Classroom Systems: Positive Behavior Support Chris Borgmeier, PhD Portland State University

Nonclassroom Setting Systems Classroom Setting Systems Individual Student Systems School-wide Systems School-wide Positive Behavior Support Systems

ID Source of Concern Individual Student Support  Couple of students causing repeated concerns  Few concerns with other student behavior in class  Concerns w/ students may cross multiple settings Classroom Support  Referral/ discipline occurring with a number of different students  Same students have fewer concerns in alternate settings or

Look at the data Referral data  Individual Student concern v. Classroom Management concern # of referrals per teacher # of referrals per student Where to intervene?  Student or Classroom?

Non-example Action Plan Strategies - Purchase & distribute classroom management curriculum/book - Discuss at faculty meeting - Bring in CM expert for next month’s ½ day in- service - Observe in effective classroom - Observe & give feedback What is likelihood of change in teacher practice? (Sugai, 2006)

Example Action Plan Strategies +Build on SW System +Use school-wide leadership team +Use data to justify +Adopt evidence based practice + Teach/practice to fluency/automaticity + Ensure accurate implementation 1 st time + Regular review & active practice +Monitor implementation continuously + Acknowledge improvements (Sugai, 2006)

Classroom Systems Building Capacity v. One Shot Support Build systems to support sustained use of effective practices  SW leadership team  Regular data review  Regular individual & school action planning  Regular support & review To begin school year & throughout school year

Team led, school-wide approach to classroom systems Don’t train & hope Consistent recurring focus on evidence based practices for effective classroom management Link with SW-PBS efforts Team driven Use data to guide & monitor efforts

Classroom Management Checklist Have your entire staff complete the Classroom Management Self Assessment Checklist Plan to complete 3 times per year  Fall/Winter/Spring Team collects data to:  Strategically guide decision making Identify staff development topics/ areas of common need  Monitor progress

When Giving the Survey Make sure staff understand this is NOT an evaluative tool Encourage honest evaluation of individual practices  If anonymous responses would increase accuracy of evaluation – you could do so Preview each of the items on the survey so staff have a clear understanding of what the item is asking staff to evaluate Explain how the data will be used to target specific needs for staff development with the School-wide Goal of improving classroom management and behavior

Look at data in multiple ways Entire staff mean  School-wide -- strive for 80% In Place Across items:  identify faculty strengths  Identify common areas of need for whole staff development  Focus training on specific areas to develop  Monitor growth over the course of the year

Present Data to Staff Show:  Strengths  Areas to Develop  How the team is using the data to guide planning for staff development related to Classroom Systems  What is next?

Prioritizing Areas for Staff Dev’t

Staff Development activities focused on specific strategies Challenge = Building Habits – remembering to do the little things consistently Priority 1 PreCorrection  Model – give examples  Have staff members ID 3 recurring challenges with a student or entire class  Develop 2 PreCorrection statements for each scenario  Identify strategies for review and encouraging use of identified strategies Morning announcements – PreCorrect staff to PreCorrect

Instructional Observations/Evaluations Set up consistent expectations across school with regard to effective classroom management practices Use an observation tool focused on the same practices as the classroom self-assessment Staff know the targets for part of their evaluation & it will match with self-assessment and personal goals

Activity Using the school data provided from Multnomah Elementary  Prioritize 3 target skills for Staff Development What would be some ideas for providing this staff development?  Remember… avoid Train & Hope  See next slide for guidelines

Individual Action Planning

Using Self Assessment w/ Individual Teachers Have teachers complete self-assessment Build in time for staff to reflect on scores & develop a personal action plan focusing on specific practices in self assessment  Encourage staff to identify a way to regularly prompt/encourage use of practices Buddy system Review at staff meetings or prompts Periodic review of progress on individual action plans

Tasks Identify a schedule for doing assessment Staff- wide (3 x’s per year) Give the Self Assessment to staff to complete  Suggest giving staff time to complete the assessment in a staff meeting SW PBS team summarizes the data & Develops an Action Plan Present data to staff w/ action plan

