School-wide Positive Behavior Support

1. 25 Industrial Park Road, Middletown, CT 06457-1520 · (860) 632-1485 Connecticut State Department of Education · Division of Teaching & Learning Programs and Services School-wide Positive Behavior Support March 24, 2005 Manchester School District

2. Recap of Day 3 Topics • Team Updates • District Team Site Visits • Bowers – SET • Bennet – PD on March 17th • Effective Consequences • Identifying School-wide Expectations • Identifying Rules for Unique Settings

3. Today’s Topics • Developing a System for Teaching Appropriate Behavior • Developing a School-wide Reward System • Evaluating Progress • Creating a Plan for Implementation of a Comprehensive PBS System

4. Positive Behavior Support Developing A System for Teaching Appropriate Behavior

5. “If a child does not know how to read, we teach. If a child does not know how to swim, we teach. If a child does not know how to multiply, we teach. If a child does not know how to drive, we teach. If a child does not know how to behave, we teach?…punish?” “Whycan’t we finish the last sentence as automatically as we do the others?” Tom Herner (NASDSE President) Counterpoint, 1998

6. Once you have developed classroom expectations, it is not enough to just post the words on the walls of the classroom… YOU MUST TEACH THEM!

7. Behavior Errors • More often occur because: • Students do not have appropriate skills- “Skills Deficits” • Students do not know when to use skills • Students have not been taught specific classroom procedures and routines • Skills are not taught in context

8. Why Develop a System for Teaching Behavior? • Cannot assume that students • Know the appropriate ways to behave • Will learn appropriate behaviors quickly and effectively without consistent modeling/practice • MUST assume • Students will require different curricula, instructional modalities, etc. to learn appropriate behavior • We need to teach appropriate behaviors as effectively as we teach academic skills

10. School-wide Within Individual Classrooms For Specific Targeted Groups and Individual Students Would like to keep… Would like to revise or expand… How Do We Connect… Existing programs; Curriculum Standards? How Do We Teach Behavior?

11. Introducing School-wide Expectations & Rules • All faculty and students participate • Decide on method that will be most effective for your school • Consider Importance/Impact-Activity/event should be a high priority…not given a few minutes in some other activity

12. What Other Schools Have Found to be Effective • Rotate classes through stations across school to learn about rules for that particular setting • Principal and teachers put program together to creatively introduce to students in an assembly format (e.g., teacher role play examples & non-examples, ask for volunteers, etc.) • Students perform skits on the morning news to be broadcasted daily

13. Lesson Plans • Provide initial plans and/or lesson plan format for teachers to begin teaching behavior • Develop a system for expanding behavior lesson plan ideas throughout the year • Determine the minimum requirements for teaching behavior

14. Guidelines for Teaching Expectations Teach As You Teach Core Academics: • Define in terms that students will understand • List critical attributes • Provide examples and non-examples • Enhance concept development • Check for understanding • Extend concept development • Acknowledge efforts • Re-teach and restructure teaching

15. Sample • Language Arts and Reading • Use a novel that has an expectation as a theme • Discuss characters in a novel and how they did not show respect, then have the students write the story with the character showing respect • Have the students develop their own expectations and/or rules and then have them write a persuasive essay or debate why theirs should be used instead of the school’s

16. Sample: • Fine Arts (Music, Art, Computers, Graphics) • When choosing a school play, choose one with a theme centered around one of the school expectations or write your own play • Have the students compose a song/rap with the expectation • Have students come up with a campaign for promoting expectations to the entire student body

17. Sample: • Science and/or Math • Have students develop a hypothesis about what they think are the top behavior problems at school. Have them survey students, parents, & teachers; make graphs; and reach a conclusion about the hypothesis • Have the students count the number of tickets redeemed monthly for prizes & graph them. You can include ratio of number of tickets to students, # of tickets per teacher, etc.

18. Sample: • Social Studies • Have students research different cultures to find out how they define “Respectful” • Talk about how different historical events occurred because of conflict and come up with solutions on how the conflict could have been resolved

19. School-wide Booster Trainings • You will be teaching expectations and rules throughout the year, but there will be times when we all need a more intensive refresher. • When do you think some of those times may be? • What will that format look like?

20. Sample Creative Ideas: “Putting it into Practice” • Video students role-playing to teach expectations and rules and show during morning show • Students compete for the GRAND Prize by participating in a behavior competition by grade level. • “NO Tardy Party”- Pick a random Friday. The principal announces that anyone who has demonstrated “responsibility” by being on time for class the entire week may participate (must have planner signed for entry).

21. Sample Creative Ideas: “Putting it into Practice” • Provide students with a script that includes actions and words expected • Rotate students through different settings- Teach the behaviors in the setting where the behaviors are expected to occur • Have classes compete to come up with unique ideas (student projects, bulletin boards, skits, songs, etc.) • Recognize staff for creative ideas

22. Develop • School-wide Plan for First Day of School • Sample Lesson Plan

23. Action Plan! What will you do with this information?

24. Positive Behavior Support Developing a School-wide Reward System

25. Something to Think About… • Do we provide reinforcers/rewards that are meaningful to individual students? • Do we align reinforcement with what an individual wants to gain or avoid from his/her behavior and to the universal behaviors we want to teach?

