They Need to Succeed Create a Caring Alternative to Suspension by Dave Sanders Dave Sanders teaches social studies at North Kirkwood Middle School, Kirkwood, Missouri. He modeled the program described in this article after a similar program at Ervin Middle School, Kansas City, Missouri. T he children we teach will not care how much we know until they know how much we care. No truer words have ever been spoken. In fact, these few words by Thomas Sergiovanni are as important to student success as any program we could implement or any curriculum we could create.
Many students are at risk during some point in their middle school career.
Some students are at risk during most of their middle school years. These are the students who have the greatest need to know that we care about them, yet they frequently are the ones who most feel lost and alone. Too often, these students do not receive the support and assistance they so desperately need. Instead, they receive suspensions, detentions, and other punishments that have no positive effect on their behavior or academic achievement. Too often, however, such programs do little to change the attitudes and behaviors that resulted in the student's placement there in the first place.