Over five million students, or ten percent, in the United States are labeled as "exceptional children." Exceptional children and youths are "those who require special education and related services if they are to realize their full human potential" (Kauffman 7). Thus, it is for this reason that it is valuable for everyone, in particular for educators, to look at case studies of such students to investigate how real students act in real life situations.

"One Bad Apple" by Ellen Brown is one of these types of case studies. The study looks at a fifth grade class, several instances throughout the school year, and how the teacher responds to such instances. There are two students that were not in the fourth grade class the previous year. One of these students is William. William is from a troubled background. Upon realizing that he was enrolled in a behavioral disability program at his last school, his mother pulled him out of that school and sent him to live with his father. When enrolling William into the new school, she made it clear that he was not to be enrolled in any such program at the school. As for academics, William is behind most of the students his age. He likes to read, but is two grades behind the other students. He hates mathematics. In fact, for the first week of school, he refused to do attempt any mathematics, inasmuch that he would not even pick up his pencil. The other boy was also referred for behavioral problems at the school he formerly attended. His name is Eddie. Eddie’s behavior was more annoying than troublesome, as was William’s, except when he dealt with William. Eddie tried to get attention often by slapping students larger than himself, thus getting them riled. The teacher in this study is Elaine Brown. She is well experienced, in her twenty-seventh year, teaching in Pine County Public Schools. The class is fifth grade students, all of which, with the exception of William and Eddie, were taught by Elaine the previous year in fourth grade. Thus, it is virtually the same class. To gain an understanding on the situation and what could have been done differently, we will look at first the incoming expectations of the teacher toward the class, the individuals in the classroom and how they relate to each other, what was done to curtail any future incidents, what could have been done, and possible disabilities of the students.

A teacher has certain expectations of his/her students concerning their academic and social behaviors. These expectations may be too loose, too rigid, or just about right. It is clear to see that not everyone believes in the same expectations of children, thus these expectations are left open to differing opinions. School factors, such as discipline, are necessary to consider because they can lead directly or indirectly to behavioral disorders. The school environment may be that a misbehaving child is rewarded with recognition and special attention if that student misbehaves. Though the special attention may be punishment or criticism, nevertheless, they are getting attention above and beyond of what a behaved child receives (Kauffman 222). Elaine Brown’s expectations were both appropriate in some sense and inappropriate in others.

Her social expectations for the entire class included respecting each other’s property. She also expected them to attend class on a regular basis. This is evident by her talking with the visiting teacher, Jerry West. She expected all of the students to be cooperative and patient, especially with William.

Of all of her expectations, perhaps, only the fact that the students were to treat William better than any other student would be inappropriate. Telling the class to treat William nice, hoping not to incite him seems very appropriate on the surface. However, this act not only lowers those students who do behave on a regular basis, but also lowers William, as the expectations are much less for him than any other student.

Her academic expectations for her class were appropriate. Elaine had been teaching for over twenty-six years and knew what she could expect from her class. She believed in not expecting the same thing from every student, but rather to see them as individuals.

My expectations are different, not only for different students, but for every subject. If a student has

trouble in math, but is extremely gifted in English and reading, I don’t expect As from him in math, but he’d better give them to me in English and reading because that’s his field (Brown 34).

It is always interesting to look at the student - teacher relationship. It is this relationship that can either encourage greatness, or cause a student to feel inadequate in himself/herself. The ultimate goal is to try to get the students to develop. The relationships between Elaine, William, and Eddie are interesting in that respect. While she tries desperately to get them to achieve, she also had to worry about the discipline problems that came in addition to the normal academic problems that you would find in a normal student.

The relationship between Elaine and William had each take on different roles. The main roles were that of teacher and student. Elaine had to focus primarily on seeing William develop academically. But, Elaine also had to take on the role of prosecutor when she had to punish William for misbehavior. She also had to take the role of judge when she had to punish Eddie. This role served as one that allowed William to respect Elaine above and beyond that of just a regular teacher. When Eddie was punished in the hall, William respected Elaine because he felt justice was being served. While working down at the Adventure Club, I experienced a similar situation where I had to take on the role of judge. There was a kindergarten boy, Sam, who insisted on hitting or throwing things at the bigger boys, David and Jesse, who were in third and fourth grade. Then, when they would retaliate, he would cry and get mad. I decided to punish all of them. I sat the David and Jesse down explaining that hitting was never an acceptable way of handling a problem, but that they should instead tell me. But, I also sat Sam down because he incited the whole thing. I explained how his behavior was not at all acceptable, because he wouldn’t like people doing that to him. By doing this, there was a certain bond among Jesse, David, and I about what was expected from them and how I would take care of the problem so that they didn’t have to take care of it on their own.

