Fistfights, name calling, classroom chaos, and students disrespecting each other and their teachers are everyday occurrences in many, if not most, U.S. public schools. Yet these antics are overshadowed by the myriad other woes plaguing K-12 education, such as low test scores, illiteracy, bizarre math curricula, CRT, social emotional learning, and LGBT indoctrination. Preoccupation with students’ gender preferences, including their preferred pronouns, sexual proclivities, and the status of their feelings, rule the day in many schools.

But as former teacher and author Daniel Buck pointed out in National Review on August 2nd, the gravity of classroom violence has reached alarming proportions, surpassing all else. He observed that “the dramatic turn toward lawlessness post-pandemic is perhaps the most consequential story in education that receives little to no coverage. We bicker about phonics or whole-language instruction, which books to read or banish from library shelves, whether Texas teachers can include the Bible as literature in curriculum — all the while teachers cannot maintain basic control of their classrooms, and students crack skulls on pavement.”

Buck describes the results of his contact with “almost 200 teachers” at the end of last school year, most of whom he says expressed a sense of “persistent anxiety” over the chaotic atmosphere they face on a daily basis, and noting that “the public doesn’t understand the crisis we are in.”

One female teacher described the situation at her school as “spiraling out of control ... students consider themselves to be the authority.” She claimed that in one year alone, she was called “more names” and had received “more threats than the previous twenty-six” years of her teaching career. Several teachers lamented that they didn’t know how their schools “would even function come September.”

Two surveys of teachers and other school staff, conducted in 2020-21 and one year later in 2022 by the American Psychological Association showed that while instances of violence and aggression were down during the COVID-19 restrictions, they quickly rose to pre-pandemic levels and higher after the restrictions were lifted. Reports of verbal abuse jumped from 65 percent before the pandemic to more than 80 percent, with 56 percent of respondents also reporting physical attacks.

Buck further notes: “Other representative surveys confirm that rates of violence directed at both students and teachers have doubled from pre-pandemic levels. Student behavior regularly tops the list of teacher concerns — over and above teacher pay — even on internal union surveys.”

‘Restorative justice’ to blame?

Proponents of traditional forms of discipline and those who favor leniency have been at odds for years. The Obama administration in 2014 threatened school districts with legal action if they disproportionately disciplined students by race, while some charter schools doubled down with a strict disciplinary philosophy called “No Excuses.”

Following the pandemic, most schools, including many charters, capitulated with progressives by adopting the “restorative practices” discipline method, also known as restorative justice. Vince Bielski of Real Clear Investigations described restorative justice in a 2022 article as intended “to curb suspensions and arrests that disproportionately affect students of color. It replaces punishment with discussions about the causes and harmful impact of misbehavior, from sassing teachers and smoking pot to fighting ... serious offenses like gun possession are still referred to the police.”

However, Bielski demonstrated that not all teachers and administrators bought into the restorative justice philosophy. “In schools struggling with low test scores and overcrowded classrooms,” he observed, “it seems like another time-consuming educational fad. And students who are demoralized by school sometimes see a restorative conversation as an easy way to escape suspension rather than a learning experience.”

In fact, Bielski reported, the method was caught “in multiple failures.” For example, after the Denver School Board, along with more than 30 other districts nationwide, ousted their school resource officers (SROs) in late summer 2021, violence erupted when schools reopened in the fall.

Bielski wrote:

• In just the first month of instruction, there were 102 student fights, 11 sexual assaults, eight assaults on staff, and 29 weapons violations, including four loaded firearms and a stabbing of a student with a knife, according to Boardhawk, a news website that covers the district. Michael Eaton, chief of the Department of Safety for Denver schools, warned that he’s never seen such a surge of crime in his 10 years of service.

Districts across the country ended up reinstating their SROs in response to the significant jump in assaults and threats.

The basis for restorative justice was alleged bias against non-white students, and while some subtle bias may exist, Bielski cited data that show “African American and Latino students get into more fights than whites and Asians.” He documented, for example, the results of a 2019 survey which showed that “American Indian students fought the most (18.9%), followed by blacks (15.5%), Pacific Islanders (9.1%), Latinos (7.8%), whites (6.4%) and Asians (4.9%)” and that “these differences have held steady over decades.”

Looking for answers

Canadian educator and director of the Schoolhouse Institute, Paul W. Bennett, acknowledged in a 2023 Policy Options Politiques article that “classroom management appears to be an ongoing issue in schools” in both Canada and the U.S. He noted that in the classrooms of today, “moving chairs, blurting out, walking around, jostling, checking cellphones, talking back, and walking in late have been normalized,” or, in other words, have somehow been found acceptable.

