- The cultural imperatives, real or fake?
- Six-step discipline. Does it work or is it a joke?
Discuss.
Don't forget to email your IPS inside scoop to ipsbs@hotmail.com. School will be starting soon and we need to let the public know what's going on behind closed doors.
Six step is a joke.
ReplyDeleteFirst the form is way too long and asks too many questions, the form needs to be simplified. One of the questions really bothers me, "who else was involved". I only punish or discipline students for what they did. I want to stress personal responsibility, so I am only concerned with what you did, how you reacted.
The other issue is that it is not clearly explained to the staff. The deans don't even look at steps one and two, those steps are nothing but record keeping steps, and they need to be done.
I've has kids with over 40 referrals and nothing has happened to them. I am not speaking of punishment but some type of program or group to deal with the social emotional problem that hinder students ability to learn.
Discipline needs to be a team approach, teachers, deans, social workers, and parents. Many of our students suffer from what I term OGTSD, On Going Traumatic Shock Disorder. It manifests it self in many ways.
I've had a thuggy boy weep when he told me that someone was shot and killed in front of his house. More students then I can count tell about relatives and friends dying in violence. Even though this problems is a rampant we don't do anything about it, except wonder why these kids have such a hard time learning.
I realize someone must be compiling the data, what is the result?
The six step process is based loosely on School Wide Positive Behavioral Support (SW-PBS) which Dr. White brought from MSDWT. SW-PBS is a good idea when EVERYONE is on board and has received the training on how and why to implement. Too few of the deans in IPS know the details or information on the hows and whys of the referral.
ReplyDelete10:26a.m--
ReplyDeleteYou are so right! I am trying to figure out how to send some private info to IPS-BS that involes this very subject and how poorly it was followed by our principal. I REALLY need my job!!
Six Step Discipline is not viewed consistently by the Principal at each school building. I had several students who had 3 pages of write-ups relating to discipline problems inside and outside the classroom and they were never reprimanded or suspended. Some students should have been sent to alternative school or even jail for some of the discipline referrals that were on their behavioral logs. This six step discipline is a joke and the students even know it is, because I had one student tell me " nothing is going to happen to me". Students are not held accountable for their rude and disrespectful behavior and as a result they have no consequences for their inappropriate actions!
ReplyDeleteI have seen students with 25 or more lever 4 or 5 referrals, with over half that the Deans office has not taken any action on. The only way that I got any action on referrals that I have written was to keep calling the Deans Office until they would do something. By this time up to 2 weeks may have passed. The Six Step Discipline program is one of the biggest jokes in IPS
ReplyDeleteSix-step discipline is a total joke and the students know it! I have had students in my classroom ask me point blank-Why isn't so and so getting suspended? If you are going to let him do what he wants, then I am going to do the same thing. After a period of time, the principal I worked with started to outright lie on the referrals stating that a conference had been held between the administrator & student, administrator & parent,etc. The trouble was our administrator forgot we talked to parents also and we became very disheartened when they said they had received no phone call. This person went as far as marking suspension on the referral and the student would be in the classroom the next period and day. To be honest, I think most principals don't know what to do with some of these kids.
ReplyDelete12:45 "To be honest, I think most principals don't know what to do with some of these kids"
ReplyDeleteYou're right on that one, and now Bennett thinks they need less training not more. You could study effective school discipline for a lifetime and still not know everything there is to know. Instead of trying to learn more or experiment with different stategies we'll just continue to push out students who won't confirm.
I'd say we push out half the students we don't graduate rather then the official line that they drop out.
About the cultural imperatives--in theory, they are excellent, but how much are they praticed. The first year Dr. White came, I really liked the invitational practices because I remember a time walking in the HR office with mountains of applications on the counter, the floor, against the wall and the staff dividing up their take-out orders. Fifteen minutes went by before anyone asked to help me. "Children first...," I truly believe in and practice everyday however,I think because of the turmoil in IPS now, the big bosses have forgetten about it.
ReplyDeleteSix-Step is a joke. The only people who like it are the kids. God forbid you tell Gene White it does not work.
