ABSTRACT
Existing research has unequivocally demonstrated that using punitive behavior management strategies is ineffective in reducing disruptive behaviors and actually worsens students’ behavioral functioning and educational performance. Moreover, the use of punitive strategies damages student-teacher relationships and overall school climate for students who are the recipients of these ineffective practices and for students who observe them. Racial disparities impart further inequity in behavior management, producing a discipline gap in which Black and African American youth are subjected to significantly higher rates of punitive discipline for the same behavioral infraction as compared to their White peers. Reasons for the chronic overreliance on punitive discipline are multiply influenced. Although these reasons may originate from broad societal and cultural inequities, challenging and dismantling them remains a primary responsibility of educators. This chapter supplies a glimpse into the challenges of teaching and describes salient proximal contributors to the discipline gap, followed by our proposed solution to this crisis. Pathways forward offered are supporting students’ positive behavioral development and resilience, providing adequate teacher behavior management training and support, and reducing counterproductive interactions between teachers and minoritized students.
