MADISON, Wis. – School districts are spending millions of dollars on “cultural sensitivity” training and education plans, but a growing number of teachers are not buying into it.

On March 31, 2014, Madison Metropolitan School District’s Board of Education adopted a new Behavior Education Plan. The district’s site claims that “the plan moves our district away from a code of conduct based on a punitive model in favor of one that provides students with an opportunity to learn positive behavior skills.”

At first that does not sound so bad, but as we read more into it, it sounds somewhat similar to the practices taught by Pacific Educational Group which EAGnews has reported on in recent weeks.

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Part of the district’s plan is to replace the rules and consequences model with a teaching and learning model that minimizes the number of disciplinary measures students receive for acting inappropriately in school.

At a cost of roughly $1.6 million, which included $1.45 million for 18.2 full-time equivalent new staff positions and $168,000 for staff development training according to The Cap Times, do teachers feel like improvements have been made?

Perhaps not so surprisingly, the answer is no.

A recent survey of Madison Metropolitan School District teachers, which was conducted by the schools teachers union, shows that 87 percent of survey respondents did not feel that the district’s Behavior Education Plan, as it is currently written and implemented, has had a positive effect on students’ behavior, according to The Cap Times.

Under the new policy, 86 percent of surveyed teachers said a student is not ready to re-engage in learning when returned to a class following a behavior incident.

A majority of surveyed teachers, 78 percent, said they understand the district’s approach to behavior under the new policy.

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It looks like they just might not be buying into the positive effect the plan in supposed to have on students.

Perhaps teachers still think that consequences are necessary in order to promote good behavior. It is unfortunate that it took over $1 million to figure that out.

A copy of the plan for elementary students can be found here, and a copy for secondary students can be found here.

Last year, the district released a video explaining the new program: