ABSTRACT
School discipline continues to be reported as one of the top concerns of educators and the American public (Elam, Rose, & Gallup, 1996; U.S. Department of Education, 1998). A recent study indicated that general education teachers reported on average that 1 in 5 of their students exhibited disruptive or off-task behavior and 1 in 20 exhibited aggressive behaviors to the point intervention was necessary (Myers & Holland, 2000). Data suggest that students in middle and high schools are even more at risk for encountering serious violence (Heaviside, Rowand, Williams, & Farris, 1998), with an estimated 16% of all high school students in this country involved in one or more physical fights on school property in the course of a year (Lockwood, 1997). Although the majority of students will not experience exceedingly violent or aggressive behavior, the frequency and intensity of these behaviors still disrupts and can overwhelm the process of schooling for all students (Walker, Colvin, & Ramsey, 1995). Teachers and administrators indicate that addressing school discipline issues is one of the single greatest demands on their time, citing that problem behaviors interfere with their ability to educate and are the most common reason for the removal of students from classroom and school settings (Hofmeister & Lubke, 1990; Todd, Horner, & Sugai, 1999;Walker et al., 1995).
