Almost a third of public school teachers have considered leaving teaching because of student misbehavior. When asked what were the greatest problems facing their local schools, respondents to Gallup polls have cited discipline first almost every year back to the early 1970s. Discipline problems may range from crimes in schools, such as robbery and drug dealing committed by students or intruders, to lack of respectful behavior toward teachers and classmates, and the spectrum from crimes to disrespect is discussed in the chapters of this ground-breaking volume.
This collection by leading scholars should be useful to social scientists, educational researchers, educators, and school administrators--all those who need to understand how specific and manipulable features of schools, classrooms, and their surrounding environments affect the course of student behavior and prospects for sustained improvement in the discipline climate in schools. The information in these chapters provides many practical ideas, as well as some cautions, for trying new approaches to make schools more orderly learning environments for all students.
