In understanding the impact of classroom management for teachers and schools, the American Federation of Teachers developed solid, tested, and easily accessed classroom management resources offered on its website www.aft.org/tools4teachers.The resources range from guides to setting up a classrooms to recommended behavior management strategies and include some interactive tools to help with implementation.

In specifically focusing on behavior-management strategies, techniques mentioned include both preventive approaches and interventions.  Preventative strategies when used consistently, reduce the chances that problems will occur, or will at least minimize the behavior problems that do arise.

Included were two key components:

Creating a structured environment:
An organized environment can offset student feelings of insecurity, mistrust, and discomfort that may come from the unpredictability in the lives of many youth.  Research has shown that an organized and predictable environment is based on set rules and routines and well-established schedules.

Monitoring student behavior:
Research also has shown that continually checking student’s progress over time gives teachers an opportunity to use the data obtained to adjust interventions to improve effectiveness. Reshaping behaviors and behavior patterns that are problematic was also a noted component of effective behavior management.

Two particularly effective interventions included in the site were Social Skills Training and Anger Management Training.

Social Skills:
Some students who act out or who behave inappropriately simply have not been taught how to behave appropriately.  Teaching social skills helps overcome these kinds of deficits.  Social skills instruction should include the following steps:

• Identify the social skills needed to replace problem behavior and decide what steps are needed to perform the skill adequately.
• Model or show the students how to perform the skill(s) by having them watch other students perform the skill.
• Practice using role plays of the skill(s).
• Reinforce the acceptable behavior/skill.

Anger Management:
Many students whose behavior is disruptive also have difficulty expressing anger (feelings) appropriately.  Often angry behaviors have been reinforced by people giving in to the aggressive behavior, strengthening the connection between expressed anger and the student’s control of the situation.  Also students have often not learned acceptable ways of showing frustration and anger and need to learn alternative and appropriate ways of resolving conflicts, and to do so without coercion, physical force and/or aggression.  They also need to learn the triggers that set off their anger and develop approaches for managing the anger, such as the following:

• Self-instruction or self-talk: a way of working through problems using new internal dialogues to counter old ones.  Instead of telling themselves negative messages, students learn alternative and more positive messages.
• Relaxation skills: this includes deep breathing and physical exercises to reduce stress and the physical symptoms of anger.
• Problem-solving: used to help students view situations as problems to be solved rather than battles to win.

In a Commentary by Michael Josephson, from Character Counts and the Josephson Institute, Josephson notes that treating others with respect is often more an expression of our views, and our own character, than an expression of what is “due” to another person.  Noting an important distinction between respecting others in the sense that we “admire them or hold them in high esteem” and treating others with respect, Josephson asserts that respectfulness is a moral mandate and our good treatment of others is an expression of our own good character. 

People of character, according to Josephson, are obligated to treat everyone with respect, even if they don’t necessarily deserve it.   Additionally, not treating others with respect lessens their own character. For some, a great deal of self-control is necessary to show respect to people who are dishonorable or disrespectful to them/others. However, it is their own integrity that can help them resist the temptation to display what could tear them down internally.

In sharing a story about a politician who was drawn into some mudslinging with his opponent, Josephson stated that once the politician realized he was lowering himself to the opponent’s level, he stopped and said, “Sir, I will treat you as a gentleman – not because you are one but because I am one.”

Daily, we are required to manage the demands of those who are often disrespectful, but in understanding the true nature of respect as a reflection of our own character, treating others with respect becomes not only less of a challenge, but also a reminder that we teach best by example.

Character Counts is an informative website offering insightful advice about character dynamics and the usefulness of using and developing respectful approaches to students and others as well as other strategies and ideas related to the positive nature of character education.

Here are some key findings.

