Community Building: A Positive Approach to Discipline in Schools. Sharing Ideas.

This monograph proposes an approach to discipline that emphasizes school community building and offers examples from the Kendall Demonstration Elementary School (KDES) and the Model Secondary School for the Deaf (MSSD), both in Washington, DC. Following discussion of the problem of violence in today's schools, the paper addresses the importance of developing students' emotional, interpersonal, and intrapersonal skills; of developing students' work skills; and of encouraging parent participation. Suggestions for schools focus on practices at KDES and MSSD, where the emphasis is on building a school community with a caring and cooperative environment. Strategies used in such schools include identification of community building goals; development of a community building mini-manual at the MSSD; the Enhancing Student Success Program, an alternative to suspensions; identification of expected student outcomes; and a positive discipline program that offers teachers strategies for classroom behavior management. The slogan, "It All Connects," and four classroom examples illustrate how these principles and strategies have been applied at KDES. Eight specific suggestions for teachers are offered. An appendix provides further detail on community building at these two schools. (Contains approximately 50 references.) (DB)