The problem of students misbehaving in the classroom is as old as school itself. However, disruptive student behavior has gotten worse.
A national survey by the American Psychological Association released last year found that one in three teachers reported at least one incident of verbal harassment or threatening behavior from a student, while one in four reported an incident involving a parent.
West Virginia teachers and staff are experiencing similar problems. The results of a series of focus groups last November and December conducted jointly by the West Virginia Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers West Virginia found that 37 percent of participants listed classroom discipline as the biggest issue facing public education.*
“Our classrooms and schools have far too many discipline problems,” WVEA and AFT-WV reported. “When students are ready to learn and teachers are ready to teach, classroom disturbances often impact the learning process.”
“Student outbursts occur far more frequently, more employees are being hit or kicked, and employees are spending more time dealing with the disruptions during each class period,” the report said.
Individually, teachers expressed frustration that, too often, they send a disruptive student to the principal’s office and ten minutes later they are back in the classroom. “Others assault employees and are back in class the next day without any discipline administered,” according to the report.
The disruptions interfere with learning, not only for the misbehaving student, but for the entire class. In addition, teachers get worn out dealing with the offenders. That drives teachers away from the profession and discourages others from entering the field.
A bill moving through the West Virginia Legislature could help. HB 2890 has passed the House and is in the Senate Education Committee. The bill specifies that if a student is kicked out of class, they cannot return to the classroom the rest of the day.
A student removed from class three times in a month is either expelled from school or sent to an alternative learning center. However, not every county has alternative education classrooms, and the ones that do are only for secondary level students, not misbehaving students from the elementary grades. WVEA and AFT-WV advocate alternative learning centers at all levels, including elementary.
The bill may need some additional work in the Senate. Some educators say they want more flexibility on the automatic suspension provision. Kicking a child out of school may have no effect on their behavior, especially if they are already disinterested in school or have little or no parental support.
West Virginia’s low test scores are well documented, and there is consensus that our public schools must do better. When WVEA and AFT-WV asked the focus groups, “What areas of support would you find most useful for your students to succeed,” 75 percent listed “student behavior” as their top choice.
The most disruptive students do not belong in the standard classroom. As the WVEA and AFT-WV concluded, “The least restrictive environment may not be the best for student learning.” The current inability to effectively discipline unruly students interferes with the rest of the students’ ability to learn and makes the teachers’ job even that much more difficult.