Sometimes I check out /r/teachers to get an idea of what's going on in education. The general consensus is that behavior issues are completely out of control for a variety of reasons:
- Shortage of dedicated special education teachers
- Parents who won't discipline kids at home
- Top-down pushes from administration such as "restorative justice", "least restrictive environment", and a few other phrases that will make any classroom teacher's skin crawl
- Unwillingness from administration to apply suspensions or expulsion due to how this ties to school funding
- Lack of flexibility in the teaching job market due to teachers being a licensed profession and most states suspending a teacher's license if they quit mid-year, leaving apathetic teachers trapped in bad schools
- Attempts to discipline non-white students frequently resulting in accusations of racism, making it not worth the trouble
In the classroom, the end result seems to be that behavior meltdowns take up a disproportionate amount of a teacher's attention and they aren't empowered to deal with it, all at the expense of the quality of instruction for the rest of the students. The standardized test score metrics discussed here are a not too surprising consequence.
- Shortage of dedicated special education teachers
- Parents who won't discipline kids at home
- Top-down pushes from administration such as "restorative justice", "least restrictive environment", and a few other phrases that will make any classroom teacher's skin crawl
- Unwillingness from administration to apply suspensions or expulsion due to how this ties to school funding
- Lack of flexibility in the teaching job market due to teachers being a licensed profession and most states suspending a teacher's license if they quit mid-year, leaving apathetic teachers trapped in bad schools
- Attempts to discipline non-white students frequently resulting in accusations of racism, making it not worth the trouble
In the classroom, the end result seems to be that behavior meltdowns take up a disproportionate amount of a teacher's attention and they aren't empowered to deal with it, all at the expense of the quality of instruction for the rest of the students. The standardized test score metrics discussed here are a not too surprising consequence.