School wide discipline is a complex entity that relies on numerous, rules, factors and people at all levels of the educational, legal, public and political sectors. Support personnel, teachers, parents/guardians, police-courts-corrections, administrators, lobbyists and politicians all have their part to play in devising the rules and proper procedures for implementing and enforcing a school wide discipline plan. Needless to say, a lot can go wrong when numerous participants are involved. Personal and professional interpretations of the rules within a plan have the ability to make generation and enforcement of them widely varied across states, districts, schools, and even classrooms within the same building.
Herein lies the major problem. The inconsistencies at the grassroots level, the classroom, where more than 80% of disciplinary infractions occur. Sound classroom management is directly correlated to positive behavior. However, classroom management isn't the only factor. Subject, Curriculum, Instructional Delivery Style, timely and consistent delivery of positive/negative consequences and the ability to relate to the intended audience have all been linked with positive behavior as well.
Simply put, a significant number of factors effect positive behavior. How then can a discipline plan be implemented and enforced properly? Further and more realistically, how can supports be implemented that help teachers that struggle with one or more of the traits linked with positive behavior?
Fortunate for some & not so fortunate for others, only computers and machines can be programmed to behave universally under similar circumstances, not humans. Therefore, it's very unlikely that any discipline plan will be enforced consistently. The key is to curb the amount of inconsistencies between classrooms at the school level. Administrators can identify successful and problematic classrooms by analyzing the number of discipline referrals. Once they're spotted, plans can be taken to mimic these traits displayed in successful classrooms to those that are not as successful. This will require possible training where the successful teachers lead the process. Also, teachers within the same grade that share students that switch classes can discuss what's successful or unsuccessful when dealing with problematic behaviors. Communication and unity are additional key elements to keep in mind that positively impact the universal enforcement of a discipline plan. Without them, every classroom will tend to stand alone, possessing and enforcing its own discipline plan.
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