Along with reading, science, and mathematics classes, every student here at Haut Gap Middle School takes a course in how to be a Haut Gap student.
For most students, the class is 40 minutes a day for nine weeks鈥攅ven for returning students. But it can last 18 weeks for students who need extra time to nail concepts such as how to own up to mistakes, accept feedback, and apologize appropriately.
Those lessons are part of a schoolwide approach to addressing student behavior that has used for about five years: Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports, or PBIS.
鈥淭he whole goal of PBIS is so instruction doesn鈥檛 have to stop鈥� later for teachers stuck dealing with problem behaviors, said Julianne Moffatt, the school鈥檚 PBIS coach. She teaches the behavior courses and some writing classes along with overseeing the school鈥檚 behavior approach.
While the classes and the many other facets of PBIS take time, educators here say there鈥檚 a payoff: Haut Gap recorded about 170 out-of-school suspensions when PBIS was adopted in 2007鈥攁nd student enrollment was just 250. Last school year, it had nearly 500 students, and the school suspended fewer than 100 of them.
鈥淵ou don鈥檛 have time not to teach this,鈥� said Katherine Lewis, a school climate specialist for the 45,000-student Charleston County district who helped establish the PBIS approach at Haut Gap.
The approach, developed in the 1980s by education researchers, has since been adopted鈥攁nd adapted鈥攂y about 18,300 schools nationwide.
PBIS values teaching all students appropriate behavior as much as teaching any academic subject. It鈥檚 the opposite of what many school rules say: everything students shouldn鈥檛 do. It emphasizes creating a common set of expectations for students鈥� behavior, no matter where they are on campus. The underlying premise: Schools must become predictable, consistent, positive, and safe environments for students.
鈥淐reating that common set of expectations is really what creates a learning community. Culture makes a huge impact on the effectiveness of the school,鈥� said Robert Horner, a co-director of the U.S. Department of Education鈥檚 on Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports and a special education professor at the University of Oregon, in Eugene.
Data-Based Discipline
The original intent of PBIS was to help students improve their chances for academic success by reducing overall problem behavior, but now it is more commonly being looked to as a way to reduce out-of-school suspensions and expulsions, Mr. Horner said. That鈥檚 especially true now as schools search for alternatives to zero-tolerance discipline policies, which have been linked to high numbers of suspensions鈥攅specially among African-American students, Latinos, boys, and students with disabilities.
鈥淲hen you have an increase in students engaged, you have a decrease in minutes spent managing deviant behavior,鈥� added Mr. Horner.
A by Johns Hopkins University researchers looking at more than 12,000 elementary school students in schools using PBIS found that the approach has significant effects on their behavior problems, concentration problems, and social-emotional functioning, and that children in those schools were 33 percent less likely to receive an office discipline referral than peers elsewhere. The younger the students were when PBIS was introduced, the stronger the effect.
But getting to that point is a major undertaking鈥攁nd the effort doesn鈥檛 end even after a school has used the approach for a few years.
Schools establish their own common expectations for students, consistent rewards for appropriate behavior, and consequences for behavior that isn鈥檛 right, and quickly add interventions for students who don鈥檛 always do the right thing. Educators also constantly evaluate their campuses, tracking student behavior and determining how to change something about the school to address inappropriate behavior. Schools must constantly gather data about how students act, when, and where.
鈥淲hen you鈥檙e looking at your data, where is it that you need to improve?鈥� said Isabel Villalobos, the coordinator of student discipline and the expulsion-support unit for the Los Angeles schools. 鈥淢aybe it鈥檚 the hallway. Look at the lunch area. Do we need more supervision? Is it a lighting issue?鈥�
In 2007, the 664,000-student district adopted PBIS and other strategies to address an epidemic of out-of-school suspensions. So far, about a third of the district鈥檚 schools have fully implemented the approach, Ms. Villalobos said. Days of instruction lost to suspension in Los Angeles from nearly 75,000 in the 2007-08 school year to about 26,300 last school year.
Haut Gap Middle School went through a similar self-evaluation, bolstering student supervision in some campus trouble spots. Expectations for how to behave on campus are posted everywhere now.
Like many others that employ PBIS, the school created an acronym to define its expectations so students can remember them: PRIDE, for personal responsibility, respect, individual readiness, demonstrated learning, and effective behaviors.
In the hallways, respect is defined as keeping hands and feet to yourself; in the restroom, flushing the toilet. Personal responsibility means walking single file on stairs and two abreast elsewhere. In class, individual readiness means arriving on time, having all materials, and following the dress code.
The approach may seem prescriptive, said Robert Stevens, the Charleston County district鈥檚 PBIS coordinator, but shifts in societal and cultural norms demand it. 鈥淥ne of the things PBIS does, it levels the playing field: Everybody is taught the same things. We鈥檙e taught how to behave. We are reinforced for doing it properly,鈥� he said.
Ms. Lewis puts it another way: 鈥淲e have to have a set of behaviors that are neutral to where you come from. The [school] culture has to be as strong as their culture is.鈥�
Good-Conduct Rewards
To encourage students to stick to the rules, PBIS schools work hard to reinforce appropriate behavior.
