Finally, some good news about school discipline

Some schools on the East Coast have found a vastly improved alternative over the "zero tolerance/expel at all costs" approach to student discipline. As Zero Intelligence reports:

They have begun implementing a system used by parents the world over - rewarding good behavior to encourage more good behavior.

...

It is working at phenomenally successful levels. Cleveland County's Township Three Elementary School had 35 office referrals during the first month of school this year. Compare that to 125 referrals in the same span in 2001, before the positive behavior plan was implemented. More than 50 South Carolina schools have started using the plan in the past two years. They have experienced 20 to 60 percent drops in their numbers of office referrals. Warlick is Gaston County's alternative school and deals with children with severe behavior problems. Suspensions are down by a third and these troubled students are taking more semester credits.

Simply amazing! Let's all hope and pray that this is the beginning of the end of the ridiculous "zero tolerance" policies.