Advocacy Report"Effective Discipline for Student Success: Reducing Student and Teacher Dropout Rates in Mississippi," Mississippi Youth Justice Project, Southern Poverty Law Center (April 2008).
This report argues that school discipline practices in Mississippi are a major factor in pushing vulnerable children out of school, and that dissatisfaction with school discipline is a reason why many new teachers are leaving schools. The report highlights proactive models for school discipline, like Positive Behavior Intervention and Support (PBIS), to help reduce student dropout and teacher turnover.
According to the report, Mississippi has a high school graduation rate of 62%, one of the lowest in the nation. The report argues that suspensions and expulsions contribute to dropout by pushing kids farther and farther behind in school. “According to the Mississippi Department of Education, most students who drop out have received five to nine discipline referrals and were absent for more than 10 days from school — absences that were probably a direct result of out-of-school suspensions.” At the same time, discipline problems in school contribute to high rates of teacher turnover. The report quotes Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour who said “We lose a third of our new teachers within three years.…[M]ore young teachers leave teaching because of discipline issues than over teacher pay.” In a 2005 national survey of teachers leaving the profession, 44% of teachers, and 39% of highly qualified teachers, cited student behavior as a reason for leaving.
The report then argues that schools should move away from exclusionary, punitive approaches to discipline, and instead implement evidence-based alternatives, such as Positive Behavior Intervention and Support (PBIS), that can improve school climate and student behavior in order to reduce dropout and help retain teachers. This approach to discipline teaches critical social skills by setting clear expectations for behavior, acknowledging and rewarding appropriate behavior, and implementing a consistent continuum of consequences for problem behavior. Students with serious or chronic behavior problems receive behavior assessments, individualized interventions, and specialized behavior supports. PBIS has been shown to reduce suspensions, expulsions and dropout and to improve academic achievement. The report gives ten recommendations for teachers, administrators and school board members in Mississippi on how to create a better school climate, including implementing PBIS and tapping into existing networks and programs available at the state and national level.
Relevant Link: http://www.dignityinschools.org/files/MS_Discipline_briefing.pdf
