classroom expectations. I want to help teachers not to take oppositional behavior personally and to recognize the gradual student progress that can be easy to overlook—something that I am working on as well. When teachers express to me that a student isn’t making any growth, I encourage them with data while also emphasizing the anecdotal positive effects that they are having on the student. In my experience, teachers are more supportive of inclusion, much slower to send out students for misbehavior, and happier overall when they feel like they are having a meaningful impact on a student’s development.
In the article on school discipline reform, Michael Mulgrew, president of the United Federation of Teachers, says: “It is easy to ban suspensions. It is much harder to do the real work so suspensions are no longer necessary.” I believe the Unconditional Education model has the potential to advance both. We want our school partners to minimize their use of suspensions and expulsions. However, unlike what is practiced at many of the schools cited in the article, we also attempt to build teachers’ capacity so that they can support students who now are in the classroom, instead of in the office or at home because of their behaviors. I am excited by the prospect of supporting teachers in this effort, both for their own sakes and, ultimately, for the wellbeing of our students.
Blog Post Written By: Theo Grant-Funck, Senior Student Support Assistant
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