When it comes to student discipline, there's been a growing movement in schools across the country toward less punishment and more praise.
In its simplest form, it’s a century-old concept known as positive reinforcement. But in the world of academia, it’s recently taken on a broader, more systemic design called Positive Behavior Support-- a model of discipline now subscribed to in more than 20,000 schools across the country. And in Duval County, 37 of the district’s toughest schools are about to see a lot more of it thanks to a multi-million dollar grant.
The district was recently awarded a $3.7 million federal grant to implement Positive Behavior Support, or PBS, in its so-called “transformation region.” That is the area made up of 37 schools in the Raines, Ribault and Andrew Jackson high school feeder pattern, where student achievement has been historically low and discipline referrals have been high.
The federal STRIVE (Systemic Tiered Responsive Interventions Validated by Evidence) Project grant, as it’s called, will go toward employee training and implementing a system of behavior expectations and consequences at each school.
It’s a system that places a premium on good behavior from students to administrators, said Duval Schools Superintendent Nikolai Vitti.
“We have to go deeper with individual children and start to demonstrate what they should do, and not only talk about what they shouldn’t do,” Vitti said.
The basic idea behind it is that behavior just like math and reading can be taught.
“PBS explicitly teaches kids behavioral and social skills across settings in the classroom, in the hallways, what’s expected of them on the school bus, what’s expected of them in the cafeteria,” said Psychologist Stephanie Holmes of University of Florida’s Department of Pediatrics.
Those expectations aren’t just a vague set of classroom rules. They’re clearly defined principles that the entire school agrees to abide by--such as “be attentive, be responsible, be safe”-- and they can often be found on display in every classroom and along hallway walls.
“Staff members across [school] settings will use those same terms to trigger kids to remember to behave appropriately,” Holmes said.
When students do behave, they’re acknowledged and rewarded, much like students who receive high grades. While incentives for good behavior vary from school to school, they often take the form of some type of school currency that can be redeemed for a prize later. They can also involve pizza parties, end-of-quarter field days or special field trips for students exhibiting the best behavior.
And just like math or reading, some children need more help than others. That’s why the system is divided into three levels of intervention, or tiers, Holmes says. Tier 1 students require the least amount of involvement, while Tier 3 students are the small percentage of students identified with frequent and severe behavior issues that require more individual attention.
“Approximately, 80 percent of kids respond well to Tier 1 intervention, which are the schoolwide rules and expectations that are taught to all students,” Holmes said. “Tier 2 are when we have smaller groups of students who demonstrates more needs--behavioral needs. Tier 3 is where we have individual students that present significant behavioral needs, so at Tier 3, we might intervene at an individual level.”
There’s also more focus on getting to the root of the bad behavior rather than simply condemning it.
“If children aren’t responding in a positive way, we have to go to more focused and targeted intervention,” Vitti said.
That can involve bringing in additional mental health support services, he said.
Overall, across the country and the state, research suggests that the approach is effective. In general schools that implement the program, show a reduction in student discipline referrals over time, according to Holmes.
However, she adds that success also hinges on consistency and support from the entire staff--not just teachers.
“I feel for those teachers that are feeling overwhelmed, and they’re trying to teach the whole class at-large and there’s a couple of students in their classroom needing extra attention,” she said. “There’s creative ways to support a teacher in the classroom. We just have to be creative in finding what those solutions are.”
The STRIVE grant goes before the Duval County School Board for approval next month.
You can follow Rhema Thompson on Twitter @RhemaThompson
