Effective discipline: finding the 'place in the middle': how to change practices that aren't working and transform mental models that contribute to unacceptable behaviors.

Administrators often find themselves caught in the middle of a variety of situations. These situations might involve a teacher and a student, two students, two teachers, two employees or a teacher and a parent. Whatever the situation, the middle is usually an uncomfortable place, especially when it involves student discipline. We know that we must immediately do something to address unacceptable student behavior, but we often feel powerless, helpless and discouraged.

In this article we discuss how you can mitigate discipline problems, and introduce you to what we call "the place in the middle," which has the potential to change existing behaviors, unfreeze practices that are not working, and transform mental models that contribute to unacceptable behaviors and unsafe schools.

Rather than operating on the behavior/consequence model, we encourage administrators to examine their relationship-building skills and concentrate on enhancing trust, providing support, and ensuring that everyone is working and learning in a safe environment.

You can make a difference in the number of discipline problems and their severity. It may take more time than you anticipate, but the opportunity to change what happens at your site is there.

We consider relationship-building the most important and powerful aspect of leadership. Trust, support and safety all work in concert with one another and shape the relationships that you have with students, teachers, staff, parents and the community.

Once positive relationships are built, it is amazing what teachers and staff will do for you, for one another, and for the students and the school. Discipline problems decrease when a sense of trust permeates your site, when everyone feels supported and safe, and when everyone is focused and working toward the same goal--a productive and safe school.

Trust: Your main focus should be on developing and sustaining trust with all. According to Snowden and Gorton (2002), if there is a high level of trust, the leader can expect that members of the group will express their feelings, concerns, opinions and thoughts more openly. Conversely, if trust is low, members are more likely to be evasive, competitive, devious, defensive or uncertain in their actions with one another.

Trust is the key to cohesiveness in a group. Lunenburg and Ornstein (2004) indicated that trustworthiness may be the single most important factor in subordinates' judgment of a leader's effectiveness.

If you are not trusting and trustworthy, the probability is very high that you will not be successful at your site. Individuals will not approach you to ask for your assistance. Instead, they will stay away from you and go about their daily routine often in spite of you and what you are trying to do at the site.

However, once you have garnered trust and respect from those with whom you work, you can go about the business of shaping the school culture and crafting a shared vision with all constituents (Hensley & Burmeister, 2004).

Support: This goes hand-in-hand with trust. Teachers, staff, students and parents all expect to be supported, and know when they are not. Support is as transparent as trust; it's evident when it is present.

In trusting and supportive environments, communication is open, honest and free-flowing. Effective leaders are aware that there is a close relationship between trust and effective communication. They make a conscientious effort to talk to teachers, staff and students each day; they greet students by name.

We know an elementary principal who knows each of her 1,359 students by name. When we asked how she did it, she said she actually studied class rosters, memorized names, visited classrooms daily, and greeted students by name each time she saw them. Not surprisingly, her site has few discipline problems.

Communicate: We can't emphasize communication enough. Work as a group in determining what you collectively expect at your site. Involve all teachers, staff and students in the development of the site's expectations. Collectively identify acceptable and unacceptable behaviors and communicate them to all.

Expectations to guide behavior should be simple, well known, communicated and continuously reinforced (Ubben, Hughes & Norris, 2004). Once you have clearly delineated your collective expectations, it is then your job to be supportive of teachers as they teach and reinforce these expectations.

It is your job to be visible and let everyone know that you are concerned about their needs and well-being. The expectations of the people at your site demonstrate what you collectively value about discipline. They shape your school climate and define your school culture.

Safety: Everyone has a basic need to be safe. Purkey and Smith (as cited in Snowden & Gorton, 2002), stated that "common sense alone suggests that students can't learn in an environment that is noisy, distracting or unsafe."

Teachers, staff and administrators can't be successful if they do not feel safe. Trust and support enhance the feeling of being safe. Administrators must make sure that schools are psychologically as well as physically safe places.

Rembolt and Zimman (1996) indicated that "by tolerating violence we are telling students who feel entitled to be violent that we agree with them. Their attitude of entitlement and our attitude of tolerance toward it are part of the enabling system."

Both inside and outside of school, students learn things we do not want them to learn. We are often faced with the daunting task of helping students unlearn negative behavior. In addition, for some students, school may be the only place that provides structure, food, appropriate shelter from the elements, and protection from society, gangs and even family members. School for many is the only constant in their lives. For students, teachers and staff to be successful in school they have to be safe.

A place in the middle

Realistically, we know that some discipline problems are going to occur even if your focus is on trust, support and safety. We know that administrators will still feel caught in the middle, so we propose a new model to you.

One could suggest, as Vygotsky (1978) did with his "zone of proximal development" and Feuerstein (1980) did with his "mediated learning" that the middle is the place in which mediation, learning and reflection can occur.

In simple terms, societies and cultures seek to maintain themselves beyond the lives of the current inhabitants. Hence, we inhabitants of the society seek the place between the current condition and the desired condition to nurture pertinent knowledge and skills. It is in this place between what the learner already knows and demonstrates and what the learner does not yet know or demonstrate that the learning takes place.

Here is how this might work in a typical discipline situation: Susie calls her friend an insulting name; her friend complains to the principal; the principal tells Susie to apologize and never call her friend a name again. This is an efficient "behavior/consequence" model that removes the principal from the pesky middle position immediately, ready to go on to the next situation.

