Programs to decrease racism and other forms of intolerance, increase appreciation of diversity, and improve levels of trust can also decrease discipline problems and violence by creating a climate of acceptance and understanding and by improving the quality of the relationships among and between students and staff.
While school violence may engender a
desire to discipline the aggressors harshly, the National Association of
School Psychologists urges school personnel to temper disciplinary
responses with efforts to promote cooperation, positive social skills,
and peaceful means of resolving conflicts. A variety of programs of this
nature are listed below with links to provide additional information.
Conflict is part of life - the natural result of people interacting. Yet many of us are uncomfortable with conflict and lack the skills to deal with it constructively. Consequently, tensions and disagreements often escalate.
In schools, unresolved or poorly resolved conflicts are the source of discipline problems, classroom disruption, vandalism, and even violence. Staff and students are stressed, school climate is poisoned, and learning is diminished. Often, "resolution" takes the form of punitive disciplinary measures, an approach that may succeed temporarily but seldom eradicates the problem. Besides being limited in effectiveness, this approach has another drawback: it teaches young people that acceptable behavior is expected only in the presence of an external authority figure. This works against their developing self-discipline that will lead to internally based control.
In recent years, programs in conflict resolution have been developed to deal with the seemingly intractable problems of conflict within schools. Since conflict resolution programs were first set up in schools in the early 1970s, hundreds of these programs have been successfully established across the United States. This marks a major shift in the way schools view students and authority and is in keeping with current thinking about cooperation, communication, and problem-solving, exemplified in such educational trends as cooperative learning.
Many schools that have adopted conflict resolution programs report encouraging results, citing reduced suspensions, higher attendance, and more positive attitudes on the part of students, staff, and parents. Moreover, they find that conflict resolution skills and attitudes carry over into all aspects of life both in and out of school. The climate of the school shifts dramatically with the recognition of alternative ways to handle conflict - ways other than fighting or traditional discipline. With improved school climate comes better learning and greater success for students and staff alike.
A conflict resolution program provides an effective alternative to a traditional discipline program. Alternatives that lead to long-term changes in attitudes and behavior are needed. Conflict resolution programs are an important part of those alternatives because they invite participation and expect those who choose to participate to plan more effective behavior and then to behave accordingly.
Systemic change calls for cooperation to be the normative expectation,
both behaviorally and academically, and for adults to interact
noncoercively with youth. Faculty and students work and learn together
while supporting one another. When conflict resolution is practiced by
all, respect, caring, tolerance and community building become "the way
we do things around here."
Peer mediation skills are often incorporated into the conflict
resolution process. Students are trained to mediate conflicts involving
their peers. Their role as mediator is not to judge, or to make a
decision, but to summarize and ask questions of clarification. The
mediator helps parties to find their own solution through effective
communication.
Student mediators are trained to listen to both sides of the story with
empathy. They attempt to get the parties to hear the conflict from the
other person's point of view and to have each party realize that it is
possible to resolve the conflict between them and the other party. This
process is very controlled and teaches skills of listening, empathy,
communicating and problem solving.
The skills that peer mediators develop will benefit them throughout
their lives.
The Tennessee Department of Education School Safety Center in
partnership with the Tennessee Legal Community Foundation of the
Tennessee Bar Association provides conflict resolution and classroom
management training to teams of elementary and middle school teachers
and administrators. Utilizing a train-the-trainers model, the Peaceable
Schools project includes an extensive follow-up and evaluation
component. Over 300 school teams have been trained to date. Training
and materials are provided at no cost.
Teams are made up of four to six people, administrators, teachers,
counselors, and other interested school personnel and parents. Most
training is conducted during July in three-day professional development
institutes that train school staff to teach skills of group
problem-solving, mediation and negotiation; however, some basic
training?as well as specialized and advanced training?is conducted
throughout the year.
The program is designed to help Tennessee schools develop more
peaceable atmospheres with fewer unresolved classroom conflicts that
will, in turn, give teachers more time to teach.
