Quality Counts 2013: Code of Conduct—Safety, Discipline, and School Climate

The full Quality Counts 2013 report

A collaboration between the Education Week newsroom and the Editorial Projects in Education Research Center, Quality Counts 2013 investigates the impact of a school’s social and disciplinary environment on students’ ability to learn and on the teachers and administrators tasked with guiding them. The report’s journalism takes an in-depth look at a range of school-climate factors—including strong and positive peer interactions, a sense of safety and security, and school disciplinary policies and practices—that help to lay the groundwork for student achievement.

To complement the reporting, the EPE Research Center conducted an original survey of more than 1,300 educators, who shared their insights and opinions on school climate and discipline in their schools. Highlights of the study are featured in the report.

The Code of Conduct—Safety, Discipline, and School Climate report examines the impact of a school’s social and disciplinary environment on students’ ability to learn and on the teachers and administrators tasked with guiding them. Education Week journalists take an in-depth look at a range of school-climate factors—including strong peer relationships, a sense of safety and security, and school disciplinary policies and practices—that help to lay the groundwork for academic success.

Quality Counts 2013 also features highlights from an original study by the Editorial Projects in Education Research Center, which includes a survey of more than 1,300 school-level administrators and educators who are registered users of edweek.org. Respondents shared their firsthand insights and opinions on a range of issues related to school climate and discipline in their schools.


Key Findings

School climate emerges as a leading factor for promoting educational success, cited by a large majority of school-level administrators and teachers.

_ Overall, 74 percent of respondents report that school climate is “very important” to student achievement.

_ A majority of respondents also cite school safety (64 percent) and school discipline policies (53 percent) as “very important” factors for student achievement.

_ Teaching quality was identified as the leading factor (among those presented) for promoting achievement, cited by 92 percent of respondents as “very important.” Only 38 percent of respondents consider family background to be “very important” for student achievement.

_ School administrators and teachers generally express similar views on the importance of school climate, discipline, and safety for educational success.


Opinions are split regarding the effectiveness of common methods for addressing student misbehavior. The EPE Research Center asked respondents to rate a set of five—largely punitive—disciplinary-referral strategies or approaches.

_ Both administrators and teachers tend to report greater levels of support for less severe (i.e., less punitive) disciplinary options.

_ In-school suspensions are considered effective by three-quarters of respondents, while more severe out-of-school suspensions received support from fewer than half of respondents (76 percent versus 46 percent of respondents respectively).

_ Fewer than half of respondents believe that “zero tolerance” policies and expulsions are effective (48 percent and 41 percent of respondents respectively).

_ Teachers are somewhat more likely to view punitive disciplinary approaches as effective ways to address student misbehavior, compared with school administrators.

Schools are pursuing a range of strategies for improving student behavior.

_ About 80 percent of respondents report that their schools have adopted some type of concerted approach to managing student behavior.

_ The majority of educators surveyed (53 percent) report using a schoolwide behavioral-management program (such as Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports, or PBIS).

_ Thirty-five percent of respondents report using social and emotional learning initiatives; 21 percent are using restorative practices.

_ More than half of respondents report that their schools have used multiple strategies.

Poverty levels have a strong influence on educators’ views of school climate conditions. The EPE Research Center compared results for groups of respondents based on the percent of low-income students served by their schools.

_ Educators from low-poverty schools (25 percent or fewer low-income students) reported consistently more positive school environments than respondents serving student populations with moderate or high levels of poverty.

_ Eighty-three percent of educators in low-poverty schools report that students and staff feel safe, compared with 46 percent in high-poverty schools (those with more than 75 percent low-income students).

_ Educators in low-poverty schools are roughly twice as likely to feel that their school’s climate is conducive to teaching and learning or that it fosters social and emotional well-being.

_ Educators in low-poverty schools are four times as likely to report that students are well-behaved, compared with high-poverty schools (58 percent and 14 percent respectively).

Differing perspectives emerged between school administrators and teachers, with regard to some key discipline and climate issues. The EPE Research Center performed a special series of analyses to compare the views of principals and other school administrators with those of teachers (including instructional specialists).

_ Teachers are twice as likely as administrators to report that their schools devote insufficient attention to students’ social and emotional development, compared with the emphasis on academic skills and content knowledge.

_ Forty percent of teachers indicate that there is too little attention to social and emotional development, compared with only 18 percent of principals and other school administrators.

_ Administrators provide consistently more positive assessments of school-climate conditions, across a range of indicators.

_ Seventy-seven percent of administrators “strongly agree” that their school’s climate is conducive to learning, compared with less than half of teachers (48 percent). Administrators are twice as likely to “strongly agree” that students are well-behaved (60 percent of administrators versus 28 percent of teachers).

_ Teachers report feeling less supported (than do principals and other administrators) by parents and the school administration when managing student behavior.