Middle School Schoolwide Discipline

Creating an Effective Schoolwide System of Discipline and Student Support

Many middle and high schools face big challenges when it comes to creating a discipline and student support system that feels fair to all students and parents, effective to faculty, easily enforceable for administrators, and compatible with student support programs. ESR’s Creating an Effective Schoolwide System of Discipline and Student Support is a discipline review and revision process.

This data-informed approach to reviewing and revising disciplinary and student support policies and practices helps school teams to:

• assess the strengths, weaknesses, and effectiveness of the current discipline and student support system using the school’s base line data

• identify a set of values and outcomes that will drive your discipline and student support system

• create greater alignment between schoolwide disciplinary practices and principles of prevention and youth development, and

• develop a revised set of policies and practices that promote a problem solving orientation for adults and students.

These revised policies and practices include:

• a graduated system of interventions and consequences for academic and behavioral problems that is understood by students, faculty, and parents

• a set of schoolwide initiatives that promote and recognize positive student behaviors and strengthen efforts to create a positive peer culture

• more effective teacher interventions at the first sign of student problems

• a specific set of interventions for the 5% of students who are constantly getting in trouble, and

• more effective detention and in-school and out-of-school suspension policies.

How can this discipline review and revision process help my school?

This process will help you reduce classroom disciplinary referrals and address ineffective disciplinary policies. We’ll help you to reach consensus on key rules and consequences that all faculty agree to enforce the same way every time with every student. In addition, you will develop more effective behavioral and academic interventions for problem students and families.

Teachers will develop more effective responses to unwanted behaviors in the classroom, learn a variety of strategies to better support students in academic and behavior trouble, and learn how to utilize student support services at the first signs of serious problems. The disciplinary policies and practices at the heart of this process support greater student responsibility and accountability, help students develop more effective problem solving skills and greater personal efficacy, and help alienated and resistant students increase positive attachment to school and learning.

What are the steps for implementing this discipline review and revision process?

This process takes a school through five-stage process over a 12- to 18-month period:

Stage one: A two-day, on-site visit with focus groups with students, parents, and staff and a ½ day with the schoolwide discipline team and the principal to identify concerns and outcomes that will drive your thinking and planning throughout this process. After the visit, we’ll provide you with an analysis and summary of base line data, surveys, and focus groups

Stage two: A two-day, on-site visit to discuss the data summary and begin the review and revision process with the principal, discipline team, students, and whole faculty

Stage three: A three-day on-site visit, including one day to work with discipline team to summarize and organize all input from students, parents, and faculty and two days to meet with student groups, parents, and all faculty

Stage four: A two-day on-site visit to present a draft of new policies and practices to the whole faculty and complete final revisions around key changes

Stage five: A two-day, on-site visit featuring training for staff that will support effective implementation of new policies and practices. Faculty will learn a five-step approach to guided discipline and student support that includes: modeling, teaching, practicing, and assessing what you expect; inviting students to cooperate and self-correct; and intervening effectively when unwanted behaviors persist.

ESR will provide ongoing technical support and coaching through conference calls, on-going documentation, and email. All participants will receive the book Partners in Learning: From Conflict to Collaboration in Secondary Classrooms, tools for assessment, and a set of “how-to” handouts.

What if my school is experiencing serious problems that impact the safety of staff and students and a sense of order and respect throughout the learning environment?

ESR has developed an intervention protocol for schools in trouble that need to implement a set of schoolwide interventions quickly to reestablish a safe, respectful, and orderly learning environment.

To find out how Creating an Effective Schoolwide System of Discipline and Student Support can serve your school or district, call us at 800-370-2515, ext. 19 or fill out the form below to have us contact you about a customized quotation for services.