Archived: The Educational System in the United States: Case Study Findings

part, in prepackaged curricula developed within the district or by local organiza-
tions (e.g., the zoo, arboretum, aquarium). Both the ‘‘recycling’’ and ‘‘rainforest’’
units derived from such experiences. It was up to the teachers to figure out how
these topics might relate to standards and objectives. My impression was that
teachers appreciated having a tried and true set of activities (that included a field

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trip) and did not worry too much about how and where it fit in the grand scheme
of things. To the outside observer, however, the lack of coordination between and
among these separate initiatives and influences was striking.
In making decisions about what and how to teach, teachers must translate what
are often highly abstract goals into a plan of action that will stretch out over 9
months and yet also fill spaces in a day that may be only 30–45 minutes long.
As I have described, school- and district-level characteristics have a strong influ-
ence on how decisionmaking and planning actually happen, as well as ways in
which individual teachers interpret the task.
Teachers’ Relationships
Disruptive Students
Students who are difficult or unruly present a special type of problem for teachers
because they can be an impediment to classroom instruction and organization.
Disruptive students command more attention from the teacher thus making it
more difficult to teach and manage the rest of the class. Despite the problems
that students with behavior problems pose, there is no single way that these stu-
dents are dealt with in the United States. Disciplinary policy is usually a composite
of local school board policy and teacher and principal implementation. Schools
visited as part of the Case Study dealt with issues of student behavior in a variety
of ways.
Some of the schools we visited provided teachers with written disciplinary guide-
lines or suggestions for classroom management. In one Case Study school, the
handbook distributed to teachers included classroom management guidelines. As-
pects of this guideline placed a great deal if burden of student disruption on class-
room mismanagement, quoting William Glasser’s 
Schools Without Failure
,
The climate of a classroom can be gauged by the words that are spoken be-
tween a teacher and student. There is a close relationship between the class-
room atmosphere, almost entirely a product of the teacher, and the degree of
disturbance among the individual children.
Some of the Case Study schools also provided guidelines for student conduct as