This book is about developing effective classroom and buildingwide discipline systems. It is based on the belief that the most effective discipline systems use proactive strategies designed to prevent discipline problems rather than strategies intended to correct problems after they occur. Because we know that prevention does not always work, the book also includes strategies to use when prevention approaches are not enough.

This book is also based on the belief that the one factor that affects staff morale, job satisfaction, and building climate more than any other is classroom and buildingwide discipline. According to Zehm and Kottler (1993), discipline problems are teachers' number-one complaint about their jobs. Marzano (2003) says that the public judges the effectiveness of a school by its management of student behavior. Nothing affects a building's reputation more than the level of discipline that permeates the classrooms and overall school. No staff member wants to work in a classroom or building that is chaotic or out of control. Excellent teachers request transfers from these buildings, and parents attempt to move their students out of these schools. Soon there is a vicious cycle of staff exodus, parental complaints, and declining test scores.

Whether staff believe they control student behaviors or not, they are right! Most students will behave appropriately when each and every staff member holds expectations for appropriate behaviors, when effective discipline systems are in place, when these systems are taught to students, and when students are held accountable for their actions.

Creating and maintaining effective levels of classroom and buildingwide discipline is hard work. There are certain approaches and components to student discipline that staff members must understand, accept, and embrace if they are to attain this critical goal. They must embrace the belief that developing positive relationships with students is an essential step toward establishing a structured and orderly classroom and building environment, as students will work to please adults whose actions make it clear that they respect and care for the students. Realizing that students learn what is taught and not what is announced, teachers must formally teach their discipline expectations just as they teach any content area of the curriculum. It is also imperative that teachers have a variety of immediate, meaningful, varied, and easy-to-implement consequences for students who fail to comply with the discipline policies and procedures. Finally, administrators and parents need to support teachers as they hold students accountable for their behaviors.

The goal of this book is to clearly articulate classroom and buildingwide discipline strategies that every teacher and every building can use today. It begins with components of classroom discipline and offers universal techniques for teachers. It then moves to buildingwide philosophies and methods of discipline.

The strategies in this book apply to all students, but they focus on what we call the “fence-rider kids.” Fence-rider kids, who make up 15 percent of all students, are the students whose behaviors are dramatically influenced by the discipline policies used in a classroom or a building. Curwin and Mendler (1988) refer to the 80-15-5 principle that exists in classrooms: 80 percent of the students consistently follow the rules, 15 percent occasionally break the rules, and 5 percent often break the rules. The 15 percent who occasionally break the rules are the fence-rider kids, and they can be our best-behaved or our worst-behaved students. They are the students who will behave perfectly in one classroom environment and then become disruptors in another, depending on the teacher's style and expectations. Their behaviors are malleable, reflecting the actions and reactions of their teachers. Our goal is to expand the repertoire of positive actions that teachers can take to influence these students' behaviors and consequently make a positive difference in their classroom environment.

Even though the concepts reviewed in this book apply to all students at all levels, we recognize that there are developmental differences among students at elementary, middle, and high school levels. Staff members must consider these differences as they reflect on how best to apply the principles and strategies to their specific situations and grade levels.

In the last section of the book are strategies for particularly difficult students, such as bullies and those with anger management issues, oppositional defiant disorder (ODD), or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). These are the 5 percent of the students that Curwin and Mendler (1988) refer to in their 80-15-5 principle. This group of students requires strategies and plans above and beyond what we normally use with the fence-rider kids. Although the techniques in the final section are recommended for students who have been identified as difficult, they can be effectively used with all students. This last section also discusses ways to respond to classroom disruptions and how to deal with major rule violations.

At the end of each section are reflection questions reinforcing major concepts. These questions can be used for individual study or as points of discussion with staff who are meeting to review and revise their discipline systems.