There is no evidence that physically restraining or putting children in unsupervised seclusion in the K-12 school system provides any educational or therapeutic benefit to a child. In fact, use of either seclusion or restraints in non-emergency situations poses significant physical and psychological danger to students. Yet the first round of data…

This study utilized school-level data from several combined national databases to address two questions regarding school security policy: (1) What are the school characteristics related to levels of security? (2) How does security relate to school suspension, dropout, and college attendance rates? Among the predictors of school security, having a…

Horrific events such as the fatal shooting of three high school students in Chardon, Ohio, in the winter of 2012 places tremendous pressure on state and local agencies to ensure that schools provide a safe and conducive learning environment for all students. To help curb school violence, schools have adopted zero-tolerance policies, which often…

Using Hirschi's social bonds theory as a foundation, this study examines the effects of at-risk students' school bonds on their classroom behaviour. In this article, school bonds are defined as the students' attachment to teachers/staff, students' affiliation to the school, students' belief in the fairness of the school…

The practice of paddling students for misbehavior remains legal in 19 states. The practice was quite prevalent in the mid-to late-20th century and was implemented in order to instill fear in students, so that they would behave properly. To public school students, this was as normal as recess. To an observer with no former frame of reference,…

Finnish national data sets on schools (N = 496) and pupils (N = 74,143; 14-16 years) were used to study whether a systematic documenting policy for the violations of school smoking bans was associated with pupils' smoking and their perceptions on the enforcement of smoking bans. Attending a school with a systematic documenting policy was…

This article provides an exposé of the ironic fact that students both learn to write and are punished for writing in schools. It explores and considers what type of student writing may precipitate a discipline event. These infractions consist primarily of unauthorized writing, such as text messages and writing on clothes, bodies, and walls, whose…

Given the negative outcomes associated with suspension, scholars and practitioners are concerned with discipline disparities. This study explored patterns and predictors of suspension in a sample of 2,750 students with disabilities in 39 schools in a Midwestern district. Hierarchical generalized linear modeling demonstrated that disability type,…

Adolescents becoming formally involved with a juvenile court because of school-related behavior and discipline problems is a phenomenon known as the school-to-prison pipeline. Adolescents with learning disabilities are disproportionately represented within this pipeline. A study was conducted to review the outcomes for a population of youthful…

As commonly understood, school discipline seeks to stop misbehavior, teach prosocial behavior, and motivate healthier decision making in the misbehaving student. In practice, the means to these ends often take a punitive path that fosters a self-protective posture, a sense of powerlessness, and a negative attitude that can contribute to an ongoing…

This paper considers different conceptualisations of school discipline within both UK education policy and wider educational and philosophical literature. Initially, it is noted that notions of "behaviour management" dominate discourses about school discipline. It is suggested that this is unhelpful as behaviour management skills are…

Research indicates that school discipline policies and practices have a significant influence on both student and school functioning. The purpose of this article is to uncover how the ethical standards guiding the field of school psychology inform school decisions about discipline in a three-tiered approach. Various discipline approaches,…

The causal link between educational exclusion and criminalization of youth is called the "school-to-prison pipeline." This is a byproduct of "zero tolerance" polices that have been widely discredited by research (APA, 2008; Skiba, 2014). However, these practices are still widespread in the United States and have been exported…

Problem behaviour continues to present a challenge for school-teachers worldwide. Since school-teachers around the globe have different conceptualisations of what constitutes problem behaviour, the purpose of this study was to examine the perceptions of Zimbabwean school-teachers about their perceived causes of problem behaviour among students in…

In January, 2014, the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Office for Civil Rights in the Department of Education (ED) issued a joint "Dear Colleague Letter" to K-12 schools. The topic discussed in their joint letter is whether administrators are punishing minority children more harshly than white children for…