Brief intervention to encourage empathic discipline cuts suspension rates in half among adolescents

TLDR

Rising discipline citations in K–12 schools and limited effective solutions have prompted concern, with prevailing theories attributing the problem to punitive policies, teachers’ interpersonal skill gaps, or students’ deficits in self‑control and social‑emotional skills. The study examined teachers’ mindsets about discipline. The authors implemented a low‑cost online exercise designed to foster an empathic mindset among teachers. The brief intervention halved student suspension rates over an academic year and suggests a paradigm shift in understanding and addressing discipline problems.

Abstract

Significance There is increasing concern about rising discipline citations in K–12 schooling and a lack of means to reduce them. Predominant theories characterize this problem as the result of punitive discipline policies (e.g., zero-tolerance policies), teachers’ lack of interpersonal skills, or students’ lack of self-control or social–emotional skills. By contrast, the present research examined teachers’ mindsets about discipline. A brief intervention aimed at encouraging an empathic mindset about discipline halved student suspension rates over an academic year. This intervention, an online exercise, can be delivered at near-zero marginal cost to large samples of teachers and students. These findings could mark a paradigm shift in society’s understanding of the origins of and remedies for discipline problems.