DO'S AND DON'TS OF WRITING STUDENT REFERRALS

Are you frustrated by the way your teachers and staff fill out student discipline referrals?   Do you feel like you are constantly talking to them about what should or should not be written on a referral?  Tired of handing a referral back and asking the person to re-do it?  How about getting a written referral on a student three days AFTER the incident???

As principal, I was very frustrated with the high number of referrals that were written by my faculty and staff members for what I would consider "petty" infractions, the mean spirited or even sarcastic nature of what was written on a student referral by adults, and that staff members would even write the disposition they felt was appropriate on the referral - as if telling me what they felt the student "deserved" as a "punishment."

I was looking for a way to communicate my expectations to my faculty and staff regarding student discipline referral writing without coming across as confrontational or not supportive of their needs.  I recognized that they may not know what was appropriate to include on a referral form, why timeliness in submitting referrals to the office was so important, and what MY expectations were for THEIR role in the process (i.e. all teachers have an established classroom management plan that is consistently implemented and that parent contact is a part of that plan).

So I created an infographic and decided to allocate 15 minutes at an upcoming faculty meeting to discuss student referral writing expectations with my staff.  I handed an infographic out to every teacher, teaching assistant and staff member.  The result over time?

• Clarity in what my expectations were regarding this process and the role referral writing plays in actually changing student behavior.
• A decrease in the number of referrals written (teachers started handling more of their own discipline in their classroom).
• More accurate descriptions written about an incident and less judgmental or negative language used.
• Increased parent contact made directly by teachers as opposed to simply "dumping" an issue on the principal in a referral and me having to research the issue and notify the parent.
• A positive change in our school culture over time as we continued to discuss the ways by which we addressed unwanted, unproductive, and other student behaviors that may result in a student discipline referral being written.