This is what I do for a living.

I teach the unruly students that nobody else can teach and I've been in "behavioral"/"alternative" education for almost a decade. I've seen things done right and things done wrong. I'm fortunate to be part of a team which developed an extremely effect program at my middle school (grades 7 and 8, or ages 12-15 for those unfamiliar) This is a great question, and there have been a lot of great responses. I figured that I should give my $.02.

In my school, we only put our hands on a student if they are at risk of harming themselves or others, after all other methods have failed. However, we have school police officer, and there is a criminal charge of "disrupting school assembly." Every year, I have a few students leave in a cruiser. If you are getting into fights regularly, you will be charged, guaranteed. Court involvement is very important. The huge explosive displays stop and fighting is dramatically reduced.

You need a carrot and a stick. You create a situation where the student benefits from good choices and suffer with bad choices. That's what happens when they are raised by good parents. If the parents fail, we get stuck picking up the slack. This is the reality. Starting at the top, schools need to recognize this and learn how to do things differently - cooperative disciple, school climate, mentoring, relationship building, high standards of academics and behavior, appropriate support AND firm consequences that matter.

Clearly, teachers should have the power and support to make sure the classroom is an environment where kids can learn. They can't learn in chaos or if the feel unsafe. The real question is this: how can give teachers the tools to run a class effectively. You need to stop the problems before they get to point of threats, swearing, shouting, refusing to leave, etc.

I could write a thesis on this, but here is one simple example of a different approach.

Take the time to understand the behavior, and don't wait until it has escalated.

What is the student gaining from acting out? What is the goal? There is always a reason. For the chronic troublemakers, there is always some deeper issue. You boils it all down to four goals/catagories.

1. Attention Seeking (peer or adult)
2. Avoidance (of work, of feeling unsafe)
3. Need to be in control
4. Mental health/pure socio-path

Most kids have a primary and a secondary goal. Take the time to figure it out. It takes me about five minutes with most students, but I've been at it a while. Once you know what the students is trying to achieve with the behavior, you use different strategies and techniques designed to help and manage students who have those needs/goals.

Once teachers have the tools and administrators are doing their jobs properly, you won't have to worry nearly as much about "controlling" the students. Actually, understanding that you CAN'T control them is the first step to getting them to act the way you want them to act.