Beneath the Surface of Bad Behavior
By Laithan Fleming
It’s not just us.
There has been a rapid increase in misbehavior in schools nationwide. It seems that we have a lot of company with this problem.
According to data from the National Center for Education Statistics, pandemic-related disruptions have had a negative impact on developing students' socio-emotional and behavioral development. There have been increased classroom disruptions, rowdiness, disrespect towards teachers and staff, and prohibited use of electronic devices, resulting in negative experiences for 84% of public schools. Chronic absenteeism among students has also increased, with 72% of public schools reporting an increase, and finding substitute teachers has become more difficult, with 77% of public schools facing this issue.
Is this correlation or causation?
Public schools in the US have reported a 56% increase in student rowdiness, with middle or combined schools contributing the most cases The use of cellphones in class when not permitted has also increased by 42 percent overall, with high schools checking in at a 51 percent increase. This may be connected to the simple fact that learning in school and learning at home are in fact two different worlds.
"Public schools (nationwide) reported that 36 percent of their students on average were behind grade level prior to the pandemic. At the beginning of both the 2021–22 and 2022–23 school years, public schools reported on average half of their students were behind grade level," reports School Pulse Panel, a U.S Department of Education study on the pandemic’s impact on public education. School Pulse Panel also reported that the number of students whose skills are behind grade level across the US has increased by 24 percent since the pandemic began in early 2020.
What can we do about this? We can start by looking at responses and consequences regarding this behavior. If the consequence of student misbehavior is miniscule, then what is stopping them from continuing?
Three teachers we interviewed (each of whom requested anonymity) made these observations:
– There are “root causes” for many cases of misbehavior. Understanding these root causes helps teachers frame the problem in an entirely different manner.
– Many students perceive a lack of consequences for disruptive actions.
– Some students don’t understand the concept of accountability for absenteeism.
How can we combat this? Many school advisers are trying to encourage more schools to create a "school-wide plan," which would address contemporary situations in our schools that didn’t exist or were not on our radar years ago – perhaps suggesting that our consequences for students are old-school. There are many more opportunities for misbehavior now than 5, 10 or 15 years ago, given the rise of social media and easy technology with few if any restrictions.
The education blog site Smart Classroom Management proposes that we get creative with punishments to pursue fair consequences. Some of these newer consequences include trash pickup duties, silent in-school suspension, daily behavior groups, working as a cafeteria aide or safety officer, loss of privileges, and threat of expulsion. These could be changed to fit different situations and could provide a fair-yet-firm consequence.
Even if this "school-wide plan" is hard to develop, individual teachers could help by setting more clear boundaries and, most importantly, following through with the well-established consequences. If the ultimate goal is for students to learn and teachers to teach, boundaries, communication and consequences may well be our top priority. Because what is a school if it fails to teach in an environment that is acceptable to learn in?
One faculty member with experience at other schools said “Teachers need support systems to help students. We also need more adults in the building, but unfortunately, those things cost money.”
Meanwhile, the cost of student misbehavior is a lesser education for those who come to school to learn.
By Laithan Fleming
It’s not just us.
There has been a rapid increase in misbehavior in schools nationwide. It seems that we have a lot of company with this problem.
According to data from the National Center for Education Statistics, pandemic-related disruptions have had a negative impact on developing students' socio-emotional and behavioral development. There have been increased classroom disruptions, rowdiness, disrespect towards teachers and staff, and prohibited use of electronic devices, resulting in negative experiences for 84% of public schools. Chronic absenteeism among students has also increased, with 72% of public schools reporting an increase, and finding substitute teachers has become more difficult, with 77% of public schools facing this issue.
Is this correlation or causation?
Public schools in the US have reported a 56% increase in student rowdiness, with middle or combined schools contributing the most cases The use of cellphones in class when not permitted has also increased by 42 percent overall, with high schools checking in at a 51 percent increase. This may be connected to the simple fact that learning in school and learning at home are in fact two different worlds.
"Public schools (nationwide) reported that 36 percent of their students on average were behind grade level prior to the pandemic. At the beginning of both the 2021–22 and 2022–23 school years, public schools reported on average half of their students were behind grade level," reports School Pulse Panel, a U.S Department of Education study on the pandemic’s impact on public education. School Pulse Panel also reported that the number of students whose skills are behind grade level across the US has increased by 24 percent since the pandemic began in early 2020.
What can we do about this? We can start by looking at responses and consequences regarding this behavior. If the consequence of student misbehavior is miniscule, then what is stopping them from continuing?
Three teachers we interviewed (each of whom requested anonymity) made these observations:
– There are “root causes” for many cases of misbehavior. Understanding these root causes helps teachers frame the problem in an entirely different manner.
– Many students perceive a lack of consequences for disruptive actions.
– Some students don’t understand the concept of accountability for absenteeism.
How can we combat this? Many school advisers are trying to encourage more schools to create a "school-wide plan," which would address contemporary situations in our schools that didn’t exist or were not on our radar years ago – perhaps suggesting that our consequences for students are old-school. There are many more opportunities for misbehavior now than 5, 10 or 15 years ago, given the rise of social media and easy technology with few if any restrictions.
The education blog site Smart Classroom Management proposes that we get creative with punishments to pursue fair consequences. Some of these newer consequences include trash pickup duties, silent in-school suspension, daily behavior groups, working as a cafeteria aide or safety officer, loss of privileges, and threat of expulsion. These could be changed to fit different situations and could provide a fair-yet-firm consequence.
Even if this "school-wide plan" is hard to develop, individual teachers could help by setting more clear boundaries and, most importantly, following through with the well-established consequences. If the ultimate goal is for students to learn and teachers to teach, boundaries, communication and consequences may well be our top priority. Because what is a school if it fails to teach in an environment that is acceptable to learn in?
One faculty member with experience at other schools said “Teachers need support systems to help students. We also need more adults in the building, but unfortunately, those things cost money.”
Meanwhile, the cost of student misbehavior is a lesser education for those who come to school to learn.