The Effects of Reduced Duration in-School Suspension on the Classroom Behavior of Elementary School Students

In-school suspension is one of the most commonly used disciplinary procedures in schools today. It enjoys broad support from administrators, teachers, and parents and has become a favored alternative to out-of-school suspension. Despite its wide-spread use, virtually nothing is known about its effec...

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Bibliographic Details
Other Authors: Jackson, Austin K. (Austin Kaye), 1978- (authoraut)
Format: Others
Language:English
English
Published: Florida State University
Subjects:
Online Access:http://purl.flvc.org/fsu/fd/FSU_migr_etd-3809
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Summary:In-school suspension is one of the most commonly used disciplinary procedures in schools today. It enjoys broad support from administrators, teachers, and parents and has become a favored alternative to out-of-school suspension. Despite its wide-spread use, virtually nothing is known about its effect on student behavior. Among the parameters of in-school suspension that have received little or no scientific evaluation, duration of assignment – an oft researched topic in the timeout literature – possesses particular practical, ethical, and legal implications. In this study, a within-subjects reversal design was used to compare the effects of short, 2-hour assignments to in-school suspension to more commonly used 2-day (12-hour) assignments on the classroom behavior of seven elementary school students. A visual inspection of the results revealed a reduction in participant classroom disruptive behavior and a corresponding increase in engagement immediately following in-school suspension for all participants. A small decrease in classmate disruptiveness and an accompanying increase in classmate engagement following participant suspension was also observed. Surprisingly, visual inspection of the data revealed no difference in participant or classmate behavior between in-school suspension conditions. The 12-hour condition, however, was associated with a 466% increase in lost instructional time over the 2-hour condition. Longterm behavior change was not achieved under either condition. Implications of these findings for the educational community are discussed. === A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Psychology in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. === Fall Semester, 2006. === August 1, 2006. === Student, Punishment, Timeout, Length, Duration, In-School Suspension, Behavior === Includes bibliographical references. === Jon Bailey, Professor Directing Dissertation; Bruce Thyer, Outside Committee Member; Ellen Berler, Committee Member; Frank Johnson, Committee Member; Tom Welsh, Committee Member.