• 59% say having photos or personal information listed on a public site is unsafe but 62% of teens report still posting photos and information on social networking sites.
• More than one-third of those surveyed have been either the victim or perpetrator of cyberbullying, and 68% think it is a serious problem. About 81% think online bullying is easier to get away with and hide from parents as bullying in person. Fifty-eight percent of online bullies report getting back at someone or “because they deserved it” as a reason for their actions. Only 28% of cyberbullies report getting caught.
• Nineteen percent of teens surveyed have engaged in sexting. Of those, sixty percent say they sent nude or nearly nude photos to a boyfriend or girlfriend, but 11% say they have sexted people they do not know. Eighty-one percent of teen sexters are under 18 and 90% report that nothing negative happened as a result of sexting, such as sending the message to the wrong person or getting into trouble. Only 14% of sexters report getting caught. However, 74% of teens surveyed believe sexting is wrong.
• Seventy-six percent are at least somewhat concerned that personal information which is posted publicly could have a negative impact on their future.
• Forty-two percent of teens report their parents know little or nothing about their online activities and 44% report having no limits or restrictions set by their parents on internet use.

Click below to download the entire study in PDF format.

Following are basic crisis planning requirements:

1. Develop a plan and not a guidebook.
   • Identify significant hazards as well as who does what when.
   • Revisit the plan regularly with staff members and other key personnel via discussions, drills, and table-top drills.
2. Develop initial response plans that do not rely on first-responders or district personnel.
   • Create an immediate responder network of crisis managers in the school; these people should also make up the Crisis Response Team.
   • Identify a command center for the school, and evaluate and plan for key areas where assistance will be necessary.
   • Train the school’s team of responders to support the plan by teaching and practicing how and when to respond.
   • Train the responder team regarding policies and procedures, first aid, including CPR and AED, NIMS and incident command, and threat/hazard awareness.
   • Make the team aware of their responsibilities and make sure they have adequate, ongoing training.
3. Establish table top and regular drills to support training. The plan should be tested by those who would have a role in the crisis.
4. Communicate with business and neighbors surrounding the school to ensure that evacuations will be as efficient as possible.
5. Use technology to communicate and have plans in place for when technology is not available. Good communication is imperative.
6. Take advantage of the Department of Homeland Security’s National Incident Management System (NIMS) training courses. (For Wichita Public Schools, The Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools, 316-973-2260, can assist with this.)

“While studies differ, what many researchers seem to agree on is that there is no single profile of a school shooter.”

Peter Langman, a psychologist who studied ten school gunmen and is the author of “Why Kids Kill: Inside the Minds of School Shooters,” stated

“You can’t assume that a school shooter is going to look like a kid in a trench coat, who has no friends, and is skulking down the halls silently. These are diverse kids with diverse personalities. If you get stuck thinking that there’s a certain kind of kid that we can identify, then we’re going to be missing kids who are potential dangers.”

Although many of the students Langman studied had psychological disorders or had been emotionally or physically abused, Katherine S. Newman, a professor of sociology and public affairs at Princeton University takes a broader view noting that psychological issues are one of the five “necessary but not sufficient” conditions that give rise to school shootings. “The other four predisposing factors are:

• The shooter sees himself as extremely marginal in the social worlds that matter to him.
• He has cultural scripts that suggest an armed attack may be a way to solve problems and elevate his status from that of a loser to a notorious antihero.
• Parents, schools, mental health services, and other ’surveillance systems’ have failed to identify the troubled teenagers.
• One common thread among the school shootings studied was what federal law enforcement experts refer to as “leakage.” Although not as much the case at the college level, at the high school level, school shooters have been found to have a tendency to “leak” their intentions. Experts believe that once students were taught to report threats, this became the “main reason that pre-collegiate school shootings dropped off after the peak years for rampage-style attacks of 1997 to 1999 . . . .”

Click here to read the full article “Lessons Sifted from Tragedy at Columbine” from Education Week.

In fact, a breach in Dec 2009 led to the capture of 32 million passwords which were subsequently posted to the internet – fortunately with no identifiable information.

Imperva has released new suggested protocols for passwords that I wanted to pass along.

1. Passwords should be a minimum of eight characters.
2. Passwords should contain a mixture of special characters, numbers, and both upper and lower case letters.
3. Passwords should not be words found in the dictionary.
4. Passwords should contain no personal information.

Additionally, Imperva is suggesting a shift in thinking from having a password to having a truncated passphrase such as:

“This little piggy went to market.” Which might become “tlpWENT2m!.”

Click Here to download the report.

Give emotionally volatile students a little extra space. If a student being disciplined becomes agitated and doesn’t appear to be calming down, don’t use intimidation, ask a lot of questions, put your hands on him or her, or use force to try to redirect the student.