Extending SW PBS in to the Classroom

Focus on the Classroom Teachers often fail to integrate SW-PBS practices sufficiently in to the classroom Potential reasons:  Need for direct training to generalization or adapt school-wide practices to classroom settings OR  That school-wide intervention does not specifically address the broader array of practices required in the classroom

Defining Expectations & Teaching Behavior Extension to Classrooms

Defining Behavioral Expectations & Classroom Routines Link classroom to school-wide expectations What are Classroom Routines?  How to: Enter the classroom Sharpen pencil Turn in homework Get a pass Ask for help Participating in Class - Raise hand & wait to be called on Completing a Classroom Matrix w/ Routines  See pp. 2-3 in packet

Teaching Behavioral Expectations & Routines Extending SW-PBS logic into the classroom when Explicitly teaching expected behavior in setting w/ student practice  See Sample Lesson Plan (pp. 4-5 in packet) Link classroom to school-wide Schedule for Teaching of Expectations & Routines

Teaching Behaviors & Routines  Tell/model/explain  Guide practice  Monitor & assess  Give positive feedback Give corrective feedback – initial focus on prompting expected behavior  Prompt/Precorrect for Expected Behavior  Frequent Teaching & Review until class is fluent

Scheduling Lessons Similar to scheduling times to conduct SW PBS Lessons Can schedule times to conduct Classroom lessons & routines  In beginning of the year  Booster sessions throughout the year  Reteaching areas of concern Maybe arriving to class, raising hand & waiting to be called on, etc.

Catch ‘em Being Good 5:1 Ratio

Extending the Acknowledgment System in to the Classroom Extending the SW Acknowledgment System into the classroom Creating an Additional Classroom Acknowledgment system  Use systems to acknowledge individual students & group Have teachers with model acknowledgment systems in the school share how they implement their classroom acknowledgment systems During instruction is when we have the most on our mind – an acknowledgment system can be prompt needed to develop those habits of catching kids doing well

Responding to Misbehavior

Misbehavior Happens: Provide staff with guidelines for responding Options for responding to misbehavior in the classroom “Defusing Anger & Aggression” video by Colvin Targets Secondary classrooms but also useful for Elementary Purchase at through Iris Mediawww.lookiris.com Follow-up w/ small group discussions to identify specific strategies used in video & develop an Action Plan to encourage use in classroom Have staff role play some of the strategies

Guidelines for Responding to Misbehavior Respond Consistently, Calmly, Briefly & Return to Instruction  Goal: pay more time & attention to positive behavior  Reduce Student Escalation  Reduce amount of missed instructional time See p. 7 in packet – 9 Variables Affecting Compliance

3 cheap, easy & powerful Behavior Management Tools Proximity  Moving & scanning frequently  Slowly moving toward a student & using proximity, instead of verbally addressing Reinforcement  Acknowledging other students who are on task Precorrection  Frequent pre-teaching & reminders of expectations, before students have chance to engage in problem behavior

Use Alpha Commands when responding to problem behavior Alpha Commands  Minimal # of words  Clear, concrete & specific  Give a reasonable amount of time for behavior to occur Beta Commands  Wordy  Vague  Often convey feelings of frustration or anger  May contain many sets of directions **See pp. 8-9 for guidelines on Responding to Problem Behavior

Alpha Commands Alpha Commands are Clear & Positive “Pick up your chair, sit down, and draw a picture of your favorite animal” instead of “How many times have I told you not to get up out of your seat. Don’t you know how to act in this class? I’m getting tired of telling you what to do a hundred times. Now, get to work.”

Have a Routine for Responding to Minor Problem Behavior (p. 8 of packet) Specific Request If, Compliance Reinforce! Walk Away & wait 5-10 seconds If, Non-Compliance “Please _________” Request in a calm voice If, Compliance If, Noncompliance Preplanned Consequence Reinforce! Walk away & Wait sec.

For the Most Challenging Students Have you tried everything you can think of? Self check w/ suggested interventions  See packet p. 6 for suggested interventions page Seek assistance from Individual Student Systems

Role of Academics

Instructional Classroom Management Among the Best Behavior Management tools we have in the classroom  Effective Instruction Using Research Based Curriculum  High rates of student participation Successful participation – 90% success rate or better  Most frequent reinforcer in the classroom should be academic success