Middle School Discipline: Its Affects and The Perceived Impacts of Alternative Intervention Programs.

Source: (2010) Dissertation submitted for the degree of Doctor of Education. Northcentral University.

In New York City, middle school educators experience student behaviors that adversely affect the school environment and academic achievement. These middle school teachers indicate that the current traditional measures used to address these issues are ineffective. As a result, there is now an appeal from these middle school teachers to institute new and innovative strategies to address these discipline-related concerns. The two main issues addressed by the current qualitative research were: (a) the student-related behaviors that led to the labeling of some New York City middle schools as impact or persistently and potentially dangerous schools; and (b) educators’ perceptions of the positive effects of non-traditional or alternative discipline intervention measures on students’ behavior and academic achievement. A total of 129 New York City middle school educators were selected through convenience and purposeful sampling. (Excerpt).