De-escalating the situation by backing off gives the student time to calm down and allows him or her to get to a state of being where he or she will more likely be able to actually hear your point.

If the student needs to be moved to a place where he  or she is not causing a disruption to a classroom or common area, be sure to make requests brief and specific.  Once the student is isolated,  he or she should be supervised but left alone to cool down.

From The School Discipline Advisor, Volume 11, Issue 2, April, 2009.

In doing so, the policy allows a student who is suspended for his or her first time being under-the-influence or in possession of drugs or alcohol to return to school as soon as a reinstatement form has been received. If during the suspension time, the student signs a disclaimer or withdraws, the policy should still be followed. Disclaimers only protect the student regarding attendance, and if the student decides to re-enroll, the student’s base school is required to accept the student.

If the reinstatement form is not returned in five days, a hearing should be scheduled with the hearing held on the tenth day if the form is still not returned. The suspension is then extended for up to 25 days via the hearing officer although the student still can end the suspension as soon as the reinstatement is returned to the school.

If you have further questions regarding Policy 1465 contact your SDFS representative.

1. Set a primary focus on student academic excellence and realize that staff may resist ambitious new programs that require them to commit time to help reduce school violence.  Power schools are able to demonstrate to staff that quality anti-violence programming actually increases available teaching time by reducing the number of student disruptions and by giving staff consistent and enforceable standards to impose when students misbehave.
2. Provide early help to students with academic problems to directly address the strong relationship between academic failure and student misbehavior.  A 1998 report by the U.S. Justice Department showed that students who struggle academically and fail to build an emotional connection to school and teachers are at significantly greater risk for delinquent behaviors.
3. Create a common district-wide definition of “violence.”  Power schools have found that a common useful definition of violence is very important, and it must be sufficiently broad enough to cover verbal and physical acts that intentionally or unintentionally cause harm, hurt, or embarrassment to others.
4. Assess the current level of school-related violence in the building and/or district.  Power schools do school safety audits and survey staff, parents, and students about issues of school violence and personal safety and then use the data as a resource for school problems.
5. Cultivate knowledge of innovative programs and services to address school violence.
6. Carefully match anti-violence programs to existing needs and implement programs with commitment.  Additionally, once new programs have been matched with needs, monitor the effectiveness of these programs over time. Power schools do not bring in new programs simply because they are the current trend or for appearances.
7. Hold students and staff to a common set of behavioral standards.  Behavioral expectations for students and staff should be reduced to a small set of easily remembered rules expressed in positive terms and posted widely throughout the school, on buses, and in classrooms.  These rules are regularly reviewed in staff meetings and in classrooms and are also shared with parents.
8. Provide swift, consistent consequences for student misbehavior.  Consequences should focus on providing the student with support and teaching the student that misbehavior comes at a cost.
9. Allocate increasingly focused interventions and staff attention on students with more chronic behavioral problems.  Generally, a relatively few number of students account for a disproportionate number of disciplinary referrals.  Power schools track student behavioral performance and provide increasingly structured, intensive interventions.  A good idea is to develop a uniform series of consequences that staff can match to student infractions.  Power schools also utilize broader efforts to prevent problems from reaching this level of difficulty.
10. Foster relationships with law enforcement, outside clinical expertise, and community agencies.

Reference: www.jimwrightonline.com/pdfdocs/tenWays.PDF

Research reviewed for the brief  showed that unsafe school environments result in students having more health issues and less success in college.  Students were more likely to get into fights, to get injured, and to experience higher stress levels.  Other research noted in the brief tied similar outcomes to bullying problems as well.  Another piece of research found being involved in violence, as victims or perpetrators, was the most important factor in students carrying weapons to school.  As many as 12% of students reported not going to school because of the fear associated with school violence (down to 6% in the last year) and 36% of students in urban schools reported gang activity in their school (21% in suburban schools).  Violent threats and attacks in high schools were reported at a rate of 31.2 per 1000 students in another report.

Clearly school officials need to continue to address these issues.  The research on the consequences of violence related to student well-being is relatively strong and this brief adds to that foundation of information.  For more go to http://www.childtrends.org/Files//Child_Trends-2008_11_14_RB_SchoolEnviron.pdf