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Bringing Out the Best in Students Brings Out the Best in Behavior at Three Hillsborough Elementary Schools

Sunday, February 2, 2003

In today’s classrooms, through the use of Positive Behavior Support (PBS), good behavior, instead of bad, gets the recognition. Through specific praise such as “Students, I like the way you are working together quietly,” and “Thank you Sara for listening to the lesson,” PBS programs work to define, teach, and support appropriate behaviors. PBS establishes a culture of competence within schools where students are more likely to support appropriate behavior and discourage inappropriate actions by their peers. The students not only receive recognition for good conduct during the school day, but are rewarded with special incentives and activities throughout the year.

PBS, having proven its benefits by not only reducing problem behavior, but also increasing student grades, student self esteem, and creating a more positive classroom environment, has recently expanded from an intervention approach for individual students with severe emotional and/or behavioral disabilities to an approach for entire schools.

Currently, Cahoon, Egypt Lake and McDonald Elementary Schools in Hillsborough County, Florida are participating in a national research and demonstration project on school-wide PBS. Each agreed to work with staff from the Center on Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports at USF’s Department of Child and Family Studies. The Center, directed from the University of Oregon in Eugene with the collaboration of four partners, including USF, was established by the Office of Special Education Programs, US Department of Education, to give schools capacity-building information and technical assistance for identifying, adapting, and sustaining effective school-wide disciplinary practices.

“The PBS Program has had a positive impact on our staff and our students,” said Sherry Orr, Egypt Lake Elementary Principal. “For the first time we have developed a plan with clear definitions, lessons for students, and a unified incentive plan. As a result of this program, we have information to use in staff meetings and parent conferences, and have seen a reduction in behavioral concerns.”

“The discipline of students with behavior problems is a major concern to most schools,” said Heather George, USF project coordinator. “While schools continue to use traditional ways to discipline students, those methods tend to focus on short-term solutions, with little being done to teach appropriate behaviors. Through past research, we are seeing that schools using traditional types of discipline are experiencing increases in violence and destructive behavior, as well as increases in suspensions and expulsions. PBS provides a positive and effective alternative, and is proven to significantly reduce many problem behaviors in school.”

In the first year of involvement, each of the three schools has:

• participated in at least 18 hours of training;
• restructured committees on campus to “work smarter;”
• examined patterns in discipline data;
• developed cohesive discipline referral processes;
• established behavior expectations and rules in specific settings;
• trained students and staff; and,
• established school-wide reward and incentive programs

Recently, the schools were invited by the PBS staff to attend a recognition dinner and ceremony. This provided an opportunity for the teams to meet, share and celebrate their success stories.

“McDonald Elementary recently completed the development of training videos used on their closed-circuit televisions,” said McDonald PBS representative Karen Childs. “Each grade level of students took a different school setting (cafeteria, playground, classroom, bus, etc) and illustrated examples (and non-examples) of the expectations that students are to follow in the given situation. These "training" videos are aired on their morning show to reinforce the learning of appropriate behaviors across campus. This training tool has had many positive effects. Students learn in the process of developing the videos, and other students learn from watching the videos. The students have become part of the school-wide PBS efforts, and now have some ownership of the program.”

Cahoon Elementary kicked off their PBS program with a school-wide party complete with fun and games. The kids were told that they had to “purchase” the chance to attend the next party with tickets they receive for good behavior. The students created an acronym based on their school mascot, the RAMS, and used it to establish school expectations (R = Respect myself and others, A = Achieve my best, M = Make peace, S = Stay Safe).

In order to remember the expectations, the PBS staff recommended designing a button to wear. “The students were asked to come up with the design,” said Cahoon School PBS representative Selena Bustamante-O’Shannon. “We selected the top ten, and the school selected the final winner.”

Cahoon received an award for the best school-wide incentive program at the recognition dinner. “We have held a variety of events for the students,” added Bustamante-O’Shannon. “They have used their tickets to attend a market day, a Rio Bravo Day, where Rio Bravo Restaurant donated chips and salsa, and next we are planning a movie day at the library, complete with popcorn and soda.”

Egypt Lake Elementary came up with the idea for a store in which students could make purchases with their good behavior reward tickets. Teachers and community members have donated a variety of items from candy and soda to household goods. The store opens once a week, and has received the attention of parents (90% of the Egypt Lake students have English as their 2nd language), who can also benefit from their child’s good behavior with getting much needed household items.

“We are seeing a significant decrease in aggressive behavior at each of the schools, “ said Heather George. “Kids are not acting out as much, and fewer kids are being sent to the office. Egypt Lake has shown a 61% reduction/decrease in average referrals per day from January 2002 to February 2003. McDonald Elementary has shown an 85% reduction.”

“Heather George is an effective facilitator helping us develop our program, communicate our plan with our staff and continue to provide ongoing support as we work through our plan,” added Egypt Lake principal Sherry Orr. “ We are grateful to be a part of this study and have benefited from this partnership.”

Additional information on the PBS program can be found at the PBS website http://flpbs.fmhi.usf.edu, or Heather George can be reached at 813-974-3362.