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Teacher emotional factors influence the classroom environment. The purpose of the study was to examine the association of teacher emotional exhaustion and teacher efficacy with student office discipline referrals (ODRs), in-school suspensions (ISSs), and out-of-school suspensions (OSSs) using multilevel logistic regression models. The sample included 105 teachers and 1,663 students from nine elementary schools in the United States. Higher teacher emotional exhaustion was associated with increased use of ODR and ISS but not OSS. For students with teachers experiencing burnout, the odds of receiving an ISS increased by a factor of 1.74 (d =.31). Greater teacher efficacy was also associated with lower use of OSS but not ODR or ISS. The results suggest that improving teacher efficacy and reducing teacher emotional exhaustion may support the reduced use of exclusionary discipline practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing on the literature related to classroom management, and culturally relevant critical teacher care, and effective teaching for students of color, this paper uses interview and observation data to explore the perspectives and practices of two exemplary fifth-grade teachers who refuse to rely on punitive discipline with their students of color. Findings revealed that the teachers did not view students’ behavior as challenging – they viewed behavior simply as one of the many areas they believed it was their responsibility to teach. Their instructional practices focused on coaching students to reach their potential and liberating them from barriers that limit their access to successful life paths. The study helps both researchers and practitioners reflect on the concept that discipline assumes and provides portraits of teacher practice central to dismantling the school-to-prison-pipeline. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article discusses how teachers can manage to honor the needs of their students while at the same time sticking to uniform school discipline policies such as the zero tolerance policies. These policies initially obliged a 1-year mandatory expulsion for any student caught with a weapon on campus but were afterward changed to cover an array of other offenses.