THE EFFECTS OF TEACHING SCHOOL EXPECTATIONS AND ESTABLISHING A CONSISTENT CONSEQUENCE ON FORMAL OFFICE DISCIPLINARY ACTIONS

This study evaluated how establishing, reaching, and reinforcing schoo lwide rules and routines and systematically responding to disruptive b ehavior affected the number of formal office disciplinary referrals. O ne elementary school was studied over 4 school years. A continuous int ervention time series design was used, along with a nonequivalent comp arison group. Results revealed that actively planning for and establis hing clear standards throughout the school and having in place a syste matic response to disruptive behavior had positive effects. However, i t seemed that the systematic response to disruptive behavior may have played a key role in the decrease in the amount of formal office disci plinary referrals.