Reexamining the Relationship Between Academic Achievement and Social Behavior is a recent study out of the University of North Carolina which finds that students who behave poorly in school don’t always get poor grades. Published in the
Journal of Positive Behavior Interventions, the study followed 350 children in seven elementary schools with high concentrations of disadvantaged students for five years. They found that teachers tend to think well-behaved students are succeeding academically, even when they are struggling, and that students who act out in class are having academic difficulties, even when they’re not (Education Week).