
You Can't Make Me!
By Randy Sprick
Assuming you have determined that the student is truly choosing not to comply, the suggestion below may be useful.

You're the teacher. Your students are supposed to be working independently, and you notice a student who is off-task. Ryan is sitting at his desk drawing on his hand. You do the logical thing—walk directly to the student and quietly say, "Ryan, you need to get to work." Instead of beginning his assignment, however, Ryan looks at you and says, "You can't make me!"
Noncompliance—refusal to comply with directions—is one of the most frustrating and challenging issues that educators face, both in and out of the classroom. When a teacher or principal asks a group of students to perform a particular task and a student refuses...

Belton Independent School District
"In Belton ISD we believe every student counts. Foundations has given us the framework to organize our thinking so we can teach students exactly what we expect.
"Getting down and smelling the carpet (data analysis and improvement cycle) gives us the opportunity to make improvements that are meaningful to our teachers and students. We are impacting our community positively every day in Belton ISD."
—Sandra Velo,
Coordinator of Dyslexia and Section 504,
Belton ISD
The staff at Belton Independent School District, in Belton, Texas, had a vision of where they wanted their schools to be, but reality didn't reflect that vision. Student behavior was changing, and not for the better.
Buffalo Public Schools and BOCES 1
Buffalo Public Schools and BOCES 1 have collaborated on an article describing their Safe & Civil Schools implementation. The article, written by Theresa Schuta (Principal, South Park High), David Mauricio (Principal, Bennett High), and Sharon Comerford (Safe & Civil Schools Coordinator, BOCES 1), was published in the November 2012 issue of Principal Leadership. If you are a member of the National Association of Secondary School Principals, we invite you to login, read the article, and see how two inner-city high schools are making a difference.