Date of Award

Fall 12-2010

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Educational Leadership and School Counseling

Committee Chair

Ronald A. Styron Jr.

Committee Chair Department

Educational Leadership and School Counseling

Committee Member 2

James T. Johnson

Committee Member 3

David E. Lee

Committee Member 3 Department

Educational Leadership and School Counseling

Committee Member 4

Gaylynn A. Parker

Committee Member 4 Department

Educational Leadership and School Counseling

Abstract

Providing a safe and orderly school environment for students to learn is of paramount importance to school administrators, teachers, students, and the general public; however, the learning process should not be compromised while trying to maintain such an environment. There are many alternative approaches that can be utilized that would rectify the problem we as educators face in providing a safe and orderly environment. At-risk students are usually the ones who have the most serious infractions. These students exhibit a cyclical pattern of recalcitrant behavior. It is imperative that these at-risk students be identified as early as possible, and intervention programs developed and implemented, to save them from becoming chronic discipline problems. By doing this, we can foster a safer environment in our school as well as our community.

Research has shown that there are successful ISS programs. Those programs must be properly implemented. Simply suspending a student is not the answer. It will take more than a suspension to correct the behavior and to prevent it from happening again. A successfully implemented program would not only be beneficial to school personnel but also to the community as well as its stakeholders. The researcher found that there was a discrepancy between administrators’ perceptions of their ISS program versus teachers’ perceptions of their ISS program. Teachers overall were dissatisfied with their ISS program. Further research should be done to pinpoint exactly why there is such a discrepancy. The purpose of this study was to investigate administrators’ and teachers’ perceptions of their ISS program in a school district. Data were collected through the use of a survey instrument completed by administrators and teachers during the spring of 2010. The results obtained from this study are to inform professionals of the alternatives to out-of-school suspensions.

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