Much has been written about the Draconian disciplinary measures in charter schools that have left students fearful and humiliated. In the New York City public schools, our efforts are focused on creating classrooms free of bullying, drama and conflict so all children can learn while respecting the humanity of teacher and child.

The Positive Learning Collaborative, which evolved from its early days as the Institute for Understanding Behavior, is a consortium of the UFT and the city Department of Education. Its mission is to provide training and support to school staff to help them to better manage student behavior before it escalates. The collaborative also provides schools with the tools to collect and analyze data about student behavior that helps them come up with remedies to long-festering problems, whether it is chronic inattention or fighting in the classroom.

UFT President Michael Mulgrew has called the program timely and urgent. “We’re investing time and resources in understanding our most challenging students, not to punish or isolate them but to help them grow emotionally and become the lifelong learners we know they can be,” he said.

This work has significance beyond the classroom. Zero-tolerance disciplinary policies that remove students from the classroom often push children into the criminal justice system. Disrupting the school-to-prison pipeline has become urgent in light of government data that show African-American, Latino and special needs students are referred disproportionately to police and the courts.

Since 2013, under the leadership of Dana Ashley and her hardworking team, the collaborative has provided training in therapeutic crisis intervention to about 1,000 public school educators and other school staff, including those who work in District 75 and 79 schools. In all, they have made more than 300 visits to the 15 schools participating in the program for principal and teacher consultations, on-site professional development, team meetings and direct classroom supports.

We are already seeing exceptional results. The six schools that joined in 2013, the inaugural year of the program, have seen a 46 percent reduction in suspensions and a 40 percent drop in safety incidents.

Deputy Chancellor Corinne Rello-Anselmi is a strong supporter of the collaborative. “An initiative like this can have a positive impact on school climate and culture, resulting in positive outcomes for all students,” she said.

PS 369 in the Bronx was one of the first six schools. It is a high-needs school by any measure: 98 percent of the students receive free lunch, 42 percent are English language learners and 32 percent have learning disabilities. As a result of the training that all the staff received in how to create a caring and responsive school climate, PS 369 has experienced a 64 percent reduction in violent incidents since the program was introduced in September 2013.

“[We] have learned how to de-escalate our students in crisis by allowing them a safe space to emotionally drain off feelings of frustration, fear and anger,” PS 369 Principal Jaleelah Cooke wrote in a letter to the Positive Learning Collaborative.

At PS 45 in Staten Island, another early adopter of therapeutic crisis intervention, the number of violent incidents has fallen by 55 percent and the number of overall incidents has decreased by 61 percent.

“We look at the child differently and make modifications based on our training,” said Jean Marie McInerney, a science teacher and the chapter leader at PS 45. “We think about the child’s environment and what could have triggered the acting-out behavior.”

McInerney said it could be something as simple as changing the lighting in a classroom or giving a child a quiet place to have lunch so he can focus better on his return to the classroom. She noted that communication between teachers has also improved, and teachers are more reflective about how their emotions can color an exchange with students. “Sometimes we need to take a moment to think before we react,” she said.

PS 45 Principal Christine Chavez noted that students now get 30-second movement breaks to help them focus on reading. “Those breaks became fewer until they could read for 30 minutes without a break,” she said. “We’re able to get more instructional time with students through the program because it helps us meet the needs of the whole student.”

The collaborative has also forged a partnership with the Museum of Tolerance to provide a deeper understanding of relationships and help the schools engage parents and their communities.

Rabbi Steven Burg, the director of the museum, hailed the program. “The collaborative has built a tool to help educators understand the root causes of student behavior,” Burg said. “It’s an amazing, cutting-edge approach.”

The whole-child approach that distinguishes the work of the collaborative is one that I believe will be a model for the nation as it seeks to reclaim the classroom for all children.