NCJ Number
169054
Date Published
1997
Length
12 pages
Annotation
A principal who became the first administrator of a school for assaultive and violent adolescents discusses issues and techniques involved in creating effective school discipline and a safe school setting.
Abstract
The staff quickly recognized that it needed to focus on generating prevention strategies and building a model to foster the development of prosocial behavior, while simultaneously taking a firm and intolerant stand against any display of aggression. Eighteen years of experience have demonstrated that the effectiveness of any school organization or specific teaching strategy relates directly to the degree to which it responds to students' varied characteristics and needs, particularly the needs for significance, competence, and power. It is more useful to acknowledge that all children and youth exhibit problem behaviors than to label some students as having problems. Characteristics of effective schools include a common sense of purpose among staff, support for goal setting and high expectations for students and staff, a well-organized curriculum, consistent behavior management, and parent involvement. School-based resources linked to managing behavior or developing prosocial behavior include personnel, facilities, programs, specific interventions, and knowledge and skills. The involvement of parents, the community, and students is also important. The principal is crucial to the quality of a school. Finally, structures and services are best provided along a continuum of options rather than insisting regular classrooms are appropriate for every student, and the focus must be on ensuring that students learn about growth and development rather than the misuse of power and control. 9 references