Editing Broken windows theory (section)

===Education===
In education, the broken windows theory is used to promote order in classrooms and school cultures. The belief is that students are signaled by disorder or rule-breaking and that they in turn imitate the disorder. Several school movements encourage strict paternalistic practices to enforce student discipline. Such practices include language codes (governing slang, curse words, or speaking out of turn), classroom etiquette (sitting up straight, tracking the speaker), personal dress (uniforms, little or no jewelry), and behavioral codes (walking in lines, specified bathroom times).

From 2004 to 2006, Stephen B. Plank and colleagues from [[Johns Hopkins University]] conducted a correlational study to determine the degree to which the physical appearance of the school and classroom setting influence student behavior, particularly in respect to the variables concerned in their study: fear, social disorder, and collective efficacy.<ref name = schools>{{cite journal |last1=Plank |first1=Stephen B |last2=Bradshaw |first2=Catherine P |last3=Young |first3=Hollie |title=An Application of "Broken-Windows" and Related Theories to the Study of Disorder, Fear, and Collective Efficacy in Schools |journal=American Journal of Education |date=1 February 2009 |volume=115 |issue=2 |pages=227–47 |doi=10.1086/595669 |s2cid=146560452}}<!--|access-date=25 April 2012--></ref> They collected survey data administered to 6th-8th students by 33 public schools in a large [[mid-Atlantic states|mid-Atlantic]] city. From analyses of the survey data, the researchers determined that the variables in their study are statistically significant to the physical conditions of the school and classroom setting. The conclusion, published in the ''[[American Journal of Education]]'', was:
{{blockquote|...the findings of the current study suggest that educators and researchers should be vigilant about factors that influence student perceptions of climate and safety. Fixing broken windows and attending to the physical appearance of a school cannot alone guarantee productive teaching and learning, but ignoring them likely greatly increases the chances of a troubling downward spiral.<ref name=schools />}}