A Descriptive Analysis of the Most Common Student Misbehaviors for Texas Middle School Students

Examined in this study were the most frequent reasons that resulted in discipline consequences assigned to Texas middle school students. Data were downloaded from the Texas Education Agency Public Education Information Management System for the 2013-2014 school year. A descriptive analysis of the 5 most common reasons that discipline consequences were assigned was conducted separately for Grades 7, 8, and 9 boys and girls. Analyses revealed that boys, regardless of grade level, had 3 times the number of discipline referrals as girls. The most frequent reasons that discipline consequences were assigned, across all grade levels and for boys and girls, were violations of the code of conduct. Serious/persistent misconduct violations and fighting/mutual combat were two other commons misbehavior reasons identified in this study. Truancy was also a common misbehavior reason across all grade levels for both boys and girls. Implications are discussed and suggestions for future research are made.

Keywords: student misbehavior reasons, discipline consequences, school to prison pipeline, office referrals, violations of the code of conduct, serious/persistent misbehavior, truancy, controlled substance/drug possession.