It has been difficult to pin down just how widespread behavior problems are in schools. We can look at specific behavior disorders, and the number of school age children who are affected by them. We can look at rates of expulsion, suspension, and other disciplinary actions. We can compare these statistics across race, class, and area. As educators, we must look at all of this information in order to fully understand the prevalence if behavior problems in schools. The following information will cover some of these statistics, and discuss how teachers can prepare for these issues in their own classrooms. Only by doing this can we understand how to best teach our students.
A 2007 study by West Virginia University puts the prevalence of behavior problems in schools at 2 to 6% of K-12 students. When considering the number of students, this means that 1.3 to 3.8 million students had an identified behavior disorder. This excludes the undiagnosed cases (West Virginia University, 2007, Strategies for Teaching Students with Behavioral Disorders (online) http://www.as.wvu.edu/~scidis/behavior.html). It is safe to assume that those numbers have only risen in the past two years, as both the overall number of students and the number with diagnosed behavior disorders has increased.
References:
West Virginia University, 2007, Strategies for Teaching Students with Behavioral Disorders. Retrieved on November 10, 2009 from: http://www.as.wvu.edu/~scidis/behavior.htm
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