Discipline

Image
Discipline IHE

School discipline refers to the rules and strategies applied in school to manage student behavior and practices used to encourage self-discipline.

School discipline addresses schoolwide, classroom, and individual student needs through broad prevention, targeted intervention, and development of self-discipline. Approaches to school discipline range from restorative (e.g., schoolwide school climate improvements, use of restorative practices) to punitive (e.g., suspension, expulsion, corporal punishment). When considering approaches to school discipline, the social discipline window is a conceptual model that provides way to maintain social norms and behavioral boundaries while defining restorative practices as a leadership model for parents in families, teachers in classrooms, and administrators in organizations. How school discipline is handled has a great impact on the learning environments of schools.

 

Featured Resources

Resource on Confronting Racial Discrimination in Student Discipline

Shares information to support schools’ efforts to confront the issue of race discrimination in student discipline effectively.

Guiding Principles for Creating Safe, Inclusive, Supportive, and Fair School Climates

Identifies five guiding principles and suggests actions schools and school districts can take to create inclusive, safe, supportive, and fair learning environments. 

U.S. Department of Education Issues Dear Colleague Letter Calling for End to Corporal Punishment in Schools and Guiding Principles on School Discipline

U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona wrote to Governors, Chief State School Officers, and School District and School Leaders and urged them to end corporal punishment in schools—the practice of paddling, spanking, or otherwise imposing physical punishment on students. 

Teacher looking over the shoulder of a student

Helps guide districts in analyzing their own student-level disciplinary data to answer important questions about the use of disciplinary actions. This report identifies several considerations that should be accounted for prior to conducting any analysis of student-level disciplinary data. These include defining all data elements to be used in the analysis, establishing rules for transparency (including handling missing data), and defining the unit-of-analysis. 

Cover page for the Supportive School Discipline Webinar Series landing page.

Offers a series of webinar events focusing on school discipline issues, including current school discipline philosophies, policies, and practices, and emerging alternatives; addressing truancy and absenteeism; professional development across all stakeholders; the promise of trauma-informed practices; the role of school resource officers (SROs) in supportive school discipline; and the importance of youth, family, and community engagement.

Student in a classroom

Provides a valid, reliable, and efficient evaluation tool meant for schools to measure the extent to which school personnel are applying the core features of school-wide positive behavioral interventions and supports (SWPBIS). This evaluation tool was updated in February 2017. 

Related Resources

Research

Product

American Institutes for Research

U.S. Department of Education

The contents of the National Center on Safe Supportive Learning Environments Web site were assembled under contracts from the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Safe and Supportive Schools to the American Institutes for Research (AIR), Contract Number  91990021A0020.

This Web site is operated and maintained by AIR. The contents of this Web site do not necessarily represent the policy or views of the U.S. Department of Education nor do they imply endorsement by the U.S. Department of Education.

©2024 American Institutes for Research — Disclaimer   |   Privacy Policy   |   Accessibility Statement