| Purpose. The objectives of this study were to determine: (1) teachers' desire for involvement in the formulation of student discipline policies, (2) teachers' perceptions of the effectiveness of student discipline codes, and (3) teachers' perceptions of the relationship between teacher participation in the development of student discipline codes and the administration of the student discipline program. An ancillary survey was conducted to determine the current status of discipline codes in each school district, the procedures used to develop the codes, and the manner in which teachers were involved in the process.;Data obtained were subjected to statistical analyses which included frequencies, chi-square tests, t-tests, ANOVA, the Cochran C test, and the Scheffe test. The significance level was .05.;Findings/Conclusions. (1) Discipline codes were used most often at the secondary level (92.9%), but they were used in elementary schools in most districts (71.4%) as well. (2) A committee process was used most often to develop codes (85.7%), and teachers were routinely involved in the process (100%). (3) A large majority of teachers (85.7%) desired direct involvement in the formulation of student discipline policies. (4) A moderate number of teachers (46.3%) considered discipline codes to be effective. (5) A very large majority of teachers (90.1%) believed that when teachers are involved in formulating discipline policies, they are likely to agree with and support those policies. (6) A moderate number of teachers (49.4%) believed that discipline codes assure that administrators will act on teachers' referrals, and a substantial number (74.1%) believed that written codes make administrators more supportive of teachers than if a code did not exist. (7) Significant differences in teachers' perceptions of student discipline codes are more often related to institutional factors than to personal teacher factors.;Procedures. The study was conducted in the fifteen public school districts of Delaware County, Pennsylvania using two researcher-developed instruments. The Student Discipline Codes: Superintendents' Survey was used to obtain information concerning the development/revision process. The Scale of Teachers' Perceptions of Student Discipline Codes was used to obtain personal teacher data, teachers' desire for involvement, and their perceptions of discipline codes. This Likert-type instrument was distributed to a simple random sample of 500 secondary school teachers. |