After attending a three-day institute, teams can then attend a two-day
advanced training session that focuses specifically on emotional
intelligence and non-coercive discipline.
There is no cost for schools to attend except for lunch and travel
expenses. Each team is provided with four or five copies of the
Creating Peaceable Schools Instructor?s Guide and several copies of the
student guide at no cost.
Administrators receive state-mandated continuing education credit
and teachers may receive optional staff development credit as required
by their individual school districts.
The current focus of the program is on staff of K-8 schools.
The program helps foster school-community relationships by bringing
the legal and mediation community into the schools. These outside
resource persons provide classroom support, mentoring to teachers and
students and help with the conflict resolution process. Follow-up
technical assistance is also available on request to provide in-depth
training in curriculum infusion, teacher to student negotiation skills,
non-coercive discipline, peer mediation or other topics that will help
the school provide for more extensive implementation.
Schools that implement the program as designed can expect: a
safer, more positive school environment; gains in social competence and
other resiliency skills; increased problem-solving skills through
enhanced critical thinking skills; improved student performance; fewer
office referrals resulting in increased instructional time; and
decreased rates of aggressive and violent behavior.
For additional information visit the Tennessee School Safety Center:
When we talk of teaching democracy in schools, many people say that we
already do that with student council and class elections. While these
practices do teach democratic principles, the concept of democratic
schools goes far beyond this.
Democratic schools encourage participatory democracy and are
characterized by a climate in which students and staff members
understand the need to respect one another's rights. These schools
provide students with a sense of shared responsibility with the school
staff for assuring the safety of all.
Change begins with the commitment to openly seek information from
students, parents, and school staff regarding the functioning of the
schools. The approach that schools use to make policies and solve
problems becomes a joint effort between students, parents and staff.
The democratic school listens to criticism, assesses problems and
considers options for change. Brainstorming sessions to talk about
school policies and problems allow input from a variety of stakeholders
who genuinely care about what happens in the school.
The success of democracy ultimately depends on educated citizens who
have internalized the social contract between themselves and society.
This contract is the mutually agreed-upon rules of decency, civility,
respect for others and their property, and devotion to justice, fairness
and equity. Rules and laws that spell out the social contract are
followed not because of fear of punishment but because their importance
is understood. By using democratic processes in the classroom, we help
children develop internal controls based on the social contract
negotiated among parents, teachers and students. Teachers in democratic
classrooms emphasize cooperation, mutual goal setting and shared
responsibility. Students behave because it is the right thing to do and
because they respect the rights of others.
Encouraging students to participate in developing classroom and school
policies and also teaching them an acceptable way to dissent if they
feel the policies are unfair are essential in democratic schools. This
participation enhances self-esteem and gives students a sense of
empowerment. When schools want to hear what students have to say about
the way things work, the underlying message is that they are worth
listening to. When students can directly impact the policies that
effect them through the democratic process, they will be more likely to
participate in the democratic system as adults.
Democracy requires citizens to resolve disputes in nonviolent ways -
through negotiation and conflict resolution. These are skills that will
benefit children throughout their lives. Children slowly begin to
develop understanding of another person's perspective, concern for that
person's rights and feelings, communication skills through which to
convey his views, and appreciation of the consequences of what's going
on.
Providing structure and an orderly learning environment is consistent
with democratic principles, which can therefore be taught as both
content and process. In a democracy, it is so urgently important that
children learn to live democratically that is seems well worth whatever
time it takes to teach these principles of a democracy and what better
way than by modeling them in the school and classroom.
Recommended reading:
Positive Discipline in the Classroom is a program that prepares children
for responsible citizenship. It is a program that encourages the
development of emotional intelligence and the important life skills and
perceptions of capable people.
Creating a Positive Discipline classroom is a process of putting
together parts of a puzzle. The parts include creating an atmosphere of
caring based on kindness and firmness, dignity and mutual respect.
Students and teachers together can create a classroom climate that is
nurturing to both self-esteem and academic performance.
