Date of Award
2003
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Education
Department
Fischler Graduate School of Education and Human Services
Advisor
James Ann Lynch
Committee Member
Ann Joslin
Committee Member
Barbara Packer
Keywords
carson middle school, classroom discipline, classroom management, common expectations, consistency, discipline, discipline plan, discipline problems, discipline referrals, educational environment, Georgia, Greene County, Greensboro, middle schools, monitoring, office referrals, parent involvement, rural schools, school discipline, school discipline plans, school improvement, social skill training, staff development, student behavior, student discipline, teacher discipline, teacher expectations of students, training programs
Abstract
This applied dissertation took place at Carson Middle School, located in Greensboro, Georgia. Greensboro is in rural Greene County, which is located in the northeastern part of Georgia. Carson Middle School has approximately 480 students.
This applied dissertation was designed to improve student discipline at Carson Middle School. Discipline problems can negatively effect the learning environment of a classroom. Carson Middle School had approximately 3,000 discipline referrals during the 2001-2002 school year because there were no common expectations for how student discipline should be handled.
The staff at Carson Middle School implemented a school discipline plan for the 2002-2003 school year. The implementation of the school discipline plan had four interrelated components: staff development, consistent school and classroom rules, social skill training, and monitoring.
An analysis of the data revealed that implementation of the school discipline plan was very successful in improving student discipline. When comparing the number of office referrals of the 2001-2002 school year to the number of office referrals of the 2002-2003 school year the number declined from 3,000 to 680.
School discipline plans are an effective way to improve student discipline. These plans give staff members, students, and parents common expectations for how discipline will be handled throughout the school.