Behavior Management

Behavior Management with PBIS

Frequently, the question is asked, "Why should you have to teach kids to be good? They already know what they are supposed to do. Why can't you just punish students who aren't following the rules?" In the past, school-wide discipline has focused mainly on reacting to specific student misbehavior by implementing punishment-based strategies including reprimands, loss of privileges, office referrals, and suspensions. Research has shown that the implementation of a reaction-based punishment system, especially when it is used inconsistently and in the absence of other positive strategies, is ineffective. Using a reaction-based punishment system, students quickly learn that acting inappropriately is the easiest way to get the attention they desire. This reinforces the actual behavior we don’t want to see.

Introducing, teaching, and rewarding students for following behavioral expectations is a much more positive and effective approach to correcting behaviors. In a nutshell, we teach behavior like we teach students to read. A great example of this is students moving from one area of the building to another. First, we met as a committee and developed what our Bette Perot standards would be for this activity. We then met as a whole staff to teach the staff our student expectations. Students are taught from their first day of Kindergarten that Patriots walk on “the first blue tile” with a zero voice and hands to themselves. The adults reinforce this behavior by giving students who are correctly modeling this behavior a specific compliment while handing them a blue PatriotBuck. Students who seek attention learn the quickest way to gain desired attention is to walk with a zero voice on the first blue tile. If a student is unsuccessful with this behavior, he or she is given an opportunity to be retaught and to practice this skill versus just receiving a punishment.

As you can see the broad purpose of using PBIS is to improve the effectiveness, efficiency and equity of Bette Perot Elementary as it relates to student discipline. There are still negative consequences for students who misbehave and we closely follow the Keller ISD Student Code of Conduct for those. However, those consequences are not our first or primary way to manage school-wide behavior.