You asked (1) what policies the State Board of Education (SBE) has adopted regarding student behavior and school discipline; (2) how the state is addressing discipline problems in the Hartford school system; (3) what state and federal grants are available to improve school discipline; and (4) for examples of programs used elsewhere in the country, especially in urban districts, to improve student discipline and behavior.

SUMMARY

The State Board of Education (SBE) and the education commissioner have emphasized school climate and student behavior issues over the past two years. The SBE adopted a policy in early 2001 that calls for schools and school personnel to work to create safe school environments, discourage bullying and aggressive behavior, and foster respect. The education commissioner has reiterated this policy in three circular letters to school superintendents, school board members, and education organizations.

Under SA 97-4, the State Department of Education (SDE) oversees the Hartford school district's overall educational and operational progress using two SDE employees as monitors. The SDE monitors report several activities regarding discipline issues, including improved data collection, more classroom management training for teachers, and reactivation of a district-wide discipline committee.

Two state and seven federal grants are available to fund initiatives to improve school discipline and student behavior and to address violence in and near schools. Federal and state grants are available to provide improved mental health programs for children and a safer school climate. The recently enacted federal education bill also includes grants for mentoring, counseling and character education programs.

There have been a vast number of programs created over the last 10 to 20 years to address school discipline and violence issues. Computer searches and calls to other states showed school discipline is an issue in several states. State programs seem to have several common themes. Most are trying to reduce the number of student suspensions and expulsions and to implement new programs that stress positive discipline. States and school districts are interested in working with children at an early age or in introducing early detection and prevention programs. And many states have implemented conflict resolution programs in their schools.

STATE POLICIES

State Board of Education

On February 7, 2001, the SBE adopted a Position Statement On Creating a Healthy School Environment (copy enclosed) that calls for adults in schools to, among other things:

1. send a clear and consistent message that students must behave responsibly and respectfully;

2. model positive behavior for students;

3. consistently enforce rules and foster self control and respect among students; and

4. teach students skills to help them solve conflicts in fair, nonviolent ways.

The policy also requires local school boards to (1) help teachers and administrators create safe learning environments and (2) value school climate as a critical learning component. It requires boards to review all disciplinary policies to ensure they encourage students to stay in school rather than excluding them from school.

Education Commissioner

The education commissioner has made improved school climate and character education a major initiative in the past two years. He has sent three circular letters (copies enclosed) since 1999 to superintendents, school administrators, and school board members concerning the need to improve student behavior and foster responsible behavior.

In the most recent of the three letters, sent on January 8, 2002, the commissioner called attention to the SBE policy statement described above. He suggested that each school do a climate assessment, beginning with a faculty meeting. At the meeting, faculty should answer questions about how students in the school treat each other, whether particular groups and individuals are being harmed, how students and parents see the school's climate, and what actions can be taken immediately to improve the situation.

HARTFORD SCHOOL SYSTEM MEASURES

School discipline policies are generally under the jurisdiction of local school districts. The Hartford school system is run by a state-appointed board of trustees, which takes the place of, and has the same responsibilities as, a local school board. The State Department of Education (SDE) has two state monitors who provide technical assistance and advice and report to the SDE on the district's operations and progress on improvement measures required by SA 97-4.

According to Katherine Nicoletti of the SDE, the department is monitoring several discipline-related activities in the Hartford school system. First, SDE is working to get accurate data on disciplinary actions in the district. Second, new Hartford teachers are receiving additional training in classroom management under the Beginning Educator Support and Training (BEST) program. Third, the monitors are recommending that a district-wide discipline committee, which met periodically last year but has not met this year, resume its activities. Fourth, a new assistant superintendent has just started who will be focusing on disciplinary matters. Finally, five Hartford schools have implemented the Girls' and Boys' Town classroom management system, which trains teachers in how to set and maintain behavioral expectations, motivate and document changes in behavior, react positively to problem situations, and reduce severe discipline problems.

STATE AND FEDERAL GRANTS

Federal Grants

The most recent reauthorization of the federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act (P. L. 107-110) provides for several grants that could help districts address student behavior. These grants are listed in Table 1.

Table 1: Federal Grants to Help Address Student Behavior

State Grants

Primary Mental Health Grant. The SDE awards small grants of $ 15,000 each to 20 school districts to help them implement a prevention model designed by Yale University in their elementary schools. The program has been found to effectively improve behavior and student interaction.

Safe Learning Grant. The grant, enacted in the 2001 session, is designed to help develop school environments where children can learn without fear of physical or verbal harm or intimidation. The two-year grants will be awarded competitively and will focus on grades K-8. Grants range from $ 10,000 to $ 25,000 in the first year, depending on the size of the district.

Grants can be used to:

1. implement activities that encourage respect for each student,

2. decrease early youth aggression,

3. establish student conflict and intervention policies and procedures,

4. eliminate bullying,

5. extend the safe school environment to extra-curricular activities,

6. establish and enhance after-school activities, and

7. develop crisis and violence prevention polices and strategies.

The Safe Learning Grant request for proposals was published on December 7, 2001. Applications were due on January 18, 2002.

PROGRAMS IN OTHER STATES

New York

The Resolving Conflict Creatively Program (RCCP) is used in 60 New York City Schools. It is a K-12 program that focuses on conflict resolution and intergroup relations. Created in 1985, RCCP is one of the largest and longest running conflict resolution programs. Its primary goal is "to ensure that young people develop the social and emotional skills needed to reduce violence and prejudice, form caring relationships, and build healthy lives. " RCCP teaches young people conflict resolution skills, promotes intercultural understanding, and provides models for positive ways of dealing with conflict and differences.

RCCP is being used in 375 schools nationwide, including in Anchorage, Atlanta, New Orleans, Newark, Phoenix, and Boston. A two-year evaluation by Columbia University's National Center for Children in Poverty found students in the program were less hostile, less likely to resort to aggression, and more likely to resolve conflict verbally instead of physically.

Tennessee

Some schools in Tennessee have adopted a program called "Character Counts," which is distributed by a private nonprofit corporation. This program teaches students the "six pillars of character": trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring, and citizenship. According to Harriet Berrier, principal of Sevierville Primary School in Sevierville, Tennessee, this program works better than disciplining the children and sending them out of the classroom. Maryland uses the same program (see below), as do schools in many other states, including California, Florida, Illinois, Michigan, and New Mexico and Texas.

A new state law also expands existing reporting to include the number of students participating in conflict resolution programs, the conflict resolution strategies used, and the length and the results of the programs.

Oregon

The Statewide Approach to Behavior for 7^th and 8^th graders was created by a school climate committee of teachers and administrators of Fern Ridge Middle School in Elmira, Oregon. It is designed to reinforce positive behavior and establish appropriate consequences for problem behavior. It incorporates peer mediation and conflict resolution to help promote a climate of nonviolence. Another part of the program allows school staff, families, students, and community representatives to develop rules and disciplinary procedures collaboratively.

Oregon has also implemented conflict resolution programs in its school systems statewide. These programs "concentrate on developing personal and group skills intended to resolve existing conflicts and prevent future conflicts which could lead to violence, building on a positive assets model in participants" (Conflict Resolution Programs In Oregon Schools: A Guide & Resource Handbook for Successful Implementation, p. 2).

School districts implementing conflict resolution programs have shown improved student social and emotional competency; decreased student conflict; conflicts resolved at the student, teacher, and school level; improved school safety; constructive learning environments; decreased need for suspensions and disciplinary action; and increased valuable class time for teaching and learning (Ibid. , pp. 4-5).

Rhode Island

George McDonough of the Rhode Island Department of Education reports that Rhode Island is implementing conflict resolution programs statewide. Instead of using suspension as a disciplinary measure, he says that schools are trying to move toward correcting the students' behaviors. The department developed a statewide task force that has just completed a study of this topic. Its report is due out at the end of February. We will forward a copy at your request.

Maryland

Maryland has implemented the following school discipline initiatives, in addition to Character Counts (see Tennessee above):

Special Programs for Disruptive Students. A 1996 law requires each local board of education to provide a continuum model of prevention and intervention activities and programs that reduce disruption and encourage and promote positive behavior. (Md. Code Ann. , § 7-304)

Monitoring Discipline Data. Annually, each school system gathers suspension and expulsion information for each school, by type of offense, and submits it to the state education department. The department monitors this data, works with the local districts to analyze it, identifies problem areas, and implements initiatives to address needs.

Annapolis Road Middle School (ARMS). ARMS is a regional school designed to provide educational and support services to middle school students identified as habitually disruptive in their current placement.

1998 Safe Schools Conference. The purpose of the conference was to provide information on programs and activities that encourage and promote positive behavior and reduce student disruption. In addition, the conference allowed time for work session teams to incorporate the information and develop action plans for use in their local school systems, schools, and communities.

Special Initiatives for Safe Schools Grant. School teams that participated in the Safe Schools Conference were eligible to submit proposals for a competitive grant to implement effective strategies in their schools. Each school chosen had to analyze its school climate and discipline information and create a plan to address identified needs.

Second Step. This preschool through 9^th grade program is designed to reduce impulsive and aggressive behavior in children and increase their level of social competence.

Peer Mediation/Conflict Resolution Programs. Both programs teach students appropriate ways to resolve conflicts or disagreements. A fuller description of these programs appears on the Maryland Education Department website's school safety page.

Texas

Texas has implemented the Consistency Management & Cooperative Discipline (CMCD) program in some school districts. The program designed to help schools establish and maintain order. CMCD started in the 1980s to increase student motivation and self-discipline by equipping students to share in responsibility for classroom management and discipline.

Consistency Management focuses on classroom organization and planning by teachers and other school staff. Cooperative Discipline trains students to share in the classroom management role of teachers and paraprofessionals. Students are allowed to assume responsibility for resolving disputes, solving problems, and making decisions. They acquire the necessary experience to become self-disciplined and act as responsible citizens of the school community.

CMCD has been implemented in more than 25 Texas schools, most of them in metropolitan Houston. The program is also being used in Chicago, where an evaluation of it in three K-8 schools found a 47% decrease in discipline referrals from 1998 to 1999, as well as an increase in student achievement.

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