Bennett wrote that “while stories about school violence, drugs, and weapons attract the most public attention,” teachers more often face less serious but no less disruptive behaviors. He lamented that these types of disruptions “consume more than 80 percent of teachers’ instructional time.”

He explained that “school-wide positive behavior supports” and the “proliferation of restorative justice experiments” have undercut teachers, “making it more difficult to build a class culture of consistency, respect, and responsibility where misbehaving has meaningful consequences.”

Bennett aptly noted that “the primary role of the teacher has gradually shifted across the spectrum from ‘sage on the stage’ to ‘guide on the side’ to ‘peer at the rear.’” He believes the remedy is not “more progressive behavior strategies” but a focus on helping teachers manage their classrooms.

His article described some modest gains made in restoring order in United Kingdom public schools that he believes were prompted by teacher-researcher Tom Bennett, who “produced a ground-breaking report which provided teachers everywhere with a common sense, practical guide to creating a culture of mutual respect and good behaviour in the classroom.” The report was published in 2017 and can still be found online.

‘No Excuses’ model

For U.S. students, perhaps the most pivotal K-12 discipline model is “No Excuses,” which has been synonymous with some charter schools for approximately 30 years, the length of time charter schools have been in existence. This approach emphasizes a rigorous curriculum, classroom orderliness, and adherence to rules, with the goal of improving student achievement and preparing kids for college.

The concept driving No Excuses is that “every student, no matter what his or her background, is capable of high academic achievement and success in life,” a statement attributed to Stephen Thernstrom, a Winthrop Research Professor of History Emeritus at Harvard University.

No Excuses schools allegedly developed in the U.S. as the result of the landmark report A Nation at Risk, published in 1983 by the U.S. National Commission on Excellence in Education. The method was implemented by a group of teachers during the 1990s in newly established charter schools.

In June 2024, Vince Bielski penned another school violence-related article posing the question: “Can a return to traditional discipline save public schools?” He wrote that back in the ’90s, charter school teachers, including David Levin of the charter network KIPP, “brought together ideas from their experiences to fashion a new kind of urban school with a culture of high academic expectations and a precise set of rules and consequences to help students reach them.”

Persistent attacks by progressives charged that the No Excuses method was “racist” and should be replaced with restorative justice. Bielski says the moniker itself is now so controversial that many charters avoid using it, even while continuing its practices. “Other charter networks, like Achievement First,” he writes, “have completely abandoned the No Excuses model and joined the anti-racism crusade, only to see their performance plummet after ratcheting back discipline and lowering academic standards to ensure students pass courses and graduate.”

He adds: “Progressive educators who have embraced ‘anti-racism’ as their guiding principle over the last five years have assailed the charters, claiming they single out students of color for stern discipline. The rhetoric has been inflammatory, alleging that the charters ‘control black bodies’ and prepare students for prison, despite the high rate of No Excuses graduates who go on to college.”

While such criticism is demonstrably false, No Excuses leaders have admitted to some mistakes and are taking steps to become less rule-bound without sacrificing their mission of creating high expectations for student success. Doug Lemov, author of a popular No Excuses teaching manual entitled Teach Like a Champion, stated what should be obvious: “Equity for marginalized students starts with their high achievement in school.”

Daniel Buck pointed out in a Fordham Institute commentary that the No Excuses model has been used successfully for decades in Catholic and other religious schools. He wrote:

• No Excuses schools pair an academic ideal with excellence in curriculum and instruction. Administrations coach teachers constantly. Teachers review data to modify instruction. Curricula are sequenced, knowledge-based, and rigorous. These factors provide students a near-guarantee of reaching the ideal, so they’re less likely to reject it....

Buck observed that religious schools similarly “make their ideals clear, and all the teachers assume responsibility for shaping student character.” He believes this understanding of schooling and identity also informs the success of school choice. “Both families and teachers can opt into schools that align with their values or ideal education, and so schools have a stronger mandate to advance one coherent vision.”

With another school year beginning, many parents hope that not only will more of the No Excuses charter schools stand their ground and maintain their educational ideals and methods, but that district public schools will follow suit. As Daniel Buck stated in National Review: “...behavior is primary. Neither phonics nor whole language, Shakespeare nor Diary of a Wimpy Kid will matter a whit if little Johnny can’t even hear his teacher over the sounds of chaos in the back of the classroom.”

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