The next relationship to look at is that of Elaine and Eddie. Eddie was the small student who didn’t pay attention to Elaine’s request of not teasing William. There also developed an understanding and respect in this relationship, but to a lesser degree. Eddie felt slighted that Elaine had let him down. At first, I am sure he didn’t think it was cool. However, after a child is disciplined, he/she seems to respect the teacher more since the line has been set of how far the behavior can and cannot go. There is a new respect by Eddie of Elaine that he is going to be punished if he goes too far, though he may think that William deserves worse. Having been in a similar situation with Sam, the student comes to see that his behavior is getting him in worse trouble than the behavior of the other, bigger student. He soon realizes that that is not how to get the attention for which he longs.

The last relationship to look at is that between Eddie and William. As we leave them in this case study, they are still somewhat enemies. Eddie still annoys William and William still tries to get back at Eddie, however, there is a new level of competition. Since William feels that Eddie is being punished justly by Elaine, he no longer has to take care of it himself. As long as she paddles Eddie so that he yells at the top of his lungs, not only does that respect for Elaine grow in William, but the need to attack Eddie when he bothers him decreases. There is no doubt that it is still there, but in minor form.

In order to try to curtail any future incidents by William, Elaine talked to her class about his behavior and their feelings. Since William was frequently absent from school, since he was home alone and had to make sure to catch the bus on his own, she had ample time to talk to the class. In many ways, this discussion was appropriate for the situation, however, in a few, it was not.

I think that the discussions in general were appropriate. Rather than ignore the problem altogether and make the children think that it isn’t a problem, she acknowledged it. She allowed them to discuss how they feel about his behaviors. Most of her teachings were also appropriate. She told them not to provoke him. That basic principle makes very much sense in order to avoid a future incident. She also told them not to touch his things which was also appropriate. This by itself is good.

However, she also was responsible for some inappropriate discussion. First of all, teaching them not to provoke or touch his things is very appropriate. However, this lesson should be extended past William. This should be a lesson that everyone should learn to follow. If everyone was able to follow this rule, which is basically the Golden Rule, then more than likely life would be easier for that specific individual who took the teaching as well as everyone with whom he/she comes into contact.

The other part of her discussion that is inappropriate is telling the class not to correct him in class if he made a mistake. First of all, this is another example of a good command gone bad when not extended to everyone. Though he clearly is one that would become irritated quicker and could cause damage, this needs to be extended to everyone. By not extending it to all, William is placed much lower than his classmates in their eyes. If they can correct each other, because they may take the criticism easier, but cannot correct William, then William is viewed as stupid in their eyes. Another problem with this command is that they are told not to correct him in class. What will happen on the recess playground when some student decides to tell him that he really messed up reading today loud enough for everyone around to hear. Not only is William going to be extremely embarrassed and more than likely retaliate violently, he is also going to feel betrayed by the teacher since he was not corrected. This incident could be worse than any, since it could be far enough away from a recess aid or the blacktop that someone could easily get hurt. Thus, for these reasons, there were some inappropriateness in her discussions.

The other behavior that Elaine encouraged the class to show was nodding heads in approval as he read aloud. Once again, there is definitely a demeaning aspect on the part of William. The students are to treat him differently than they would treat their fellow students. I see the possibility of another incident know that some student is more than likely going to nod their head in a big motion to make their own friends laugh or simply to annoy William. I don’t think that you can expect absolute adult behavior from the children.

In order to avoid any further incidents, I would also take questions and comments from the class. In order to foster the appropriate behavior, I would try to explain the situation in as clear a way as possible. I would allow the students to ask questions, expecting things like, "Why is William so mean?" and "I hate William. Why does he have to be here?" To these questions, I would try to respond by getting the students to understand there is always something about someone that they don’t like. I would try to explain that no matter how good you think you are, someone is not going to like you. Then I would ask them, "How would they feel if everyone hated them, particularly their best friends?" I would hopefully get to the point that we need to treat others like we want to be treated. I would also try to explain that everyone is important to the classroom. I would try to foster class respect for each other and for the teacher.

I think that both Eddie and William may have some disabilities. This case study is not extensive enough to truly understand everything about each student, but I think that there is enough information here that we can grasp some kind of idea about them.