However, what if the principal were to stay "in the middle" for a little longer? Could this be a productive use of time? Consider a revised scenario in which Susie calls her friend an insulting name; the friend complains to the principal; and the principal takes the time to support Susie and her friend through some critical thinking about name-calling.

Perhaps the principal asks Susie to consider what she did that was problematic; why she did it; what the immediate outcome was; how she feels about what she did; whether she would do it again; what her alternative actions could be; and what the consequence should be, if any.

At first glance, we may say, "Fine, but Susie knows that name-calling is wrong. I don't need to take the time with this one." But does she understand what triggered her behavior? Does she know what her alternatives are? Does she have the internal controls to moderate her behavior? Teaching her how to navigate this situation helps her to develop the beliefs and values that prohibit name-calling and the skills to act upon those beliefs. Yes, it takes time, but if you don't take the time, Susie is likely to be back in your office.

Mediation, learning and reflection

We propose that administrators consider the rich "place in the middle" and use it effectively to achieve a vision of a school culture in which the human needs for trust, support and safety are met. Consider expanding the "behavior/consequence" model to a "behavior/middle place/consequence" model. The place in the middle is the place to focus on mediation, learning and reflection.

Mediation means using the place in the middle to gather and process pertinent information and to generate alternatives that can lead to changed behavior. Mediation involves listening, clarifying and posing questions designed to help the student think critically about her actions, and then scaffolding the student's thinking when she gets stuck.

Learning in this context occurs for the student as he or she works through the mediation with the administrator, processing the insights that emerge from the intervention, identifying alternative actions, and developing the skills necessary to act effectively next time. The administrator can learn how Susie views the world--what is important to her, how she sees things working, and what her role is in the world.

Reflecting on the mediation and learning processes enables those involved to see the large picture and identify the reasons for a student's behavior. Does Susie's event reflect the culture and expectations of the school? What did we both learn? How can the information gained through mediation with Susie mitigate her negative behaviors? How can I help Susie buy into the school's expectations?

"One size fits all" consequence

We know that consequences should fit the infraction in order to be successful. As you engage in the "place in the middle" dialogue, you will discover insights about consequences that may change the individual student's behavior.

The "one-size-fits-all" consequence may suppress behavior temporarily, but it rarely changes the behavior in the way that custom-tailored consequences can. For example, you may discover that Susie loves to perform. With this knowledge you may decide to have her write and perform a two-minute vignette that teaches the value of using kind language to younger students.

When we use the Susie example to illustrate this concept, we sometimes hear others dismiss it as too simplistic for "real" discipline problems, particularly those experienced in secondary schools. Our response is that relationship--building is critical to achieving a school--wide vision of trust and support, and creating a safe environment for learning together. Those relationships can be effectively nurtured during "the place in the middle" dialogues, regardless of the nature or degree of the problematic behavior.

Expect that there may be multiple discussions that extend to other support opportunities when the behavior has become a pattern. Sometimes a dialogue may seem fruitless, but it is a touch-point of human interaction for a student who may have few positive models. The goal is to begin a series of positive touch-points to change the behavior pattern.

A plan to proceed

The following points will help an administrator to begin using the "place in the middle:"

* Ask yourself every day what you are doing to work on trust, support and safety at your school. This will keep you focused on developing a climate where critical relationships can flourish.

* Recognize that in most situations there is a "place in the middle" where you can impact behaviors of students, staff, teachers, parents and community.

* Practice the skills of identifying the event; mediating, learning and reflecting on the event and its impact on the larger school vision and culture; and personalizing effective consequences.

* Teach faculty and staff about using the power of the "place in the middle."

* Communicate what you learn in each interaction with those who can build on the insights you have gained. For example, talk with Susie's teacher about what you have learned and support the teacher as she makes a plan to continue the dialogues as necessary with Susie.

As you begin to recognize the value of "the place in the middle," the frustrations evoked by being caught in the middle dissipate and allow hope and feelings of efficacy to reemerge.

References

Burmeister, L. & Hensley, P. A. (Sept./ Oct. 2004). "It's all about relationships." Leadership. Sacramento, CA: Association of California School Administrators.

Feuerstein, R., (1980). Instrumental Enrichment: An intervention program for cognitive modifiability. Baltimore, MD: University Park Press.

Hensley, P. A. & Burmeister, L. (March/ April 2004). "The artistry of communication." Leadership. Sacramento, CA: Association of California School Administrators.

Lunenburg, F. C. & Ornstein, A. C. (2004). Educational administration: Concepts and practices (4th ed.). Belmont, CA: Thomson Wadsworth.

Rembolt, C. & Zimman, R. N. (1996). Respect and protect: A practical, step-by step violence prevention and intervention program for schools and communities. Minneapolis, MN: Johnson Institute-QVS.

Snowden, P. E. & Gorton, R. A. (2002). School leadership and administration: Important concepts, case studies, & simulations, (6th ed.). Boston: McGraw Hill.

Ubben, C. U., Hughes, L. W. & Norris, C.J. (2004). The principal: Creative leadership for excellence in schools (5th ed.). Boston: Pearson.

Vygotsky, L.S. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes. (Cole, John-Steiner, Scribner, & Souberman, Eds.). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Phyllis A. Hensley is an associate professor, Department of Educational Leadership, California State University, San Bernardino ([e-mail]).

La Vern Burmeister is an educational consultant ([e-mail]).