Ninth grade office discipline referrals: the critical role of teachers in addressing students’ social, emotional, and behavioural needs

ABSTRACT

Office disciplinary referrals (ODRs) during students’ first year of high school have been understudied despite research indicating they undermine graduation rates. Based on two cohorts of 9^th grade students from one high school in one American Midwestern state, trends in ODRs were analysed in relation to students’ and teachers’ ratings of students’ social, emotional, and behavioural needs. During a typical school day, ODRs steadily increased in the first two hours of the day, then stabilised between 10am and 2pm. ODRs also peaked on Wednesdays and in November, February, and April. Analyses comparing students without any ODRs to those referred once and two times or more showed that students’ self-rating of their positive social skills and teacher rating of problem behaviours were associated with lower likelihood of having an ODR. Implications for school supports to improve student experience during the first year of high school are discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Office Disciplinary Referrals
• high school
• transition
• social
• emotional
• behavioural needs
• teachers

Acknowledgement

The authors thank the school administrators, staff, and teachers who assisted in this study. We acknowledge the following research assistants who assisted with this project: Oejin Shin, Keaton El-Talabani, Hwayong Son, Regan Cunningham, Amber Phillips, Haley Scott, Jenna White, Sheryl Coyle, Alexus Hasler, Hwayong Son, Shongha Kim, Gaurav Sinha, Minh Dung Hoang Le, Paisley Steward, Katie Fairbanks, Lisa Whitecotton, and Jenna Mathews.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This study is supported by a grant from the University of Illinois School of Social Work Monkman Research Award (2017), University of Illinois Campus Research Board (#RB17057) and from the Spencer Foundation (#201800085) awarded to the first author. 

Notes on contributors

Kevin Tan

Kevin Tan is assistant professor in social work, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Caitlin Yore

Caitlin Yore was research assistant to Dr. Tan during the time of the project. After graduating with her masters in social work, Caitlin has been working as a school social worker.

Michaela Hillen

Michaela Hillen was research assistant to Dr. Tan during the time of the project. Michaela graduated with her masters in social work in the area of Leadership and Social Change. She is currently an associate IT specialist at the Grainger College of Engineering.