According to the information given, it is truly tough to try to understand if Eddie has a disability. Just because the child may be a "dare devil" of sorts, that would certainly not classify him as having a disability. This behavior tends to be seen most predominately in students who are either not the leader of their friends, or even on the outside of the pack of the cool friends. From my own experiences in elementary school, there was usually two packs of boys that hung around each other. There was the pack who was into sports and would play some sport every recess period, and then there were those who were more into the war games. They would pretend to play war and various things like that. But, along with those two groups, there was always one or two students who were usually left out of the packs, especially at the beginning of the year. Since we were a cycle school, we had two classes per cycle per grade level. Thus, as we progressed, we pretty much knew everyone in our cycle. So, when a new student came, they usually got left out unless if someone in one the two groups befriended them and brought them in. The same situation is apparent here. Eddie is a new student to a class that has been together at least a year. They not only have the exact same classmates, but also the same teacher. There are only two new students, Eddie and William. Thus, Eddie fits into the new kid on the block category. His behavior seems evident of a student trying to get the other boys to like him by getting their attention. In his mind, nothing could get their attention more than picking on the largest boy in class. So, that is what he did. So, though his behavior could possibly be because of some disability, I would guess that it wouldn’t be. The only indication that we get that he may have a behavioral disorder is his history. In his previous school, he was referred for problems several times. Though, we don’t know if her was moved around a lot from this case study, so it is difficult to determine if a similar problem like this one exists, or whether there truly is a problem.

The other new student, William, has signs of a disability. His behavior is fits under the classification system of what a student with a behavior disability does. According to Quay and Peterson (1987), there are six dimensions of behavioral disorder as characterized by the following kinds of behavior: conduct disorder, socialized aggression, attention problems - immaturity, anxiety - withdrawal, psychotic behavior, and motor excess. The first dimension described by the first behavior, conduct disorder, almost describes Eddie. This behavior is attention seeking, show off, disruptive, and annoying to others. William doesn’t really seem to fit under this dimension. The areas that William seem to best fit under are the second and third dimensions, the socialized aggression and the attention problems - immaturity. Though it is not apparent from this case study that William has delinquent friends as one would have in the socialized aggression state, he does show some of those signs of skipping school. His impact would mostly come from his broken home life. He lived with his mother who made him move out to live with his father. Though this case study doesn’t provide details about how William felt about the move, it can be safely assumed that he wasn’t super thrilled about it. Though he may not have wanted to be in the behavioral disorders class, he is now sent to a new house, new way of living, and new classmates. In the case study, it seems William was pretty laid back by the whole move, but looking at his attendance, it can be shown that he was not too thrilled with the new surroundings. He also seems to show some signs of the third dimension, the attention problems - immaturity dimension. Once again, the behavior is minor, as he is not an extreme case of this. However, he does seem to show some problems with being easily distracted and diverted from the task at hand. This was apparent in the drinking fountain incident, but we do not have any school situations to help us in this area.

Neither of the students display extreme cases of behavioral disorders, as far as the picture that we get in this case study. They both show some signs, but nothing too major. William does show more signs of having a disability than Eddie.

Another disability that may be evident in William is a learning disability. As was stated earlier, William is two years behind in reading, which according to Kauffman, a difference of two years is often considered enough to indicate a learning disability (Kauffman 165). Given this fact about his reading level, and even worse about his mathematics level, it would seem apparent that William has a learning disability in those areas. The learning disability may cause even more of a behavioral disorder, since William would feel obliged to prove himself physically since he could not academically.

No academic information is given in the case study concerning Eddie. Thus, with the information given, it is not my opinion that Eddie needs special services to reach his full potential. I think that he will start coming around once the other students start to accept him more, and he sees that he doesn’t have to bother people to get their attention.

When considering if one or both of these students should be considered for special education, one must look at both the disadvantages of each possibility. We will look at possibilities of a special class or service by a resource or consulting teacher.

The first possibility to look at is that which refers the students to a resource teacher for a special class. As explained by Kauffman, this resource teacher provides services for the students and teacher in only one school, thus making them available all day every day (Kauffman 15). The students being served in this manner are enrolled in the regular classroom and are seen by the specially trained teacher for a length of time and at a frequency determined by the nature and severity of their particular problems (Kauffman 15). Since the resource continually assesses the needs of the students and their teachers and the students are usually dealt with in small group settings, this option is very attractive on the onset. There are great advantages to this plan. The students, such as William, would be taken out of the regular classroom in what would most likely be his toughest subjects. This might be reading and mathematics. He could be helped in a small group setting in those subject areas so that he would not have to be embarrassed in front of the whole class, thus causing anger, and would be able to make mistakes without fear. Since the resource teacher would continually access the situation, so that it could be decided what William needs and how the regular teacher needs to accommodate him, that would be very beneficial for the student.

