Fair and Effective Discipline for All Students: Best Practice Strategies for Educators

Disciplining students, particularly those with chronic or serious behavior problems, is a longstanding challenge for educators. They must balance the needs of the school community and those of the individual student. At the heart of this challenge is the use of punitive versus supportive disciplinary practices. Though increasingly common in recent years, reliance on punitive approaches to
discipline, such as 'zero tolerance' policies, has proven largely ineffective, even counterproductive. This holds true both for general education students and those with disabilities. Current research and legislation offer alternative 'best practice' strategies that support the safe education of all students. Such effective discipline practices ensure the safety and dignity of students and staff, preserve the
integrity of the learning environment, and address the causes of a student's misbehavior in order to improve positive behavioral skills and longterm outcomes.