Classroom meetings are a large component of the Positive Discipline
program. When classroom teachers learn to implement effective class
meetings, most problems can be handled successfully through the
class-meeting process instead of being referred to other sources.
Students are taught a fundamental concept: "There are enough of us here
to help each other; we don't need to pass the buck." Class meetings
provide a supportive atmosphere for students to become actively involved
in determining their needs and implementing strategies they design to
benefit everyone concerned. Students can come up with wonderfully
creative solutions when given the opportunity.
The method for developing a Positive Discipline Classroom is outlined in
detail in the book Positive Discipline in the Classroom by Jane Nelsen,
Lynn Lott, and H. Stephen Glenn.
For hundreds of other Positive Discipline tips, please refer to Positive
Discipline in the Classroom: a Teacher's A-Z Guide by Jane Nelsen,
Roslyn Duffy, Linda Escobar, Kate Ortolano, and Debbie Owen-Sohocki.
Smart from the Start is an initiative that will provide guidance to
parents of newborns and toddlers in Tennessee in areas of child
development, safety, health hints, behavior management tips and useful
activities.
"It was a pleasant project to be a part of that resulted in a useful
'family friendly' flip chart and a whimsical, colorful web site," says
Janet Coscarelli, Director, Tennesssee Head Start State Collaboration
Office who was involved in the development of the flipchart. The charts
will be distributed to all Tennessee Head Start programs for distibution
to Head Start families and will also be distributed through other state
programs.
The behavior management tips reinforce the Head Start guidelines of
discipline without corporal punishment. Head Start preschool programs
use a variety of effective disicpline practices that parents can also
learn to apply in their homes. The flipchart includes an example of how
to teach toddlers to use conflict resolution skills instead of
hitting. It stresses that communication and consistency are the keys
to success with discipline.
The Smart from the Start project is a joint collaboration between the
Tennessee Head Start Association, State of Tennessee Departments of
Education, Health, Human Services and Mental Health/Developmental
Disabilities and private sector enterprises of Federal Express, Bell
South and birthing sections of Tennessee hospitals.
Please take time to visit their beautiful web-site at
www.state.tn.us/education/smart.
Administrators know only too well that concern for student misbehavior
is not new - although the behavior problems have become more prevalent,
violent, and destructive during the past 20 years. As many elementary
classroom teachers will tell you, they spend an inordinate amount of
time and energy managing student misbehavior and conflict - time that
could be spent on teaching and learning.
The need to prevent many of these troublesome behaviors has never been
so great. Fortunately, prevention strategies do exist that enable
school communities to redirect misbehavior and reduce the potential for
misbehavior early on, before the need for formal discussion arises.
Prevention Strategies That Work is a 20 page booklet that derives from
the work of researchers at six universities who spent the last six years
implementing school-based prevention practices. Their focus was on
students with - and at risk of developing - emotional and behavioral
disorders. It is distributed by the University of Vermont. You may
e-mail the following address for your free copy of this informative
booklet, crsnyder@zoo.uvm.edu. Copies can also be obtained by
contacting:
Pam Kay, Coordinator
School Research Office, Department of Education
429 Waterman Building, University of Vermont
Burlington, VT 05405
The Maryville City School System in Blount County, TN, is implementing
this program. In 1998, the Elementary Task Force selected the Tribes
program as one of seven programs in the system that has the greatest
possibility of improving instruction.
The mission of Tribes is to assure the healthy development of every
child so that each has the knowledge, competency and resilience to be
successful in a rapidly changing world.
Students achieve because they:
The objectives of the Tribes program are:
The book Tribes, A New Way of Learning and Being Together, by Jeanne
Gibbs (2000), details the concepts and research underlying the Tribes
group learning approach. It provides step-by-step instructions on how to
build a Tribes Learning Community. You may also learn more about this
program by visiting their web-site, www.Tribes.com.
The Invitational Education model is a fresh approach to the teaching-learning process that is based on trust, respect, intentionality and optimism. Hundreds of schools across America have adopted his methods as their model for school improvement.
