Does Teacher Emotional Exhaustion and Efficacy Predict Student Discipline Sanctions?

Abstract

Teacher emotional factors influence the classroom environment. The purpose of the study was to examine the association of teacher emotional exhaustion and teacher efficacy with student office discipline referrals (ODRs), in-school suspensions (ISSs), and out-of-school suspensions (OSSs) using multilevel logistic regression models. The sample included 105 teachers and 1,663 students from nine elementary schools in the United States. Higher teacher emotional exhaustion was associated with increased use of ODR and ISS but not OSS. For students with teachers experiencing burnout, the odds of receiving an ISS increased by a factor of 1.74 (d = .31). Greater teacher efficacy was also associated with lower use of OSS but not ODR or ISS. The results suggest that improving teacher efficacy and reducing teacher emotional exhaustion may support the reduced use of exclusionary discipline practices.

Keywords:

• student discipline
• suspensions
• teacher emotional exhaustion
• teacher efficacy

Disclosure

No potential conflicts of interest were reported by the authors.

Notes

1 We control for intervention effects in all of the models used in the current study. For the current study, there were no statistically significant intervention effects for any of the outcomes (all ps > .10). We also ran the models for intervention and control samples; these results are included in the Appendix. However, based on half the sample, the study was relatively underpowered (power < .80) to detect effects.

2 As a robustness check, we checked the analysis by also removing the 49 students who had missing data at one time point and the results were similar.

3 As a specification check, we conducted the analysis in R (R Core Team, 2016) and results were consistent.

4 An option was to use a three-level model, but fixed effects models have the advantage of accounting for all variability coming from observed and unobserved variables (Huang, 2106; Murnane & Willett, 2011). Treatment (or intervention status) was also included in the model but was not of interest for the current article.

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by the Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education, through Grant R305A100342. The opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not represent views of the Institute or the U.S. Department of Education.

Notes on contributors

Colleen L. Eddy

Colleen L. Eddy, MA, is a fourth-year doctoral candidate in the Counseling Psychology program at the University of Missouri, Columbia. She is a senior graduate research assistant with the Missouri Prevention Science Institute. Her research interests are reducing stress and improving coping for teachers and systemic interventions for youth mental health.

Francis L. Huang

Francis L. Huang, PhD, is an associate professor in the Statistics, Measurement, and Evaluation in Education program in the College of Education at the University of Missouri and the methodology director of the Missouri Prevention Science Institute. His research focuses on both methodological (e.g., analysis of clustered data) and substantive (e.g., school climate, bullying, disparities in disciplinary sanctions) areas of interest.

Daniel R. Cohen

Daniel R. Cohen, PhD, MPH, is an assistant professor of school psychology at the University of Alabama. He completed his doctoral degree in school psychology at the University of Missouri and his master of public health degree at Johns Hopkins University. His research interests include educational equity, school mental health, and behavioral assessment.

Kirsten M. Baker

Kirsten M. Baker, BA, is a second-year doctoral student in the School Psychology program at the University of Missouri, Columbia. She is a graduate research assistant with the Missouri Prevention Science Institute. Her research interests include an ecological approach to classroom management and the classroom environment.

Krista D. Edwards

Krista D. Edwards, BA, is a second-year doctoral student in the School Psychology program at the University of Missouri, Columbia. She is a graduate research assistant with the Missouri Prevention Science Institute. Her research interests explore protective and resilient factors Black youth maintain, racial and ethnic identity outcomes, and social emotional interventions for students.

Keith C. Herman

Keith C. Herman, PhD, is a professor in school and counseling psychology at the University of Missouri. He has published over 110 peer-reviewed papers on school mental health and promoting nurturing environments at school and home.

Wendy M. Reinke

Wendy M. Reinke, PhD, is a professor in the Educational, School, & Counseling Psychology Department at the University of Missouri, with primary research interests in training and supporting school personnel to deliver effective practices with a particular interest in personnel use of evidence-based social behavioral and emotional interventions. She has co-authored seven books, 11 chapters and over 90 peer-reviewed publications related to prevention of social emotional and behavior problems.