ReplyDeleteThe Six-Step Discipline Procedure is a sound process and should work; however, the breakdown in its efficacy originates at the Behavior Dean's Office in every IPS high school. As an aside, I'm truly hoping Dr. White's young son, Reginald, who was recently hired as a Behavior Dean at Tech will follow the procedure as it's written and intended.
ReplyDeleteIf the Behavior Deans do not understand the process, do not wish to follow the procedures, and do not intentionally follow-up on the teacher-submitted steps/referrals, then the Six-Step Discipline Procedure is a lost cause. At present, I do not know of one IPS high school where the Six-Step Discipline Procedure is implemented as intended!
4:54 You must be in some supervisory role to understand what is suppose to be done, can you explain where there is a break down communications? The dean's I have worked with only have one tool, suspension. As the old saying goes when all you have is a hammer everything looks like a nail.
ReplyDeleteWhy hasn't the administration done something about this, as bad behavior and missing school due to suspension certainly disrupts the educational process?
Re: 5:12 PM
ReplyDeleteI'm 4:54 PM. I'm not an administrator, but I'm not a classroom teacher either. I'm one of those in-between people who's in all the high schools.
Any program such as the Six-Step Discipline Program is only as good as it's implemented following the intended procedures. Currently, these procedures are followed in a hit or miss fashion.
The Behavior Deans are overwhelmed with behavior referrals from classroom teachers. Many of these referrals are not made Online following the Six-Step plan. That is the teachers' fault unfortunately. Many of our fellow teachers simply tell a student to 'get out' and 'go to the Dean's Office' with no paperwork, with no Online referral, and with no reason other than the teacher said so. This does not work.
The Six-Step plan is intentional from both the teacher's input to the Dean's input. As a teacher, I MUST be faithful in recording each and every referral Online before or soon after the behavior occurs in my classroom. If I input the behavior Online, then I've done my part. After that, unfortunately, it's out of my hands.
Although I'm not presently a classroom teacher, I still continue to record behavior referrals Online on the Six-Step plan. Yes, I notice that usually nothing comes of my referral, but I can rest assured that I've done my part.
So, at the end of the day, let all teachers go to bed knowing that we've followed the Six-Step Plan and then rest for the night knowing that we've done all we can do. If the plan does not work, then please know it's not our fault.
If we don't see immediate results from using the Six-Step Discipline plan and recording the behaviors Online, then we should remember that at least we've developed that all important 'paper trail' that ultimately will be reviewed, if and when, that student does something so egregious that warrants expulsion or an alternative placement.
ReplyDeleteWithout that important 'paper trail' of misbehaviors, then it's next to impossible to have a student receive an alternative placement. The adjucator reviews the Online referrals as a point of reference for alternative placements. This person reads each Online behavior referral carefully. If we don't post those referrals Online because it takes too much time or we don't know how or we think no one reads them, then we end up shooting ourselves in our feet, so to speak. Plus, the student does not receive the alternative placement that just might help him or her.
Keep on posting those Online referrals! Don't worry about what happens from the Dean's Office. Do your part.
Culture Imperatives!?!?
ReplyDeleteActually I was really impressed by the "Clear and concise communication" imperative. Truly, I was hoping that particular imperative would be followed.
I've not seen any improvement in communication; clear, concise, or otherwise.
I'm told of summer trainings less than a week before they are to occur. Or, worse yet, I learn of trainings from others outside my building. My principal does not forward information that is sent from the Ed Center which is intended to be forwarded to all the staff. My emails to administrators frequently go unread. (I check under 'Properties' to see if the emails are read.)
Most of the students who were referred to an Alternative Placement last year will be returning to their boundary school this fall; however, while they were warehoused at an alternative program, do not expect that any academic learning took place. The returning students will be below grade level, even if they left the boundary school at grade level. So, one of the main reasons for acting out - student acts out in class to cover up the fact they cannot do the classwork, will take place again this year and perhaps an Alternative Placement will be made again. The student continues to fall behind and we end up with 16 year old 8th graders. We need true alternative placements - perhaps with a two year term, or a discipline plan that holds students accountable and responsible for making the situation right.
ReplyDeletePostcard arrived in the mail today saying we have a tentative agreement. Anyone heard any more than that?
ReplyDeleteNope, nothing about the agreement, nothing on the website. A session to explain the agreement is scheduled for Friday - August 7th at Tech High School, one session at 12:00, another at 2:00.
