Misbehaviors poisoning the learning atmosphere in schools

NEW YORK — As parents send their children off for another school year, there is going to be a lot of talk about such issues as standards, testing, teacher quality and the No Child Left Behind Act. Important issues, to be sure. But what we often neglect to examine at back-to-school time are the underlying conditions in classrooms and hallways that are hampering efforts to raise student achievement. Beneath the surface, too many students are losing critical opportunities for learning — and too many teachers are leaving the profession — because of an unruly, disrespectful and sometimes violent atmosphere in American schools.

For years, Public Agenda has been asking teachers, parents, students and school leaders about what works and what doesn't in American education. Consistently, we hear that lack of discipline in schools is a real barrier to learning.

Our 2004 survey on school discipline confirmed again that parents and teachers want an orderly environment for their children and students. Virtually all public middle and high school teachers and parents say good discipline and behavior are prerequisites for a successful school.

However, 4 in 10 teachers have told us that in their schools, teachers spend more time trying to keep order in the classroom than actually teaching. That equates to thousands of hours of lost instruction time. More than 1 in 3 teachers said colleagues in their school had left because student discipline was such a challenge, and the same number personally considered leaving for the same reason. Many in the focus groups complained about being more in the "crowd control" business than in teaching.

Education policy leaders worry about the challenges of implementing higher standards and often bemoan the rate at which teachers leave the profession. Yet very few focus on order and student behavior — areas that time and again teachers identify as serious impediments.

To be fair, most teachers and parents believe their schools are responding well to serious criminal offenses involving drugs or weapons. But it is the bad behavior lower down on the continuum that is so pernicious, so corrosive. Rowdiness, disrespect, bullying, talking out, lateness and loutishness — these misbehaviors are poisoning the learning atmosphere in many public schools. One New Jersey teacher we talked to described it this way: "The gum chewing . . . the yawning aloud or putting their feet up on the desk . . . like they didn't know that was inappropriate."