26. Reward System Guidelines • Keep it simple • Provide staff with opportunities to recognize students in common areas who are not in their classes • Include information and encouraging messages on daily announcements • Rewards should target 85-95% of students

27. Guidelines • Reward frequently in the beginning • Keep ratios of reinforcement high (4:1) • Reward based on school-wide expectations—contingent upon desired behavior • Refrain from threatening the loss of rewards as a strategy for motivating desired behaviors • Refrain from taking earned items or activities away from a student • Students should be eligible to earn rewards throughout the day contingent upon appropriate behavior

28. Challenges • Remaining focused on the positive • Providing meaningful rewards • Maintaining consistency with all staff • Tracking your reward system

29. Solutions • Keep ratio of reinforcement to correction high (4:1) • Involve students on your team to help determine meaningful rewards • Provide reward system trainings to staff annually and plan for booster trainings as needed • Develop data-based system for monitoring and documenting appropriate behavior

30. Meeting Token System Challenges • Token System: • Refers to a reward system that works in the same manner as money, where a “token” can be redeemed for “things” or “experiences” • Ex. Students earn “Riverside Bucks” to purchase items at the school store. • If tangible tokens are used: • Ensure an adequate supply • Take steps to prohibit counterfeiting • Establish an efficient system of record keeping

31. Meeting Token System Challenges • Use tokens that students can “cash in” for back-up reinforcers • Ex: buy button to participate in drawing • Designate a percentage of the tokens to be used to reward students who are not on a teacher’s roll

32. What Have Other SchoolsFound to be Effective? • School bucks to use in a school store on a regular basis (weekly) • “Caught Being Good” certificates • School Mascot cut-outs with students’ names printed on them--used in lottery drawings once a week or twice a month • “No Tardy Party” • 12 day “No Violence Countdown”

33. Other Effective Strategies • Positive parent telephone contacts with students present • Coupons (purchased with established numbers of tokens) for the following: • Extra P.E. • Extra art • Extra music • No homework coupon (use with caution) • Earned activity period for a preferred activity • Early release pass

34. Reward System Self-Check • Clearly defined criteria for earning rewards • Portable for use in multiple settings • Flexible enough to meet the needs of diverse students • Contingent access to rewards • Supportive of and aligned with the data collection system

35. Reward System Self-Check • Varied to maintain student interest • Supportive of behavioral and academic success • Meaningful back-up reinforcers • Age-appropriate • Plan for encouraging and monitoring staff use of reward system

36. Reward System Self-Check • Hierarchical: Small increments of success are recognized with small rewards • Opportunities for naturally occurring reinforcement in multiple settings are promoted • The system is simple to use

37. Reflection for Developing Rewards • District Team • What resources do schools need in order to implement reward systems? • Bowers • How to get resources (including staffing) to sustain the existing reward system? • How do you communicate the purpose and need for a reward system to families and staff? • Bennet • What rewards would be supported by staff consistently? • By students? • How do you communicate the purpose and need for a reward system to families and staff?B

38. Action Plan! What will you do with this information?

39. Positive Behavior Support Evaluating the Progress of PBS Efforts

40. What We Need To Do • Identify areas of evaluation • Identify the purpose of evaluation • Be aware of the tools used in evaluation of school-wide PBS • Develop an evaluation process for your school-wide plan

41. Evaluating School-wide System • Survey of students and staff • Random questioning • At least 80% of students can state school’s expected rules • Observations • Checklists

42. Why is Evaluation Important? • To gain an understanding of how the program is functioning • “Are we really doing what we think we are doing?” • To document program effectiveness • “Is what we’re doing working?” • To identify and examine strengths and weaknesses of the program • Celebrate success • Identify areas to improve

43. Areas of Evaluation • PBS Team • Functioning/Effectiveness • PBS Elements • The SW Plan • Implementation • Outcomes • Discipline & Academic Data • Staff, Student, and Parent Perceptions

44. Evaluation Tools • PBS Meeting Evaluation • Team Process Survey • School Climate Survey • Staff Satisfaction Survey • Outcome Data Summary • Benchmarks of Quality

45. Establish a Plan for Evaluation • Bower- How will you measure the success of implementation? • Bennet-How will you determine the needs for initiation next year? • District-wide- How will you determine the overall success across the district?

46. Action Plan! What will you do with this information?

47. Positive Behavior Support Implementing School-wide PBS

48. Introducing PBS to Families • What to communicate to families? • The “big picture”—purpose of school-wide plan • Expectations—how they can be demonstrated in non-school settings • Reinforcements & consequences • Plan for on-going updates of behavior data • How they can get involved in the school-wide plan

49. Introducing PBS to Families (continued) • Methods of communication: • Written—letters, newsletters, marques • Face-to-Face—school and/or community training event • Other—hold message, video demonstrations

50. Teaching New Staff Members • Who is responsible for training new staff throughout the year? • Means of instruction • Person-to-person • Written guide • Observations • Video