This school year, students nationwide have been filmed swearing at teachers, flipping over desks, and committing physical violence. Poor behavior in schools is not new, but educators’ testimony and data confirm that student behavior has deteriorated since the Covid pandemic. A 2022 EdWeek article reported that 44 percent of school-district leaders said they received more threats of violence from students now than in fall 2019, and that “two out of three teachers, principals, and district leaders” noted more misbehavior from students compared with 2019. Though bad behavior has many causes, wrongheaded policies have worsened the problem. …

A handful of kids can indeed make it impossible for anyone to learn. Teachers report spending about 144 minutes per week on behavior management, amounting to about three weeks of the school year. Unruly classrooms may be driving parents to choose private schools that were, on average, remote for far less time. Some tools available to private schools for behavior management, such as expulsion, are harder to employ in public schools.

To understand how we got here, consider some recent trends in student-discipline policies.