鈥淩-E-S-P-E-C-T: Find out what it means to me.鈥�
In schools working to reduce suspension rates, teachers could take a cue from Aretha Franklin: Considering how young people view respect can greatly improve classroom management, new studies show.
A one-time intervention to help teachers and students empathize with each other halved the number of suspensions at five diverse California middle schools, and helped students who had previously been suspended feel more connected at school, in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
鈥淐hanging the mindset of one teacher can change the social experience of that child鈥檚 entire world,鈥� said Jason A. Okonofua, a Stanford University social psychologist who led the experiments.
In- and out-of-school suspensions have come under increasing scrutiny as a discipline tactic. One recent study from the University of California, Los Angeles, estimates that because suspensions are so closely linked to later school dropout and referrals to law enforcement, cutting the 16 percent nationwide rate for all 10th grade suspensions by even 1 percentage point could save taxpayers $691 million over students鈥� lives.
In a series of experiments, the Stanford researchers found teachers often view respect in terms of cooperation and compliance. For students, respect involves 鈥渁 basic recognition of your humanity,鈥� Okonofua said, including remembering a student鈥檚 name (and pronouncing it correctly), not speaking down to students or embarrassing them in front of their peers, and expressing interest in their perspectives. Both college- and middle-school-age students reported losing respect for teachers who disciplined students in a dismissive or punitive way, and said that they would be more likely to misbehave in such a teacher鈥檚 class.
Feeling respected can change how hard students are willing to work in class, too.
In a separate series of experiments, Geoffrey Cohen, a Stanford professor of organizational studies in education, found that just a short, encouraging note on a highly marked-up essay could change the way students considered their teachers鈥� critiques. Adding a note saying 鈥淚鈥檓 giving you these comments because I have high standards and I know you can reach them鈥� significantly boosted students鈥� willingness to rewrite the paper: from 62 percent to 87 percent for white students, and from 17 percent to a 71 percent of black students.
鈥淭he simple act of answering, 鈥楧o you believe in me?鈥� can do wonders for a kid who believes he might not have a place in the class,鈥� Cohen said.
There鈥檚 a dark side to the results, though, Cohen added. 鈥淲hat does this say about the status quo? It is failing to provide kids with the affirmation that they could and should get to fulfill their potential,鈥� he said. 鈥淭his is not about giving the kid a note, it鈥檚 about changing the culture, providing opportunities for kids to feel valued.鈥�
Okonofua randomly asked veteran teachers to read one of two articles: One argued that good teacher-student relationships are critical for students to develop self-control鈥攁 statement aligned with what Okonofua calls an 鈥渆mpathic mindset鈥濃�攁nd the other argued that punishment is critical for a teacher to take control of a classroom, a statement aligned with a more punitive mindset.
Then, both sets of teachers were asked how they would handle minor middle school behavior problems, such as disrupting class to throw away trash. Teachers who had read about the importance of relationships were more likely to speak to the student privately about classroom rules and work to find an alternative solution. Teachers who read about control and punishment were more likely to threaten or dress down the student in front of others, send him to the hall or principal鈥檚 office, or call for a meeting with the student and his parents or an administrator.
鈥淥ur emphasis on teachers鈥� mindsets does not diminish the importance of punitive discipline policies; rather, it illustrates one reason why such policies matter,鈥� Okonofua said. 鈥淭hey create a context that discourages teachers from prioritizing building strong relationships with students at critical junctures.鈥�
Race and Respect
That鈥檚 important, because racial stereotypes can increase a teacher鈥檚 punitive mindset and escalate punishments. In prior studies, Okonofua and his colleagues had found that teachers are more likely to invoke stereotypes about students of color in response to minor behavioral problems. Teachers were asked to discipline minor behavior problems of middle school students with names associated with white or black children.
鈥淔or the first infraction, there was little difference in teachers鈥� response by race,鈥� Okonofua said鈥攂ut if, three days later, the student misbehaved in a minor way again, teachers were more bothered by the behavior and more likely to consider it part of a pattern by a 鈥渢roublemaker鈥� if the student had a 鈥渂lack-sounding鈥� name. Moreover, those鈥攎ostly white and female鈥攖eachers were more likely to recommend a severe punishment like a suspension for the behavior.
鈥淪tereotypes serve as glue, sticking otherwise unrelated behavior together to make it seem like a pattern,鈥� Okonofua said. 鈥淭he label 鈥榯roublemaker鈥� leads teachers to want to discipline students more severely, because they see the behavior as a sign of disrespect.鈥�
That could help explain why, in spite of a 20 percent drop in out-of-school suspensions nationwide since 2011-12, new federal civil rights data show racial disparities in discipline continue. Black students are nearly four times more likely to be suspended out of school than white students: While 6 percent of all K-12 students were suspended out of school in 2013-14, 18 percent of black boys and 10 percent of black girls were suspended, compared to only 5 percent and 2 percent for white boys and girls. Even in preschool, black children are more than three times as likely to be sent home for misbehaving than white children, federal data show.
Building Empathy
Based on the teacher study, Okonofua and his colleagues developed a professional-development workshop for teachers in five middle schools in three districts. Math teachers鈥攃hosen because math is a core subject and one associated with a high risk of stereotype threat for black and Latino students鈥攖ook part in one 45-minute, in-person workshop and one 25-minute, online exercise on ways to resolve misbehavior in class. Teachers were randomly assigned to either a control group or a training focused on how stress and insecurities that children develop during adolescence can make them detach or act out in school. The teachers also heard testimony from students, talking about how they felt more cared for and respected when teachers took the time to understand them during discipline, and they worked through exercises about empathetic rather than punitive ways to respond to rule breaking.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 think the concept of empathy is something new to many teachers,鈥� he said, but 鈥渢here are a lot of other factors involved. Teachers are stressed out, depleted, and they can tend to lose sight of the relationships they want to build with their students.鈥� The intervention is 鈥渃reating a way psychologically for that empathy to persist in light of stressful environments. It鈥檚 not that [empathetic] teachers just stop disciplining students. When they discipline, they ask the student why he or she is misbehaving and try to address the misbehaving in a way that addresses the behavior instead of the identity of the child.鈥�
In Okonofua鈥檚 study of 2,000 middle schools, students whose math teacher participated in the empathy training were half as likely to be suspended by the end of the school year than students whose teachers had not participated. The strongest effects were for students鈥攐ften black and Latino boys鈥攚ho had been suspended at least once in the prior year. In surveys a few months later, those same previously suspended students were also significantly more likely to report feeling that their teachers respected them if they had teachers who had participated in the empathy training.
鈥淭he most interesting and inspiring part is that we only intervened with one of the students鈥� teachers, and it affected their interactions with every other teacher. Just having one better relationship with a teacher at school鈥攋ust one鈥攃an serve as a buffer for all the other struggles and challenges at school,鈥� Okonofua said.
Geoffrey Cohen called this sort of intervention 鈥渘udge and flow鈥濃�攏ot an attempt to teach students or educators new skills, but to 鈥済ive a person encouragement at the right time to look at a context in the right way.鈥�
The researchers plan to repeat the study with a larger group of schools next year, as well as follow up in more detail on how students鈥� and teachers鈥� feelings of respect for each other change over time.
