As K-12 schools reopened for the 2021-22 school year, the state and local grantees that NCSSLE supports shared increasing concerns about the nature and frequency of behavioral incidents in schools. Student support professionals and educators described a significant uptick in disruptive behaviors in the fall 2021 semester, compared to pre-pandemic times. Teachers of younger students indicated that, developmentally, many seemed to be two grade levels behind in their social interactions and learning habits. Students whose learning had been mostly on-line since spring 2020 still seem to be struggling to share with one another, await their turns, and walk slowly in the hallways.
Disruptive behaviors can compromise safety in learning settings; but defaulting to punitive and exclusionary approaches to discipline can pose longer term threats to student success.
School behavior issues this year largely reflect stress the pandemic has placed on children, experts say, disrupting their education, routines, and social lives. One expert in Chicago explained, “For students dealing with grief, mental health issues, layered effects of poverty and racism, big transitions like the return to fulltime in-person schooling can be especially challenging.” As waves of COVID-19 variants emerge, generate great disruption, and subside, only to be followed by another, student support personnel and administrators, too, continue to experience extraordinary disruptions and stressors. Many seek assistance in the form of simple tips, ideas and strategies to help manage student behaviors. It is helpful to remind ourselves that proven strategies from the past can still be adapted to meet new challenges in today’s unprecedented circumstances.
