Getting Tough? The Effects of Discretionary Principal Discipline on Student Outcomes

Nationwide, school principals are given wide discretion to use disciplinary tools like suspension and expulsion to create a safe learning environment. There is legitimate concern that this power can have negative consequences, particularly for the students who are excluded. This study uses linked disciplinary, education, and criminal justice records from 2008 to 2016 in North Carolina to examine the impact of principal-driven disciplinary decisions on middle school student outcomes. We find that principals who are more likely to remove students lead to reductions in reported rates of minor student misconduct. However, this deterrence comes at a high cost – these harsher principals generate more juvenile justice complaints and reduce high school graduation rates for all students in their schools. Students who committed minor disciplinary infractions in a school with a harsh principal suffer additional declines in attendance and test scores. Finally, principals exhibiting racial bias in their disciplinary decisions also widen educational gaps between White and Black students.

ETHICAL ATTITUDES AS FACTORS OF ACADEMIC MISCONDUCT

In this article, the existed methods of evaluation of moral attitudes are reviewed, and the opportunities for their analysis as factors of student misconduct on exam and plagiarism are investigated based on student survey. According to the research results, there are significant negative correlations between students’ misconduct and their academic performance; there is a tendency for idealistic attitudes to encourage students to behave in good faith and relativistic attitudes to the opposite; teachers’ control is the leading contextual factor in reducing violations. Research of the role of ethical factors in comparison with other factors has shown that ethical factors demonstrate significant negative correlation with academic performance and positive correlation with peers’ pressure. Idealists are less prone to social influences, and less conformal. This research also demonstrated that ethical factors have considerable correlation with academic misbehaviour, e.g. idealism is negatively connected with student misconduct, and relativism is positively correlated with it.

Punishment and motivation in a just school community

This article addresses the ethical and motivational dimensions of punishment in schools, focusing on the idea of a just school community. Lawrence Kohlberg’s account of a just school community is examined and systematically revised to reflect advances in psychology and a more adequate conceptualization of justice. A eudaimonic conception of justice is articulated with respect to five distinct dimensions of a just school community. This is informed by Self-determination Theory (SDT) and an account of the basis of educational authority over minor children. The resulting account of a eudaimonically just school community clarifies the limited value of punishments as motivators and the importance of needs-support to enlisting students’ cooperation. It resists the growing reliance on criminal justice responses to student misconduct and holds that discipline and punishment in schools should be diagnostic, educative, restorative, and community building.

Examining the measure of student engagement in the classroom using the bifactor model: Increased validity when predicting misconduct at school

Few studies have used exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and exploratory bifactor factor analysis (EBFA) to define a baseline factor structure model checking the construct-relevant psychometric multidimensionality of student engagement. This study was conducted on a sample of 3,374 students in France, Wallonia-Brussels Federation, and Luxembourg by using EFA and EBFA, and by comparing four confirmatory factor models of student engagement in the classroom. Results indicated the relevance of a bifactor model to disentangle general and specific factors of student engagement in the classroom in relation with student misconduct at school. The study suggests that if student engagement is principally a unidimensional construct, specific latent dimensions also exist (e.g., specific boredom behaviors) that have a substantive value and must be specified to increase quality of measurement and predictive validity.

Leadership Challenges: Handling Sexual Assault on Campus and Promoting Socioemotional Learning

Joaquin, a 15-year-old Latino high school student, was arrested and removed from the Upward Bound (UB) program following a student-on-student sexual assault allegation. UB adopted a student-centered discipline approach that promoted socioemotional learning opportunities. However, the staff was regulated by complex state and federal policies and had not experienced severe student misconduct claims prior to 2018. This case illustrates how educational leaders grappled with disciplinary issues in a compensatory program with a strong pro-socioemotional learning policy. The case examines the legal, regulatory compliance, and policy issues that arise for leaders in upholding their commitment to socioemotional learning, while holding students accountable.

Un antropólogo en el aula: ¿Por qué los estudiantes se portan mal?

Un antropólogo en el aula: ¿Por qué los estudiantes se portan mal? Wilmer Mejía Carrión Universidad Nacional Federico Villarreal, Av. Nicolás de Piérola 355, Lima, Perú Recibido el 15 de junio del 2017. Revisado el 22 de junio del 2017. Aceptado el 1 de julio del 2017 DOI: https://doi.org/10.33017/RevECIPeru2017.0007/ Resumen La mala conducta de los estudiantes es una problemática común y constante, parece ser un mal endémico que parece no tener fin. La solución del problema se la ha encargado a un psicólogo(a), considerando que la disciplina de la psicología tiene la solución a este problema. Así pues se considera que los comportamientos –malos o buenos- dentro del aula no competen a nadie más que a esta disciplina. ¿Qué podríamos hacer los antropólogos entonces dentro del aula más que solo enseñar algunos cursos de letras? En este trabajo se da cuenta de las conclusiones que un antropólogo hace a partir de un trabajo de campo en diversos colegios particulares. Dando una perspectiva diferente del comportamiento escolar dado por otras disciplinas. Se verán las relaciones de poder y la cultura dentro de la institución escolar y cómo estas afectan a los diversos actores sociales que operan en ella Descriptores: Escuela, antropología, relaciones de poder, cultura escolar, educación Abstract Student misconduct is a common and constant problem, it seems to be an endemic trouble that seems to have no end. The solution of the problem has been entrusted to a psychologist, considering that the discipline of psychology has the solution to this problem. Thus, it is considered that the - bad or good - behaviors within the classroom do not compete with anyone else than this discipline. What could anthropologists do then in the classroom rather than just teach some courses of letters? In this paper I realize the conclusions that an anthropologist makes from a field work in several private schools. Giving a different perspective about school behavior given by other disciplines. Power relations and culture will be seen within the school institution and how these affect the various social actors operating in it. . Keywords: School, anthropology, power relations, culture, education