Abstract
Problem. A concern among teachers, regardless of their years of experience, is how to manage student behavior. First-year teachers are responsible for possessing a full range of competencies necessary to meet the needs of students. The competencies include the ability to manage student behavior and maximize time-on-task. Among the challenges that teachers encounter to meet the needs of students is the need to establish and maintain safe, orderly learning environments free from unwanted disruptions so that learning can take place. Purpose. The purpose of this study was to describe beginning teachers' perception of the effectiveness of selected classroom management discipline systems and the predominant strategies used to eliminate unwanted disruptions in self-contained elementary school classrooms as perceived by first-year, second-year, and third-year teachers identified by their principals as teachers who needed to improve their ability to manage student behavior. The study also attempted to determine if there was a significant difference between the perceptions of primary and upper grade teachers, and whether teacher perceptions were affected by years of teaching experience. The participants in this study took part in a workshop designed to present the systems and strategies. Methodology. A survey of first, second, and third-year teachers was conducted by questionnaire. The study utilized two types of research methodology; descriptive and ex post facto. A total of 92 responses from the eligible 114 teachers was received. This study obtained an overall return rate of 80 percent. Findings. This study found the classroom management discipline system and strategies perceived by beginning teachers to be the most effective to eliminate unwanted disruptions in self-contained elementary school classrooms. Conclusions and recommendations. There is evidence that staff development can improve the performance of beginning teachers in the area of classroom management of student behavior. Therefore, if new and beginning teachers are leaving the teaching profession because they are unable to balance the demands to meet the academic, social, and emotional needs of students and control student behavior it is recommended that teacher preparation programs, site and district administration should use the findings in this study and provide training to address the need for teachers to be knowledgeable of research-based effective strategies.