The disadvantages for this particular incident are also numerous. It might not be for the best interest of William to place him in such a class with a resource teacher if his mother is going to be upset once and again and place him in another school. There is an unknown risk to that. Another disadvantage is the fact that the student will be labeled. The possibility of learned helplessness becomes a factor. If William accepts the label placed on him whether it is learning disabled or behavioral disorder, he may decide to prove the teachers correct and act like his label would infer. Another aspect to consider in this situation is the social acceptance of such a student. Remembering back to my own elementary school days, we certainly all knew which students were either learning disabled or behavioral disordered and usually tried to keep our distance. It made it harder for them to find friends, since no one really wanted to attach themselves to that. The students were also out of the classroom enough that everybody else already had their group of friends. As far as the behavioral disordered students, their attempt at friendship was often not well received. They tended to be bold, brash, and more aggressive than we were willing to accept. For this case, that could magnify the problem. William already has enough trouble being accepted, without being labeled. He may even find it more difficult. On the other hand, there is that slight possibility that children will be more accepting, understanding his problem. However, from my personal experiences, I have not found that to be true.

The other possibility is to refer William to a service by a consulting teacher. This would more integrated than the previous approach. This approach would have the regular teacher meet all the needs of the student with only occasional help from special education consultants. The student would not be officially identified or labeled. The student would be totally integrated (Kauffman 16). There are several advantages and disadvantages to this approach.

The first of which was the labeling problem we had to deal with in the previous referral example. Those problems would no longer be an issue. Another advantage is that little time would have to be used for this approach. The regular classroom teacher would not have to worry about scheduling the class’s schedule around William’s or making sure to remember to send William to his special class at his times. William also wouldn’t have any extra time to invest in keeping up with two different class settings and assignments from different teachers. Another major advantage would be that since the special consultant would come into the room periodically, this could easily be extended to any other students who may need dealt with, such as Eddie. This could very well help solve the problem of whether Eddie’s situation was going to improve throughout the year, or whether professional help was needed for him.

There are some disadvantages to this approach as well. The first thing to consider is whether this approach would work or not for this particular situation. The question has to be answered if this approach would take care of the problem between Eddie and William. Another problem related to that is that this is some time investment in an approach that might not work at all. It might take two, three, or even more months to determine that. By then, the situation may be continuing to get worse.

If I were responsible for advising Elaine on what course of action should be taken that would produce the best results for this case, particularly for William and Eddie, then I would advise toward a less integrated system for William while leaving Eddie alone for now. The teacher must be able to both control disruptive pupils and involve them in learning and help them more upward through the stages of discipline (Tanner 155). Given this assumption, I think that the resource teacher option sounds the best right now for William’s situation. He would be able to find the help that he needs there, while not being made fun of by the other students. This should be able to help him develop socially and academically, while helping Elaine have full control over the classroom. If, however, his mother vehemently opposes, the next best option would to use the consulting special educator. This would also probably help, and more than likely would not be opposed by the mother.

As for Eddie, I would have Elaine encourage some of the nicer boys to integrate him into their play. When I was in fourth grade, our teacher, Mrs. Richards, encouraged us to play with the new boys. It worked because we were willing. At that age, children are not so judgmental yet and will accept just about anybody into their play groups. This would also help develop the classroom climate. Results reported in Godd and Brophy noted that "teachers who made their classrooms convivial places to be, achieved warmth, familylike quality to classroom interaction, and good feelings between students and teacher among students (Lemlech 204)." This does not appear to be the case in Elaine’s classroom, as her only hope is that there won’t be any tragic incidents the rest of the school year.

This case study, One Bad Apple, provided some interesting insight into cases that are not so black and white. So often, we find that we just look at cases that are so well defined. This is to allow us to make the distinction of the characteristics of each category. However, we sometimes get tricked into thinking that every student is going to fit neatly into one of the labels that we have studied. This provided that shade of gray case in which the solutions are not so easy. This is also a very good case study because this case could be found in several schools across the nation, not just in Pine County in Elaine Brown’s fourth grade class.