Raise Responsibility System: School Discipline Strategies
This paper examines effective school discipline strategies, with a focus on the Raise Responsibility System (RRS) developed by Marvin Marshall. It begins by defining discipline as both prevention and remediation, then critiques traditional external approaches—rewards, punishments, and direct telling—as counterproductive to fostering genuine responsibility. The paper describes the RRS's four levels of social development (Anarchy, Bossing/Bullying, Cooperation/Conformity, and Democracy), explains its three phases of implementation, and highlights how the system differs from conventional discipline models by emphasizing internal motivation, noncoercive guidance, and student self-evaluation as the foundations of lasting behavioral change.
- Introduction to School Discipline: Defines discipline and its historical classroom context
- Overview of the Raise Responsibility System: Introduces Marshall's RRS and its foundational influences
- The Four Levels of Social Development: Details Anarchy, Bullying, Conformity, and Democracy levels
- Critiquing External Approaches to Discipline: Argues rewards and punishments undermine lasting responsibility
- Three Phases of the RRS in Practice: Explains teaching, checking understanding, and guided choices
- What Makes the RRS Different: Contrasts RRS features with conventional discipline systems
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What makes this paper effective
- Clearly contrasts the RRS with traditional external discipline methods, giving readers a direct comparison that sharpens the argument for internal motivation.
- Uses a structured breakdown of the four levels of social development, making an abstract behavioral hierarchy concrete and easy to follow.
- Grounds the highest level of development (Democracy) in classical virtue theory, connecting a modern classroom system to a well-established philosophical tradition.
Key academic technique demonstrated
The paper demonstrates effective use of classification and contrast: it first categorizes discipline approaches (external vs. internal) and then systematically dismantles external methods before presenting the RRS as a superior alternative. This structure builds a logical case rather than simply asserting a conclusion, guiding the reader through evidence and reasoning step by step.
Structure breakdown
The paper opens with a definition of discipline and the historical context of classroom disruption, then introduces the RRS. It moves into a critique of external motivators (rewards, punishments, and telling), then explains the RRS's four developmental levels in detail. The three implementation phases follow, and the paper concludes with a comparative list of features that distinguish the RRS from conventional approaches.
Introduction to School Discipline
School discipline has the goal of ensuring the safety of staff and students and of creating an environment that allows the most effective learning. Student misbehavior undermines these goals, making it nearly impossible for teachers and the school as a whole to provide the rest of the students with a proper education. Effective school discipline strategies seek to promote responsible behavior, offer all students a positive educational experience, and limit misconduct as much as possible.
The word discipline, according to the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, refers to both prevention and remediation. It can be "training that is expected to produce a specified character or pattern of behavior" or "controlled behavior resulting from such training," but it can also be "punishment intended to correct or train."
Over the past several decades, a number of models were developed to react to, reduce, or eliminate disciplinary problems. These arose in response to teachers across the country complaining that they could no longer teach effectively because of classroom disruption and student inattention. A number of researchers observed the disciplinary methods of many teachers, noting what did and did not work, and then developed systematic ways to deal with the problems of class control.
Overview of the Raise Responsibility System
One of the most recent methods was developed by Marvin Marshall. It is called the Raise Responsibility System (RRS), which has proven to be a highly successful discipline approach that encourages both responsible behavior and the desire to learn. The system uses internal or personal motivation rather than manipulative or negative external approaches, including threats, punishments, and rewards for expected standards of behavior.
The RRS is used across all grade levels—from kindergarten through 12th grade—in settings ranging from small daycare centers to large high schools, and in both urban and rural schools at all socioeconomic levels. Caregivers in all settings use the discipline system with children of all ages, and the system is also used throughout the world.
The system draws on the proactive concepts of Stephen Covey, the noncoercive approaches of William Glasser, the collaboration and empowerment systems of W. Edwards Deming, and the hierarchy and autonomy theories of Abraham Maslow.
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