Student Behavior Is Draining Teachers. What Helps?

Managing student behavior was among the three biggest sources of job-related stress for about half of the teachers in RAND’s 2026 State of the American Teacher survey. The survey included 829 public school teachers, with responses weighted to represent teachers nationally. It asked what stresses teachers; it did not establish whether student behavior has worsened.

The strain extends beyond the interruption itself. A teacher may have to get the class back on track, contact a family, document a recurring concern and make time to coordinate with colleagues. Tomorrow, the student and teacher are back in the same room. What changed between those two days matters more than another reminder to be consistent.

Schools often discuss behavior as though it were one problem with one solution. Calling out during a lesson, refusing to begin work, repeated conflicts in the hallway and a student becoming overwhelmed require different responses. The useful first question is what is happening, where and when. The next is who can help the teacher respond.

Make expectations visible

“Get started” can sound straightforward to an adult. To a student, it may leave several questions: Which materials? Work alone or with a partner? What if I am stuck? A teacher who makes those steps clear spends less of the opening minutes repeating directions.

The federal What Works Clearinghouse guide for grades K–5 recommends establishing and teaching clear expectations, reminding students of them and acknowledging when students meet them. In practice, that means showing students how class begins, what to do during a transition and how to ask for help. The guide addresses elementary classrooms; older students need expectations that respect their age and give them a say in how routines work.

Routines also need attention beyond one classroom. If a hallway transition repeatedly causes problems, the adults supervising it need an agreed approach. A teacher cannot establish a predictable school day alone.

That agreement should cover the adult response as well as the student expectation. If a student arrives late, does the teacher pause the lesson, send the student out or offer a quiet way to join? When staff handle the same situation in sharply different ways, students have to guess what will happen next. Leaders can bring teachers together to settle those ordinary questions before they become repeated arguments in class.

Give students a way into the lesson

Behavior and engagement are related, though a different assignment will not resolve every disruption. When students spend long stretches waiting or listening without a chance to respond, it is harder for the teacher to see who is confused before they disengage.

The same What Works Clearinghouse guide recommends instructional choices and frequent, varied opportunities to participate in grades K–5. A teacher might ask everyone to commit to an answer before calling on a few students, offer two ways to work through a problem or pause a long task for a check-in. Those moves give the teacher information to act on during the lesson.

That information can change a response. A student who has not begun a writing task may need the first step clarified. Another may know what to do but need help rejoining after a conflict. A brief conversation with the student can reveal more than treating both situations as simple refusal. It also gives the teacher a chance to set a specific expectation for what happens next.

For older students, participation includes a voice in the school environment. The Center on PBIS guidance for high schools calls for student input alongside attention to behavior, attendance, course performance and school climate. Students can tell a team which transitions feel chaotic, whether expectations vary by classroom and whom they would approach when they need help. Asking only matters if adults respond to what they hear.

When student behavior escalates

Clear routines do not prevent every confrontation. Schools also need to decide how a teacher gets assistance when a situation escalates while the rest of the class still needs supervision. The Center on PBIS guide to de-escalation emphasizes advance planning and safer, more instructive responses when a student becomes agitated.

The plan should answer practical questions before a teacher is in the middle of a difficult moment: Whom can they call? Who supervises the other students? Where can the student go, and who checks in afterward? Teachers need a route to immediate help, and students need a way to return to learning after the incident. An emergency response and a plan for a recurring classroom concern are different tasks; schools should be ready for both.

Decide what happens after a teacher asks for help

A teacher can reteach a routine or adjust a task. When student behavior keeps interrupting several classes, a coordinated response is needed. Schools need a clear way for teachers to raise concerns, learn who will follow up and find out whether the response worked.

The Center on PBIS classroom guidance describes support for all students, more focused help for students who need it and individual support when concerns persist. The practical questions are immediate: Who speaks with the student? Who contacts the family? Who brings the teachers together? When will they review the plan?

Suppose several teachers report that a student repeatedly leaves class during independent work. They can compare what happens beforehand, ask the student what is going on, agree on a response and set a date to check in. The answer might involve the task, a relationship or a need for additional support. The point is to investigate the pattern and assign the next step, rather than return the same referral to each teacher.

Families may see something that the school does not, and they should know what the school is trying. A useful conversation asks what the student experiences, explains the classroom concern without labeling the child and agrees on when everyone will talk again. The PBIS guide for targeted school supports includes procedures for involving students and families, training staff and checking how students respond. A support plan is only as useful as the time and people assigned to carry it out.

That takes time and leadership. If teachers are asked to document every incident but never hear what happened next, the process adds work without helping them teach.

Leaders should also look for patterns in student behavior across the school. If a particular transition generates repeated conflicts, the school may need to change how adults supervise it. If teachers receive different instructions about when to request help, the school needs to settle the process. Those are decisions administrators can make; they should not become another problem for each teacher to solve independently.

Check whether the school day improves

Fewer discipline referrals may be a good sign, but the count alone is not enough. Teachers may be experiencing fewer disruptions, or they may have stopped filing reports that go nowhere. Leaders should ask whether teachers can teach with fewer interruptions, whether requested help arrives and whether a plan is actually followed across classes.

Students should be asked whether expectations are clear and applied fairly. At the high school level, PBIS advises looking at attendance, course performance and school climate alongside behavior. Those measures help a school see whether its response is improving the day for students as well as staff.

Check whose referrals rise or fall, too. A schoolwide decline can hide students who are still being removed from class frequently or teachers who are still handling recurring problems alone. Teams can review whether similar situations receive similar responses and whether a student who was offered support is actually spending more time learning. If the answer is no, the plan needs revision rather than another reminder to follow it.

Teachers should not have to carry a recurring problem from one period to the next on their own. Teach the expectation, bring students into the work, respond together when a pattern continues and check back. The difference lies in whether the school follows through after the teacher asks for help.

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