The approach focuses on bringing about positive changes in the total school environment, which he calls the "five P's," or the people, places, policies, programs and processes in schools. All five aspects, he said, are interconnected and have to work in concert to foster student success.
"Much of what we've learned about school policies nationwide is that they are mostly based on punitive measures," said Purkey. "We believe that schools can be turned into positive, nurturing settings that foster student achievement and school safety. We want students to think about the good things that will happen when they come to school."
Dr. Purkey is credited with being the leading spokesman, for Invitational Education, as well as a co-founder. The model is designed to create a positive, nurturing atmosphere in school settings where students' self-efficacy is enhanced and classroom success is fostered.
Research shows that schools employing the method have successfully reduced dropout rates, with two main characteristics emerging. First, teachers are committed to keeping students in school and to helping them succeed. Second, students report that they feel wanted in the schools, they are contributing members of classes and they are missed when absent.
Dr. Purkey describes his philosophy in the following article, Inviting Student Self-Discipline, published in the journal Theory into Practice.
Establishing and maintaining student discipline has been, and probably always will be, a major concern of educators. Students resist control because it restricts individual freedom and personal choice. Yet educators are charged with establishing and maintaining control (usually referred to as "discipline") as an essential part of education.
Early approaches to discipline were primarily punitive. Fear played a major role in the discipline process and students received terrifying warnings from the pulpit, home and school of what happens to disobedient children.
Although some of these more primitive and punitive methods still linger (such as paddling and other forms of corporal punishment) most contemporary methods of discipline are generally positive.
Invitational discipline has its origins in self-concept theory which assumes that the ways individuals perceive themselves, others and the world are learned and once learned serve as a sort of gyrocompass for behavior.
Invitational discipline has four essential elements which provide it with substance, structure and direction. These are optimism, intentionality, respect, and trust. When combined and applied to practical concerns, these four elements provide educators with a consistent stance useful in creating and maintaining discipline.
Optimism- Intentionality- Respect- Trust- From the perspective of invitational discipline, everybody and everything in and around the school should contribute to the creation and maintenance of an intellectually, psychologically, and physically inviting school environment. This environment should be a place where every student is consistently treated with dignity, respect and care. Under such conditions students are far less likely to be disruptive.
Educators who employ invitational discipline accept the notion that penalties should be used sparingly and should be humane. They avoid reliance on corporal punishment or psychological warfare, and they understand the difference between a state trooper and a storm trooper. Penalties should not give students the resentful feeling of being wronged, but rather encourage them to reflect on the offense, recognize why it was inappropriate, and take the necessary steps to correct it.
Because the International Alliance for Invitational Education is dedicated to democratic principles, its mission is to enhance life-long learning, promote positive change in organizations, cultivate the personal and professional growth and satisfaction of educators and allied professionals and enrich the lives of human beings personally and professionally. Visit their web-site: www.invitationaleducation.net
LRE helps youth become effective, law-abiding citizens by promoting civic responsibility and community participation. It increases young people's self-esteem and promotes a more favorable attitude toward authority figures.
LRE began in Idaho in 1985 as a public service program of the Idaho Law Foundation. Law Related Education focuses on "real world" issues and emphasizes interactive and engaging techniques such as role-play and simulation, mock trials, moot courts, debate, and case study analysis. Curriculum materials encourage the development of critical thinking, reasoning, decision-making, and oral and written communication skills.
For more information on programs available through the Tennessee Bar Association visit www.tba.org/tncivics/summaries.html
What we're trying to do is get people to think differently about dealing with children. In the past, our way of trying to do that was to put out the bad kids, just put out those kids who won't do what you want them to do, but we can't afford to do that. They're part of our citizenry and our community."
For in depth information on the Blue Ribbon Initiative being implemented by Memphis City Schools go to MCS Blue Ribbon Plan.
