We believe:

• All people, young and old, regardless of race, class and culture, are worthy of dignity and respect.
• Misbehaving children are frustrated children.
• Punitive practices and systems work to the detriment of all young people and perpetuate a legacy of oppression and inequity.
• All people, young and old, are continually making decisions based on how their world is perceived (perception > interpretation > belief > decision (private logic)).

We expect students to become engaged at school and involved in the process of learning, so we will expand our tools beyond the traditional tools that are failing our students: in particular, they are failing students of color, students whose families are experiencing economic insecurity, and students who have had adverse childhood experiences.  

We expect our students to become useful, contributing members of society who treat others with respect and compassion and who model good problem-solving skills, so we will model adult responses to misbehavior (discipline) that do not result in our students experiencing public shame or humiliation.  

We expect students to stay calm and behave “appropriately”, so we will teach the necessary self-regulation and communication skills and provide opportunities for practice.  

We expect students to be collaborative and generous toward each other, so we need to shift our focus from individual work, intentionally teach collaborative skills and model collaboration with our colleagues. 

We expect students to do the right thing when no one is looking, so we will teach them the skills of self-reflection and invite them to grapple with how to decide what is right for them and how to stand up for what they believe in.  

We want parents to become engaged in a meaningful way, so we will offer meaningful opportunities for engagement and invite them to engage.  

We believe the role of discipline is to effectively engage young people and teach them the social skills necessary to contribute in useful ways. We believe that adults can have the most influence on the behavior of our students when we have an ongoing relationship founded on mutual respect (each person equally worthy of dignity and respect) and we teach into mistakes after all parties are calm. The most powerful tools for adults to use in this work are empathy, understanding the perspective of the student, encouragement, collaborative problem solving, and kind and firm follow through.  

We believe effective discipline:

• Helps children feel a sense of connection (belonging and significance).
• Is mutually respectful and encouraging (firm and kind at the same time).
• Is effective long-term (considers what the child is thinking, feeling, learning, and deciding about themselves and their world – and what to do in the future to survive and thrive).
• Teaches important social and life skills (respect, concern for others, problem solving, and cooperation as well as the skills to contribute to the home, school, or larger community).
• Invites children to discover how capable they are (encourages the constructive use of personal power and autonomy).

In our intentional efforts to meet these student expectations, we will shift away from traditional classroom management, which gives the teacher control, to a classroom leadership model, which empowers students to control themselves from within. Effective classroom leadership teachers are able to set clear limits and expectations and invite engagement in community and the process of learning. We call the set of classroom and school strategies that support this classroom leadership style “positive discipline”.  

Traditional discipline is based on the belief that the student behavior is motivated by students responding to rewards and punishments in their environment. The belief that students will be motivated by punishments and rewards stems from a belief that children do not know what is expected and/or they are not motivated to do what is expected without the reward or punishment. Punishment often stops misbehavior, but hardly ever motivates children to do better in the future.  

Positive discipline is based on our belief that student behavior is motivated by our students seeing a sense of belonging (connection) and significance (meaning) in their social context. We see each student as a unique human being with their own history of experience, culture, set of skills and ways of finding meaning in life. We believe that children do well when they can, and when they do not do well it is because they are dysregulated or are lacking a skill that allows them to do well. Behavior is a form of communication and is purposeful, and misbehavior involves a mistaken belief about how to find belonging/meaning. Students who are able to regulate themselves in stressful situations are able to be flexible, adaptive, creative, and appropriately responsive. Students who are not able to self-regulate, and students who have experienced trauma and have smaller resiliency windows, respond impulsively and in socially inappropriate ways when faced with stress.  

A core part of this work is teaching our students to self-regulate. When addressing a child that is not able to respond in a socially appropriate way, our job is to help the child define their concern, share our adult concern with the child and then work with the child to collaboratively identify a solution or solutions that will address both the child’s and the adult’s concerns. Solutions are reasonable, related, respectful, and helpful. All solutions are consequences, but not all consequences are solutions.  

Our work is grounded in current brain science regarding leaning and trauma informed practices. Specifically, we love Zaretta Hammond’s Culturally Responsive Brain Rules (Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain, 2018).

1. The brain seeks to minimize social threats and maximize opportunities to connect with others in community.
2. Positive relationships keep our safety-threat detection system in check.
3. Culture guides how we process information.
4. Attention drives learning.
5. All new information must be coupled with existing funds of knowledge in order to be learned.
6. The brain physically grows through challenge and stretch, expanding its ability to do more complex thinking.

Positive Discipline Guiding Principles

What it will look like when we are the school we want to be…

School-wide:

• There are systems for monitoring and learning from discipline data.
• Adults and students use data to improve school climate.
• Staff integrates knowledge of brain science in their teaching and relating to students.
• Every interaction in every part of the students’ day is an opportunity for learning (lunch, recess, hallways)
• Every space and activity has intentional structures and systems to promote social learning, self-regulation, and connection to the community.
• There are clear school-wide expectations.
• Adults and students will follow routines and agreements.

Every Adult:

• Understands that the quality of relationships and school climate are absolutely critical to successful student learning.
• Seeks to establish strong meaning and connection for students, families, and staff in social and academic contexts.
• Implements principles of mutual respect and encouragement.
• Knows that students’ brains differ in their capacity for self-regulation and response to stress; and has tools to help students learn these skills while maintaining the dignity of both student and adult.
• Focuses on long-term solutions to misbehavior at individual, class, and school-wide levels.
• Views mistakes as opportunities to learn & misbehavior as opportunities to practice critical life skills.
• Questions the tradition of adult control, rewards, and punishments.
• Is able to maintain clear boundaries, keep routines, and follow through in respectful ways.

Every student:

• Is welcome and knows that they belong and that they matter.
• Learns and practices self-regulation, communication skills, and problem solving.
• Is part of a community that regularly works together to solve problems.
• Engages in academic experiences that are relevant and challenging

Structures, routines, firmness, and follow-through are key! 

The structures, routines, and follow-through that adults maintain in a school create the regularity and predictability our students need to know that they are safe. We can do this without shaming, blaming, or humiliating anyone.

Resources

Positive Discipline: The Classic Guide to Helping Children Develop Self-Discipline, Responsibility, Cooperation, and Problem-Solving Skills by Jane Nelsen Ed.D.

Positive Discipline A-Z: 1001 Solutions to Everyday Parenting Problems (Positive Discipline Library) by Jane Nelsen Ed.D. and Lynn Lott

The Whole-Brain Child: 12 Revolutionary Strategies to Nurture Your Child’s Developing Mind by Daniel J. Siegel and Tina Payne Bryson

How to Talk So Kids Will Listen & Listen So Kids Will Talk by Adele Faber and Elaine Mazlish