ABSTRACT
School discipline continues to be reported as one of the top concerns of educators and the American public (Elam, Rose, & Gallup, 1996 ; Rose & Gallup, 2006; U.S. Department of Education, 1998). For example, Myers and Holland (2000) indicated that general education teachers reported on average that one in five of their students exhibited disruptive/off-task behavior and one in 20 exhibited aggressive behaviors to the point that intervention was necessary. Data suggest that students in middle and high schools are even more at risk for encountering serious violence (Heavi-side, 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 disrupt and can overwhelm the process of schooling for all students (Walker, Ramsey, & Gresham, 2004). 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 the their ability to educate and are the most common reason for the removal of students from classroom and school settings (Miller-Richter, Lewis, & Hagar, 2012).
