The majority of children do come to school to learn, but it only takes a few persistent troublemakers to rob an entire class of that opportunity. Disruptions in the form of lateness, talking out of turn, and disrespecting the teacher and other students take a serious toll on the educational process. Polls have shown that parents, teachers, and the…

Over the past 25 years, Gallup polls have consistently reported that disruptive behavior and discipline problems are some of the top concerns of school staff and community members. In fact, problems with classroom management are among the most common reasons that teachers leave their jobs. In response, many schools are turning to more formal…

The author was a rookie with no student teaching experience who started working at a high school two months into the year. Because his classes had been taught by numerous substitute teachers, the students didn't believe that he was their "real" teacher. Adding to his challenge, the students were almost entirely male in a technology education…

This article features Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS), a systems-based method for improving student behavior. PBIS was developed at the University of Oregon and has been shown to work at all grade levels and be effective in districts with greater concentrations of poverty and higher percentages of "at-risk" students. It has…

As college administrators, they take great pains to ensure that students admitted to their campuses have the intellect, motivation, and maturity to succeed. Similarly, they attempt to gather information about the character and integrity of the students they invite to enroll, to safeguard the reputation and well-being of their institutions. But…

This article deals with students hacking school computer systems. School districts are getting tough with students "hacking" into school computers to change grades, poke through files, or just pit their high-tech skills against district security. Dozens of students have been prosecuted recently under state laws on identity theft and unauthorized…

In this article, the author iterates how over the years he had sensed that student misbehavior was on the rise: rudeness, lateness, loudness, distractedness, and the myriad small sins that irritate teachers. It was not as if these young louts were protesting a war or engaging in civil disobedience; they were just plain rude. But, although the…

The author talks about graduation ceremonies getting out of hand, wherein graduates misbehave and act without proper decorum. Here, she presents the graduation ceremony at Plainfield High School as an example, when students bounced inflated condoms among their ranks. News of the resulting chaos was plastered in headlines in Chicago-area…