In many districts and schools, the rates of classroom disciplinary referrals and suspensions are unacceptably high. Sub-groups of students may be disciplined disproportionately. Schools are often challenged by how to address high levels of classroom and public space incidents and unwanted behavior, and how to recalibrate their discipline and support models to increase student efficacy and success in school.
Engaging Schools collaborates with district leaders, school administrators, school climate-discipline teams, and school-based student support teams to engage in a rigorous assessment of their current systems. This partnership helps districts and schools make strategic changes in policies, systems, and practices that align with the school’s goals for discipline and student support. Engaging Schools aims to foster a schoolwide discipline and student support model that is fair, respectful, restorative, accountable, and viable.
Engaging Schools’ Schoolwide Discipline and Student Support services also include a focus on creating engaging classrooms. Our approach to instruction, classroom management, and discipline fosters academic, social, and emotional learning and development in all students, and establishes optimal conditions for learning.
As a result of multi-pronged changes, administrators, teachers, student support staff, and ancillary staff more effectively provide scaffolded academic and behavioral supports and interventions for all students, producing a reduction of unwanted behaviors and increased engagement.
For more in-depth information about Schoolwide Discipline and Student Support, click here.
For information about district Codes of Character, Conduct, and Support, click here.
Through training in Schoolwide Discipline and Student Support, teachers and school staff members learn how to:
- Organize and manage their classes for student success.
- Implement a preventative, problem-solving, and restorative approach to discipline.
- Manage an array of adolescent behaviors.
- Implement a range of research-based practices and instructional strategies to engage and inspire all learners.
Students whose schools use Schoolwide Discipline and Student Support:
- Move from being passive recipients of academic content to active learners.
- Learn the core habits of self-discipline, work and communication, and academic mindsets.
- Set goals, assess their own progress, persist in difficult tasks, and develop authentic strategies to tackle and master complex academic content.
When schools implement Schoolwide Discipline and Student Support, they gain:
- A more collaborative culture focused on systems change
- The capacity to foster a safe, caring and respectful climate
- A personalized, disciplined, and supportive learning environment
- Reduction and elimination of harsh, disproportional referrals and suspensions
- Confidence that that all students are treated fairly and equitably
- Family engagement strategies
Student Support staff learn:
- Ways to design a case management structure
- An integrated approach to providing academic and behavioral interventions
- Processes for collecting, tracking, and analyzing data
- A priority set of interventions to support students with high needs
“It is critically important to keep students, especially those facing inequality in other parts of their lives, enrolled in school. … The challenge is to find a way to address the situation with better practices, more alternatives, and more effective training of school personnel.”
Daniel J. Losen and Jonathan Gillespie, Opportunities Suspended: The Disparate Impact of Disciplinary Exclusion from School
Shifting Gears: Recalibrating Schoolwide Discipline and Student Support 
Getting Classroom Management Right: Guided Discipline and Personalized Support in Secondary Schools