A new framework from the National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ) says aspiring teachers are entering classrooms without explicit, practice-based training to manage serious student behavior. The report points to widespread novice stress and low morale tied to class disruptions. NCTQ’s framework calls on preservice programs to teach specific behavior management techniques and to give teacher candidates opportunities to rehearse responses to challenging situations before graduation. The goal is to reduce reliance on punitive discipline pathways and improve retention. NCTQ cited Education Week’s State of Teaching Project, where teachers reported student misbehavior as a top driver of morale problems, alongside survey findings from the EdWeek Research Center indicating that more than 1 in 3 teachers said behavior was worse than the prior year. NCTQ President Heather Peske said the data amount to a “cry for help,” emphasizing that novice teachers need support to interpret and mitigate misbehavior in real time. The report also notes evidence that early-career teachers are more likely to send students to the principal’s office, with training framed as a lever for reducing racial gaps in referrals.