Progressive Discipline

1. Progressive Discipline Laura Catalfamo & Aaron Khalid

2. Agenda • Value Line • Case Study – your opinions • Progressive Discipline – Background • Positive School Environments • Principles of Progressive Discipline • PD Strategies/Procedures • Summary • References/Resources

3. Value Line • Suspension and expulsion can be effective measures for addressing and correcting student misbehaviour 3

4. Case Study Les, a grade 10 student, has been talking to his fellow classmate during a mathematics lesson. For the third time this period, his teacher has had to stop the lesson to tell him to be quiet. This time, she resorts to moving Les to another desk on the opposite side of the classroom. Les, obviously angered by having to move away from his friend, swears at the teacher under his breath as he is getting up from his chair. Les is known for his frequent outbursts of anger in class, but this is the first time he has sworn directly at a teacher. Les is sent to the office. There are a number of approaches the principal could take at this point. What should the principal do?

5. Progressive Discipline • A whole-school approach that utilizes a continuum of interventions, supports, and consequences to address inappropriate student behaviors. When inappropriate behavior occurs, disciplinary measures should be applied with a framework that shifts the focus from one that is solely punitive to a focus that is both corrective and supportive. –TDSB Policy P.064 CUR • Disciplinary action is proportional to the inappropriate behavior and takes into account all other mitigating factors (i.e. student history, special needs)

6. A Student’s Voice “Most of the time the teachers will talk to the students, they will first understand what their reason is [for misbehaving]. ‘Cause sometimes it could be family, it could be - you know, [teachers] don’t really know the situation, so they have to really understand and talk to the student before anything.” -Grade 12 Student Dufferin Peel Catholic District School Board 6

7. Progressive Discipline: Background • June 4, 2007: Education Amendment Act (Progressive Discipline and School Safety) was passed, amending the part of the act dealing with behaviour, discipline, and safety • Amendments came into force February 1, 2008 “This policy was not the invention of Progressive Discipline - in many schools, it was already being used and the term has been floating around for a long time.” -Elementary School Principal Dufferin Peel Catholic District School Board

8. The first step: Prevention • Creating a positive school environment and a culture of respect is a crucial component of discouraging inappropriate behavior • Anti-bullying programs • Citizenship development, extracurricular activities • Access to support services

9. A Student’s Voice: Positive Classroom Environment “If [teachers] go overboard - ‘Go to the office! Get out of here!’ - switching all the kids around, then it’s just too much. That’s not what we’re there for, we’re here to learn...so it’s not so much about having the classic order for every last thing. It’s better when [teachers] just talk to us, you know? They just let us know, and if it happens again, they’re obviously going to give a consequence” -Grade 12 Student Dufferin Peel Catholic District School Board

10. Principals of Progressive Discipline • Primary goal is to create a positiveschool environment that encourages the development of the maximum potential of each student • Inappropriate behavior must be addressed, but disciplinary measures should not prevent the student from succeeding • ‘Creative discipline’ – a continuum of interventions must be applied; all mitigating factors must be considered when implementing programs

11. Progressive Discipline: Strategies/Procedures • Each school board must develop and implement P.D. plans consistent with the Ministry policy • Available on school board websites • Must be consistent with codes of conduct • Communicated clearly to all parents, staff, and associates • ‘Performance indicators’ available to monitor the effectiveness of the policy

12. Progressive Discipline: Strategies/Procedures • Plans should include a range of supports, intervention, consequences • Meeting with parents/student/principal • Letter to parents • Referral to community agencies (i.e. for anger management, substance abuse) • Detentions, loss of privileges • Review class expectations • Written/oral apology • ‘behaviour contracts’

13. Progressive Discipline: Strategies/Procedures • Boards should develop processes for fostering and developing community partnerships with support agencies/police services • Ongoing dialogue with parents of inappropriately behaving students • Training strategies must be available for all faculty and assistants

14. Progressive Discipline: Strategies/Procedures • Suspensions (long- & short-term) and expulsions are the ‘last resorts’ of the P.D. continuum • Boards must have programs in place to continue the education of students on LTS/expulsion • “Ontarians express concern that students who are suspended or expelled are not receiving an education, and they are also at risk of losing an important connection to the school community. Research indicates that a sense of connection to the school community strongly influences a student’s decision to remain in school.” • - Safe Schools Action Team. Safe Schools Policy and Practice: An Agenda for Action. Toronto: Ministry of Education, 2006.

15. A Student’s Voice: Suspension and Expulsion “Well, I think that – suspending a student or kicking them out – I’ve seen some of them come back to school after suspension, after something… they don’t really change personally… they’re still the same person, but they try to control it. But ultimately, it doesn’t really make that much effect, I think, from my experience of people I know. They’re still the same, you still see them doing the same things – but not to the authority.” 15

16. Progressive Discipline: Strategies/Procedures • “…we also understand that formalizing it in Ministry and Board documents gives legal responsibility to it. Keep in mind though, with something like this, parents or students could read the documents and, well, abuse the policy. Like, if the school decides suspension is the best course, the parents could come back and say “you can’t suspend my kid, because you didn’t provide this program, or you didn’t take all of these outlined steps that the Ministry says you have to take”. Lots of educators of course feel that more resources and staff and time are needed to deal with difficult students properly…” • -Elementary School Principal • Dufferin Peel Catholic District School Board

17. Summary: The P.D. Continuum Initial Intervention Disciplinary Strategies Continued Disciplinary Strategies Suspension/Expulsion (Generally as a last resort!)

18. Summary • Progressive discipline policies were developed with student success in mind • PD policies demand significant time and resources of educators and administrators Do you think progressive discipline is practical? Are the expectations realistic?

19. References/Resources • Ontario Ministry of Education Policy/Program Memorandum No. 145 – “Progressive Discipline and Promoting Positive Student Behaviour”. October 4th, 2007 http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/extra/eng/ppm/145.pdf • Ontario Ministry of Education Policy/Program Memorandum No. 141 – “School Board Programs for Students on Long-Term Suspension”. August 23rd, 2007 http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/extra/eng/ppm/141.html • Ontario Ministry of Education Policy/Program Memorandum No. 142 – “School Board Programs for Expelled Students”. August 23rd, 2007 http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/extra/eng/ppm/142.html • Ontario Ministry of Education “Safe Schools Policy and Practice: An Agenda for Action”. Safe Schools Action Team. June 2006. http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/ssareview/report0626.pdf • Education Amendment Act (Progressive Discipline and School Safety). http://www.ontla.on.ca/bills/bills-files/38_Parliament/Session2/b212ra.pdf • Teaching Outside the Box: How to Grab Your Students By Their Brains. LouAnne Johnson. Jossey-Bass, San Francisco. 2005.