Survey: Teachers Want Multiple Options for Responding to Student Misbehavior
July 30, 2019
By: Linda Jacobson
Source: Education Dive
Two-thirds of U.S. teachers say discipline policies are inconsistently enforced in their schools, and 38% attribute a decline in suspensions to “higher tolerance for misbehavior,” according to the results of a survey released Tuesday by the Thomas B. Fordham Institute.
Teachers in high-poverty schools were also more likely than those in low-poverty schools to report that during the 2017-18 school year, they were either physically attacked by a student, that physical fighting occurred in their school every day or week, or that they dealt with verbal disrespect every day.
The survey draws responses from a sample of 1,200 teachers participating in the RAND Corp.’s American Educator Panels and is part of the conservative-leaning institute’s efforts to raise concerns over “top-down” efforts to reduce suspensions. They conclude that teachers want multiple options, including newer discipline models and traditional approaches.