Designing Positive School-wide Discipline Plans
Sessions A & C
Oregon Department of Education
2006 Summer Institute
Portland, OR
August 8, 2006
Presented by
Randy Sprick, Ph.D.
Introduction
The goal is to create a safe, civil and productive school.
Foundations is the school-wide approach to improving safety, climate, motivation, staff consistency, and so on.
CHAMPs is the classroom approach to improving classroom management, student engagement, motivation and reducing classroom disruptions.
Interventions is the process for designing behavior plans for the individual students with the most challenging behavior.
There are five variables that staff can manipulate to increase the chances that students will behave in a safe and civil manner.
1.Structure/organize all school settings for success.
2.
3.Teach students how to behave responsibly in those settings.
4.
5.Observe student behavior (supervise!).
6.
7.Interact positively with students.
8.
Correct irresponsible behavior calmly, consistently and immediately in the setting in which the infraction occurred.
STOIC: Someone respected and admired for patience and endurance in the face of adversity.
The Foundations Improvement Cycle:
Review:
Annual surveys of staff, students, and parents
Annual observations of common areas
Quarterly or monthly summaries of disciplinary referrals
Focus groups as needed
Injury reports at least every other year
Prioritize:
Choose a manageable number of priorities and stick with them until ready to implement.
Revise:
Foundations team or a special task force develops a proposal to address a the underlying factors of a priority. When possible, something should be done to address: structure, teaching expectations, observation/monitoring, interacting positively, and correcting calmly.
Adopt:
Either by administrative mandate or staff consensus, revision proposals are rejected.
Implement:
Implementation involves staff training, monitoring, and administrative feedback to insure fidelity of implementation. Data is collected to review efficacy of the new policies/procedures.
The Essentials of Proactive School-wide Behavior Support
(Adapted from Foundations)
Component or Process / In Place? / Actions- A leadership team, including the building principal, represents the entire staff.
- The team meets on a regular basis, and uses the time efficiently—starting and ending on time, keeping minutes, assigning tasks, etc..
3.The team involves the staff in data collection, setting priorities, revising practices, reviewing efficacy of existing practices and so on.
4.Annually, the team guides the staff in collecting and analyzed staff, students and parent perception of existing policies, practices and school climate.
5. Annually, the team (with help from staff and students) conducts observations of the common areas.
6.The administrator provides quarterly summaries of disciplinary referral so the team can analyze trends based on location, type of offense, time, date, and so on.
7.These data are used to identify new priorities for improvement and to assess the efficacy of current and past priorities.
8.Guidelines for Success (or equivalent) have been developed and are used as the basis for rules, procedures and lessons.
9.Common areas have been assessed regarding safety, civility and efficacy and improved as needed. In secondary schools, particular attention is paid to hallway/passing time issues.
10.Procedures for coordination between administration, counseling, and teaching staff regarding severe misbehavior have been assessed and improved as needed.
11.A classroom management model has been adopted, training and coaching provided, and reasonable accountability created.
12.An analysis has been conducted to determine gaps in the school’s efforts to create “school connectedness” and to meet all students’ basic needs.
Lesson Schedule Sample for the First Five Days of School (Teachers of freshman allocate at least ten minutes per lesson, other grade levels use professional judgment.)
1st Period / 2nd Period / 3rd Period / 4th Period / 5th Period / 6th PeriodMonday / Section 1
START on Time! #1—Basic Hallway/
Restrooms Expect. / Section 2
START on Time! Tardy Policy/Sweep Procedures / Section 3
Cafeteria Procedures: Teachers of 9th graders—Tour / Section 4--START on Time! Locker Logic / Section 5
START on Time! Civility in the Halls and all School Settings / Section 6
Dismissal, Bus Loading, Expectations to and from School, Arrival
Tuesday / Section 7:
START on Tiime!—Safety in Halls, Restrooms and Courtyards / Section 8
Safety Lesson 1:
Threats will be Taken Seriously (in Fdts) ◊◊◊ / Section 9
Fire Drill, Earthquake, Safety and Lockdown (or . . . “Women and Children First”) *** / Section 10
START on Time!—Civil Interactions with Staff and School Pride / Section 11
Safety Lesson 2: Right to be Safe/Responsibility to Contribute to Safety (in Fdts) ◊◊◊ / Section 12
Campus Environment (or . . . “Loiterers will be Prosecuted”)***
Wed. / Section 13
Safety Lesson 3:
What is Harassment? (in Fdts) ◊◊◊ / Section 14
Dress Code: Video Broadcast during last ten minutes of class / Section 15: Safety Lesson 4: Everyone Belongs in this School/ This School Belongs to Everyone (in Fdts) ◊◊◊ / Section 16
Grading, Cheating, and Plagiarism (or . . . “Advice from a Sixth Year Senior” *** / Section 17
Clubs and Service Opportunities at This School / Section 18
Safety Lesson 5: Personal Power and Control (in Fdts) ◊◊◊
Thur. / Section 19 Graduation Requirements--How to Monitor Your Progress / Section 20
Safety Lesson 6: Personal Power and Control , Part 2 (in Fdts)◊◊◊ / Section 21
Athletic Opportunities and Eligibility Requirements / Section 22
Maturity (or . . . Why “Yo Mama” is NOT an Appropriate Response) *** / Section 23
Safety Lesson 7:
Teasing and Destructive Humor Can be an Abuse of Power (in Fdts) ◊◊◊ / Section 24
Personal Conduct/Social Expectations (or . . . “Hey, Don’t Say or Touch That!”
Friday / Section 25
Safety Lesson 8:
When You are on the Receiving End of an Abuse of Power (in Fdts) ◊◊◊ / Section 26
Locker Maintenance and Academic Organization / Section 27 Safety Lesson 9: Everyone Shares Resp. to Stop Threats, Bullying, Harass. and other Abuses (in Fdtts)◊◊◊ / Section 28
Dress Code Redux (or . . .”We’ve seen it all before.” *** / Section 29
Students Success is the Goal: Academic Help is Available / Section 30
Safety Lesson 10:
Help is Available if You Need It (in Fdts) ◊◊◊
Report on Graduation Rates in the U.S.
A revised report, commissioned by the Black Alliance for Educational Options, found that the overall graduation rate nationally is 71%%. Graduation rates:
African-American56%Native American57%
Asian79% White78%
Hispanic54%
To access and download the original report, log onto:
To access the revised report, log onto:
To access the historical information, log onto:
Report on School Connectedness
"Increasing evidence shows that when adolescents feel cared for by people at their school and feel like a part of the their school, they are less likely to use substances, engage in violence, or initiate sexual activity at an early age."
McNeely, C.A., Nonnemaker, J.A., Blum, R.W.; (2002)
The study examines the association between school connectedness and the school environment. Higher school connectedness was associated with: positive classroom management climates, participation in extracurricular activities, tolerant disciplinary policies and small school size.
McNeely, C.A., Nonnemaker, J.A., Blum, R.W.; (2002). Promoting School connectedness: Evidence from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, Journal of School Health, 72(4), 138-146.
Research at the following website clearly demonstrates an association between connectedness and effective classroom management, effective disciplinary policies, small school size and involvement in extracurricular activities.
Child Initiative/MCI Monograph FINAL.pdf
Randy Sprick's Safe and Civil Schools
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Revised 5/06