Handbook of Classroom Management

Citation

Sabornie, E. J., & Espelage, D. L. (Eds.). (2023). Handbook of Classroom Management (3rd ed.). Routledge.

Chapter Summary

The third edition is an edited handbook of 28 chapters, about 590 pages in all, divided into five parts: an introduction, methods of classroom management, the context of classroom management, social perspectives, and the interaction between classroom management and student type. According to the publisher, it was revised and expanded to update foundational topics such as effective instruction, prevention, positive behavior supports, family-school relationships and legal issues, and to give new attention to social justice, students on the autism spectrum, and adaptations for urban, rural and virtual settings. The chapters are separate reviews by different authors and can be read in any order.

Chapter 1: Introduction to the Third Edition

The editors' opening chapter, the only one in Part 1, introduces the volume and the changes made since the previous edition.

Chapters 2–4: Effective Instruction as the Basis for Classroom Management; Prevention Strategies for Classroom Management; Restorative Practices in Schools

Part 2, on methods, begins with the link between good teaching and order, then prevention strategies, then restorative practices as a response to harm and conflict.

Chapters 5–7: First Step to Success: A Preventive, Early Intervention for Young Students with Disruptive Behavior Problems; Current Trends in Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports: Implications for Classroom Management; Supporting Student's Social, Emotional, and Behavior (SEB) Growth Through Tier 2 and 3 Intervention within a Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS) Framework

These chapters cover a named early-intervention programme for young students, current trends in positive behavioral interventions and supports, and tiered support within an MTSS framework.

Chapters 8–10: Adapting Classroom Management for Delivery Across Contexts: A Focus on Urban, Rural, and Online Settings; Classroom Management in "No-Excuses" Charter Schools; Emerging Issues in School Bullying Research and Prevention

The last three chapters of Part 2 look at how management changes across urban, rural and online settings, at one distinctive school model, and at bullying research and prevention.

Chapters 11–15: Teacher Stress and Classroom Management; The New Jim Crow in School: Exclusionary Discipline and Structural Racism; Why Effective Classroom Management Depends on Teachers' Abilities to Engage Families; Teacher Training and Classroom Management; School Administration and Classroom Management

Part 3 turns to the surrounding context: teacher stress, exclusionary discipline and structural racism, the dependence of management on engaging families, teacher training, and the role of school administration.

Chapters 16–19: The Contribution of School and Classroom Disciplinary Practices to the School-to-Prison Pipeline; Rethinking K-12 Disciplinary Policies and Practices in Virtual School Settings: Initial School Responses to the COVID-19 Pandemic; Using Multimedia to Support Teacher Candidates' Knowledge and Use of Evidence-Based Classroom Management Practices; International Research on the Foci and Effectiveness of Classroom Management Programs and Strategies

The remainder of Part 3 takes up the school-to-prison pipeline, disciplinary policies in virtual schooling during the COVID-19 pandemic, the use of multimedia to teach teacher candidates evidence-based practices, and international research on programs and strategies.

Chapters 20–23: Transformative Social-Emotional Learning and Classroom Management; Classroom Management at Different Timescales: An Interpersonal Perspective; Teacher Aggression and Classroom Management; An Equity-Driven Behavior Management Approach to Close the Discipline Gap

Part 4 offers social perspectives: transformative social-emotional learning, an interpersonal view of management over different timescales, teacher aggression, and an equity-driven approach to the discipline gap.

Chapters 24–28: Critical Race Theory Insights on Issues of Classroom Management; Classroom Management Instruction in Teacher Education: A Culturally Responsive Approach; Classroom Management to Support Students with Disabilities: Empowering General and Special Educators; Students with Autism and Classroom Management; Classroom Management in Early Childhood Education

Part 5 considers how management interacts with who the students are: critical race theory, culturally responsive teacher education, students with disabilities and with autism, and early childhood settings.

Key Concepts

Chapters 1–10: Methods

• Effective instruction and prevention: the approach, set out in Chapters 2 and 3, of treating teaching quality and preventive strategies as the base of classroom management.
• Restorative practices: responses to misbehavior that address harm and relationships, covered in Chapter 4.
• Positive behavioral interventions and supports and MTSS: tiered, school-wide frameworks covered in Chapters 6 and 7.

Chapters 11–19: Context

• Exclusionary discipline: removal from classrooms or schools as a response to behavior, examined with structural racism and the school-to-prison pipeline in Chapters 12 and 16.
• Family engagement: the case, in Chapter 13, that management depends on teachers' ability to work with families.

Chapters 20–28: Social perspectives and student types

• Transformative social-emotional learning: the Chapter 20 approach linking social-emotional learning to classroom management.
• Discipline gap: the difference in discipline outcomes among groups of students, the focus of Chapter 23.
• Culturally responsive management: the approach to teaching classroom management advocated in Chapter 25.

Critical Analysis

Strengths

• Wide, current coverage. Twenty-eight chapters cover methods, context, social perspectives and particular groups of students, and the publisher stresses that the edition is updated and expanded.
• Attention to equity. Several chapters, including those on the New Jim Crow in school, the school-to-prison pipeline, the discipline gap and critical race theory, treat classroom management as bound up with race and social justice.
• Authoritative endorsements. Edmund Emmer and Robert Pianta, quoted by the publisher, praise the range of authors and topics, the shift toward prevention and positive approaches, and the attention to contexts such as classroom, school, peers, family and neighborhood.
• Useful range of settings. Dedicated chapters deal with online, urban and rural settings, early childhood, charter schools and international research.

Limitations

• A reference, not a manual. It is written for graduate students and faculty, according to the publisher; teachers wanting classroom routines to apply tomorrow will find more direct guidance in a practitioner book.
• Separate chapters. Because each chapter is an independent review by different authors, the book gives no single method; readers must compare perspectives themselves.
• Size. At about 590 pages, a full read is a major commitment.

Where It Fits in the Course

Within the classroom practice course, this is the research reference. Rogers's Classroom Behaviour is a practical guide to calm and consistent behaviour management, and Lemov's Teach Like a Champion 3.0 is a handbook of specific techniques; both give the practical strategies, while the Handbook offers the research behind them. Saphier and colleagues' The Skillful Teacher is a broad resource on planning, culture and questioning, and Tomlinson's The Differentiated Classroom and Francis, Taylor and Tereshchenko's Reassessing 'Ability' Grouping deal with differentiation and grouping rather than conduct.

Read the practical books first for what to do, and then use the Handbook to examine the evidence for a particular approach or to look into a topic such as restorative practices or discipline disparities.

How to Use This Book

The publisher addresses it to graduate students and faculty in psychology, teacher education, curriculum and instruction and special education, and also to practitioners and policy makers who want the research base. No special prerequisites are stated beyond familiarity with school settings.

A practical plan: start with Chapter 1 for the overview, then pick by need. For a new teacher or a course on management, Chapters 2, 3 and 6 are a sensible core. For leaders and policy readers, Part 3, especially Chapters 12, 13, 15 and 16, is most relevant. For work with particular students, go to Part 5. Treat each chapter as a literature review: read the introduction and conclusions first, then follow the references into the studies that matter for your own question.