ReplyDeleteDr. White will not allow building administrators to follow the six step disciplne policy. It was only for show for the public and the media. It is a major joke.
ReplyDeleteHow about some real diagnostics done on students who are not succeeding. Then placement in programs that address their problems.
ReplyDeleteWe lose a lot of young mothers yet we don't have a single school that offers on site day care. I've taught in two other inner city districts and both offered this service, in fact the daycare was actually a lab for child development classes.
One thing about the 6 step discipline plan I have noticed is that many teachers at the elementary use the whole system incorrectly. Instead of recording students misbehavior starting at Step 1, then the next referral at Step 2, next at Step 3, etc., most teachers think of the steps as LEVELS of eggregiousness. For example, a student who says the F-word in class many teachers put as a Step 4 because they think it is a bad enough offense that is deserves to go straight to the principal. When in reality, it should only be a Step 4 if they have already had referrals for Step 1, 2, and 3. Of course, there are certain offenses that the plan says allow you to skip steps but I have many students written up at Step 4 offenses for something like cursing and they have never had any other referrals. Again, teachers don't all understand or agree on how to use it therefore it is not very successful But at least it is giving us a paper trail. And I will say that when my school ran our referral data recently, we were able to see obvious trends in our students misbehavior. We were surprised to learn that over 75% of our referrals were coming from the busses!!
ReplyDeleteI feel the frustration of other teachers not submitting their referrals, but there are instances when child must be removed immediately and contrary to popular belief teachers must continue teaching. Meaning we may not get to the write-up until later. I would appreciate some "trust" from dean that I sent the child out for valid reasons and when done teaching I will put in referral. And has anyone mentioned the number of disconnects when trying to reach parents? All done during our lunch or after school. Also,my poster of cultural imperatives has a statement of-"teachers are the only ones following these" oopsie I might lose my job. A lobotomy seems to happen to those that get sucked into downtown. There is a fine line between jail and a promotion to the central office- anybody else notice that?
ReplyDeleteWhen I read the posts on this thread it suddenly dawned on me what has happened. Dr. White rolled out the six step process. Remember "teacher this will be your year, your going to be able to teach".
ReplyDelete1. He either had no real idea how bad the behaviors of student were, or just wanted to look like a tough guy.
2. No one (deans, teachers, or principals) was ever trained on six step (failure to plan is a plan to fail) so it has become a joke.
3. The first year the alternative programs were swamped with students, even no it takes months to get a student ajudicated.
4. It wouldn't hurt to get a real teacher to ajudicate these students, instead of someone who has never been in the classroom.
5. The uniforms in the high school are the cause of probably half of the discipline problems, and have their own six step process, which also is never followed consistantly.
As a side note, even if the dean/principal is present and observe the event write the student up on line, you need a paper trail, and often the dean will simply suspend the student, and later has no recollection of what happened. This happened twice to someone I know.
I am not in an elementary school so I am not sure how teachers are using the referrals, but even if the student uses the F word the first step is for the teacher to deal with it. When a teacher hands off discipline they are giving away their power. Call the parent, and even if you know that word is common place in the home emphasis that this word is not acceptable at school, nor would it be at a place of employment. Get the parent on your side, the side that wants the kid to grow up and have success. Buck up people, don't be afraid of the parents. And administrators think back to the safety presentation expert the system brough in two summers ago; don't let parents abuse your staff.
ReplyDeleteI agree that the six step process is a joke. The principals don't follow through because they will get marked unsatisfactory on their evaluation if they have suspended to many students.
ReplyDeleteThere has to be an effective punishment that does not involve suspensions. It should be a priority to discover what that is, kids only do what works for them, so the negative behavior must work for them, we have to make it stop working.
ReplyDeleteSuspension, while it is a relief for the teacher and the motivated kids in the class, is nothing but a vacation for the kid. You can't even count the absences against the kid (double punishment) and they are suppose to make up the work but only one kid has ever done that in my classes.
All those brains and all that money downtown and they can't come up with something? And what about the SBDM's they could try something too. Deans and administrators should host detentions every day, their work hours are longer so they could do it. Say to the kids "you waste our time with your foolish behavior, now we are wasting yours".