Empowering Discipline: An Approach that Works with At-Risk Students

EMPOWERING DISCIPLINE by Vicki Phillips Third Edition (Revised and Expanded, © 2011)

Most school discipline programs have one thing in common; their primary goal is to CONTROL student behavior. This tends to work with the majority of students; however there remains a group with whom nothing seems to work--so we label these students as “at-risk” and attempt to tighten our control.

The author of this book, Vicki Phillips, was principal of an award-winning alternative school for at-risk students for twenty-two years. Since all of her students were at-risk, she had to come up with strategies which would work with them, which meant applying a non-traditional approach. After years of being successful with students labeled difficult by the mainstream, Vicki shares her approach in this book and guarantees that it works!

Vicki calls for a shift in our thinking about the issue of control. Traditionally, schools try to “control” these students. When this doesn’t work, the schools escalate the control, which causes the students to escalate their behavior. Students with no aspirations, who feel they have nothing to lose, can end up “winning” any power-struggle since they don’t care about our “consequences”! “Control” becomes counter-productive and these students spiral downhill.

In contrast, Vicki’s strategies recognize the need of most at-risk students to be self-directed, and they involve working with students instead of against them. They are based on therapeutic principles and are designed to build emotional intelligence and "perspective modification," so that students will view the situation in a different way and choose to respond more appropriately.

COMMENTS ABOUT EMPOWERING DISCIPLINE

“Vicki Phillips’ book EMPOWERING DISCIPLINE provides what every classroom teacher needs these days: practical strategies and perspectives to help kids who aren’t happy campers in school discover their true strengths and abilities. Her book can save teachers from wasting time on externally-controlling discipline systems and help them turn the ‘at-risk’ student into the ‘at-promise’ learner!”
--Thomas Armstrong, PhD., Author of THE MYTH OF THE ADD CHILD, MULTIPLE INTELLIGENCES IN THE CLASSROOM, & AWAKENING YOUR CHILD’S NATURAL GENIUS

“Finally! A discipline model that blends the needs of at-risk students, indeed all students, and the kinds of teacher behaviors that can make school an exciting and emotionally safe place for everyone. If you are looking for effective, positive, and preventative ways to deal with disruptive behavior, rebelliousness, resistance, passive learning, and problems of student dropout or truancy, you’ll find answers here.”
--Jane Bluestein, PhD., author of 21st CENTURY DISCIPLINE: Teaching Students Responsibility & Self-Control and BEING A SUCCESSFUL TEACHER

“Vicki Phillips clearly understands at-risk kids and their powerful need to make their own choices regardless of whether the choices get them in trouble. EMPOWERING DISCIPLINE is an exciting practical tool for anyone working with ‘discipline resistant’ kids because it gives step-by-step directions for how to get the most resistant kids to make good choices about their behavior as well as their school work. If you ever wondered what in the world to say or do with an oppositional teenager, EMPOWERING DISCIPLINE is the help you need.
--Joyce Divinyi, M.S., Licensed Professional Counselor, Director of The Wellness Connection, author of SUCCESSFUL STRATEGIES FOR WORKING OR LIVING WITH DIFFICULT KIDS

Vicki Phillips has worked with at-risk adolescents for over thirty years as a teacher, counselor, assistant principal, and, for 22 years, as principal of an award-winning California alternative high school. She is the author of PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT, a one-semester curriculum designed to develop respect, responsibility, and resiliency in at-risk adolescents, purchased by almost 1700 schools (as of May 2011). She is also the author of TURNING THEM AROUND: Developing Motivation, Responsibility, and Self-Discipline in at-Risk Youth. She has given seminars on Changing Student Behaviors for nine years (three years for the Bureau of Education and Research, two years for Staff Development Resources, and four years to-date for Ideas Unlimited Seminars.) She has given presentations at hundreds of state and national conferences as well as one and two day workshops for schools and organizations nationwide.