Educators face multiple forms of misbehavior in the classroom on a regular basis. Quantitative data in the academic literature indicates that some subgroups, particularly minority students, lower income students and boys, face higher rates of disciplinary actions than their peers. Whether this indicates that those students misbehave more often, whether their actions are perceived differently by educators, or whether they are punished more harshly for their misbehavior are issues that are not well-settled by academic research. This research project addresses this gap in the literature, by addressing how the overrepresentation of subgroups may occur and by addressing the decision-making process in general, regardless of a student’s social characteristics. This qualitative research project provides an in-depth account of daily life at a rural high school in Kentucky, illustrating instances of misbehavior within the classroom and the various methods that teachers employed to control the misbehaving students. This project gives voice to the teachers, giving consideration to the factors that impacted the decisions they made with respect to consequences for misbehavior. This research project triangulates observations and interviews with disciplinary data from the school to provide a detailed picture of misbehavior and the resulting consequences. The teachers at this school typically gave students ample opportunity to rectify misbehavior before moving to more serious sanctions and considered consequences for most misbehavior on an individual basis. Nonetheless, minority students were overrepresented among students referred to administrators for misbehavior, indicating the possibility of a cultural mismatch between white educators and students of color. At the administrative level, consequences were fair and consistent, and no evidence of discrimination against any subgroup was demonstrated.

School safety is the utmost priority for an elementary school administrator and is high on the list of public concerns. The intent of this study was to identify the professional development that Virginia Elementary School principals receive in the area of handling student discipline. The study addressed the following research questions: (a) to what extent do current elementary school administrators receive training in the area of handling student discipline; (b) to what extent do elementary school administrators receive training in the area of handling student discipline in principal preparation coursework; (c) what are the most prevalent topics when administrators receive training in the area of handling student discipline; and (d) what future training, in the area of handling student discipline, do elementary school administrators need? This descriptive, quantitative study included a survey, created by the researcher that was used to collect data from 103 elementary school administrators. The results indicate that the administrators did not receive comprehensive training in the area of handling student discipline. In particular, training regarding suspensions and minority overrepresentation was severely lacking while the training around safety and security was the most prevalent. Forty-nine percent of the administrators indicated that their principal preparation programs did not address student discipline in a required coursework. The results of this study provide school district leaders with information on current gaps in the area of student discipline included in professional development provided to elementary school administrators in principal preparation programs and during their tenure as administrators. / Ed. D.

No description available.