by Derek Viger

Created on: May 26, 2009   Last Updated: May 29, 2009

I read this post by Clay Burell at Change.org this last night. After reading the post I decided to let my thoughts marinate for a while. Clay wrote on a study showing how detrimental a single disruptive student can hold back a whole class.

from Change.org:

Obviously, if Teacher A has one or more disruptive students in a class, and Teacher B doesn't, this study suggests that the effects of the disruptors in Teacher A's class will degrade their grades come test time - and lead to Teacher A being labeled a "bad teacher." Teacher B, meanwhile, by the luck of the draw, will suffer no such handicapping come test time.

I wrote recently about the French film, The Class, which follows a class containing a disruptive student for months, and then shows the same class after that student had been expelled. The night and day difference in time-on-task and learning atmosphere is enough to make any democrat uncomfortable: we believe in equal education for all, yet a single troubled troublemaker can create unequal learning opportunities for his or her classmates, while the neighboring classrooms have no such handicap.

I had such a situation last year. A couple of students who, when they chose to come to class, sometimes came on time, sometimes with their course materials and homework, sometimes not. I finally decided to bar them from the class and send them to the principal's office for the duration, until they decided they could get their act together. I'm not saying it's the perfect solution, but it at least let me and the rest of the class learn in peace.

Wow! That was my first thought that night. This study totally turns a lot of what I believe on education reform on its ear. Those who read my blog know that I favor clear expectations and goals for teachers and students, accountability for those goals, and flexibility on how we get there. Literally one bad (maybe disruptive is a better word) apple CAN spoil the bunch.

If we base teacher, school, and district assessments on student testing (or grades) alone one disruptive student can skew scores dramatically. This "domino effect" as Ed Week put it can drop a whole classroom's scores, sending out a damaging ripple. That ripple can hit everything from a teacher's pay and or retention to a district's funding or a school's chances of being open.

Aside from its association with testing, how do we solve this issue so that the kids who want to learn can? Some schools have become almost afraid to discipline children. Of course

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