A major advance in school-wide discipline, this school-wide system of support includes proactive strategies for defining, teaching, and supporting appropriate student behaviors to create positive school environments. Instead of using a patchwork of individual behavioral management plans, a continuum of positive behavior support for all students within a school is implemented in areas including the classroom and nonclassroom settings (such as hallways, restrooms). Positive behavior support is an application of a behaviorally-based systems approach to enhance the capacity of schools, families, and communities to design effective environments that improve the link between research-validated practices and the environments in which teaching and learning occurs. Attention is focused on creating and sustaining primary (school-wide), secondary (classroom), and tertiary (individual) systems of support that improve lifestyle results (personal, health, social, family, work, recreation) for all children and youth by making problem behavior less effective, efficient, and relevant, and desired behavior more functional. For more information on this program visit http://web.utk.edu/~swpbs/.
For more information on conflict resultion, the following web-sites are recommended:
The Conflict Resolution Education Network www.crenet.org.
The Conflict Research Consortium www.Colorado.EDU/conflict.
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Peer Mediation
The web-site for The Conflict Resolution Education Network offers an overview of peer mediation in schools, www.crenet.org.
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The Peacable Schools Program
Tennessee School Safety Center
To arrange free training contact:
Mike.Herrmann@state.tn.us
or:
Suzanne Stampley
(615) 889-3381
(615) 884-5004 (fax)
E-mail: sdslre@nash.tds.net
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Democratic Schools
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Positive Discipline in the Classroom
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Smart from the Start
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Prevention Strategies That Work
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The Tribes Program
Inviting Discipline - Improving School Safety
William Watson Purkey, Professor of Counselor Education at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, introduced his philosophy of Invitational Education and his Schools Without Violence approach to education into the District of Columbia Public Schools in 2001.
Invitational discipline is built on a positive vision of human existence: Individuals are able, valuable, capable of self-direction, and should be treated accordingly. Individuals who exhibit a lack of discipline have often met with repeated negative experiences and have lost faith in themselves, their values, abilities, self-directing powers, and future. The task of the educator is to maintain a spirit of optimism and to continue to invite students to feel able, valuable, and responsible, even in the face of nonacceptance.
Invitational discipline is structured around the importance of purpose and direction. Educators who desire to create and maintain discipline based on respect and trust strive to consistently act in an intentionally inviting manner. This involves much more than the act of sending invitations. It also involves appropriateness?deciding when to invite and when not to invite, and when to accept and when not to accept. These decisions originate with intentionality.
Invitational discipline advocates a special way of being with people. Central to this process is a deep appreciation for the rich complexity and unique value of each person. This appreciation is cultivated by such behaviors as civility and common courtesy. Respect is also reflected by an attitude of equality and shared power.
The fourth element in invitational discipline is a recognition and
acceptance of the importance of human interdependence. This interdependence is acknowledged when individuals give a high priority to human welfare, when they view places, policies, and programs as capable of contributing to this welfare, and when they are committed to trust their feelings and to risk openness and involvement. The element of trust generates an inviting pattern of action and encourages openness, involvement, and resulting affirmation.
The International Alliance for Invitational Education began on a summer afternoon in 1982 when a group of 12 educators and related helping professionals from throughout the United States and Canada met on the campus of Lehigh University. From these twelve charter members, the Alliance membership has grown to over six hundred professionals representing fifteen countries.
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Law Related Education (LRE) is citizenship education with an emphasis on understanding the role of law as the basis of democratic society. LRE programs work to help students (kindergarten through 12th grade) know how and why our legal system operates as it does, the importance of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, and the roles of lawyers and judges.
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Blue Ribbon Initiative
When asked about the positive changes in Memphis City Schools Denise Johnson, the district's Blue Ribbon Plan coordinator, said, "I think it's probably due to a more conscious effort on the part of teachers, administrators, and the support teams at the schools to be more proactive in dealing with the kids. In other words, letting students know what the expectations are and recognizing when students are doing well.
School-Wide Positive Behavior Support
This program is being implemented at least 20 school systems across the state of Tennessee. Many of these schools have reported a decrease in discipline referrals and suspension rate.
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Information provided by Tennesseans for Nonviolent School Discipline www.forkidsake.org