For example, once every quarter, Haut Gap students who have collected the right number of PRIDE coupons earn a special privilege. They also can cash in their coupons for prizes. They earn coupons for asking thoughtful questions in class, being prepared for a lesson, and asking for permission the right way. Coupons or not, when students behave the right way, they are told.
鈥淵ou have your reading book out,鈥� English teacher Brandon Bobart told his students during a recent class. 鈥淚 can tell you鈥檙e committed to your learning.鈥�
This story is the second in a four-part series on alternatives to suspension and expulsion. For more, visit the Rethinking Discipline page.
Earlier this month, 6th grader Saniyah King happily reported she had earned 10 PRIDE coupons. If she has 20 by month鈥檚 end, she鈥檒l get to take part in a schoolwide dress-up day, when students swap school uniforms for business attire.
The steps to earning those coupons roll off Saniyah鈥檚 tongue.
鈥淲hen you show personal responsibility, when you have your materials, accepting feedback鈥攑ositive or negative,鈥� said Saniyah, 11. 鈥淚t feels easy.鈥�
Tracking and rewarding students鈥� behavior鈥攁long with all the standard responsibilities of lesson planning, grading, and teaching itself鈥攊s a lot of work, said Lindsay Lawes, who teaches algebra and geometry to Haut Gap 7th and 8th graders and is in her second year at the school. For a while, she and her colleagues sent detailed weekly reports to parents outlining students鈥� progress. The letters acknowledged students who are sometimes overlooked: Those who neither excel academically nor have chronic behavior issues.
鈥淚t forces you to look at those kids,鈥� Ms. Lawes said. In the PBIS system of tiers that group students by whether their behavior needs much, some, or minimal intervention, students who aren鈥檛 engaged get attention, too.
鈥淚t ups the game,鈥� Ms. Lawes said. 鈥淭hey have to be engaged.鈥�
When Haut Gap first adopted PBIS, the school had failed to make adequate yearly progress under the federal No Child Left Behind Act for several years, giving parents the option of transferring their children from the school. Enrollment had declined to about 200鈥攕o low the school board contemplated closing the school, which is on rural on Charleston鈥檚 southern side. Although Haut Gap is just a few miles from the resorts and golf courses on Kiawah Island, most families living within the school鈥檚 attendance zone are poor and African-American.
After the program was implemented, the school鈥檚 academic performance swung in the opposite direction, which the school attributes at least in part to its new focus on student engagement. The school went from an F grade to an A on the state鈥檚 school grading system. When it added a magnet program, more parents opted to take a chance on a school previously labeled persistently dangerous. Now Haut Gap has 523 students; enrollment is a blend of white, black, and Hispanic students.
Next-Level Interventions
While PBIS operates on the principle that most students respond to clear expectations and positive reinforcement, 15 percent to 20 percent of students are likely to need something more intense, Mr. Horner of the University of Oregon said. Those next-tier interventions could include a mental-health screening or daily, one-on-one check-ins with students but in some cases, interventions can be simpler鈥攁nd downright ingenious.
For Haut Gap 6th grader Travis Coach Jr., peppering teachers with comments and questions鈥攔egardless of whether he was called on or his commentary was on point鈥攚as a big problem. It鈥檚 the kind of behavior that elsewhere might have been regarded as insubordinate or defiant. But Haut Gap didn鈥檛 want to squelch Travis鈥� exuberance. Instead, the school equipped him with a stack of Post-it notes.
鈥淓ach class, I get three comments,鈥� said Travis, 11. After that, he can jot his thoughts down on the sticky squares of paper and pass them to his teachers.
Similarly, in Memphis, Tenn., which adopted PBIS districtwide about six years ago to replace corporal punishment, one student鈥檚 knack for vulgarity was channeled into something else entirely, said Brady Henderson, the district鈥檚 PBIS supervisor.
鈥淭his child liked throwing hand signs鈥攙ulgar hand signs,鈥� Mr. Henderson said. He was instructed to learn two American Sign Language words each day as an intervention.
鈥淗e took to it like duck to water,鈥� Mr. Henderson said. 鈥淭hey looked at it in terms of a strength.鈥� And his crude hand gestures haven鈥檛 been seen since.
These strategies are a far cry from the 鈥済et out鈥� approach that suspensions and expulsions convey, said Paul Padr贸n, who was Haut Gap鈥檚 principal for five years and worked to implement PBIS. 鈥淚t鈥檚 鈥業 want you here, I need you here.鈥� 鈥�
Getting On Board
Handling behavior so differently takes major staff buy-in, said Charlotte Baucom, the coordinator of the center for safe and drug-free schools in the 100,000-student Memphis, Tenn., district, which about six years ago to replace corporal punishment. 鈥淚t has to be believed [that] we can do something besides something punitive to get a child to do what you want them to do,鈥� she said.
Groups of staff members at each Memphis school went through PBIS training. And, as at every school working on PBIS, commitment from the whole school is required.
One reason that two-thirds of Los Angeles schools still haven鈥檛 adopted PBIS fully is that buy-in occurred only on some campuses, said Cheri Thomas, the district鈥檚 lead coordinator of school operations. When behavior problems arise, she said, some staff members still think first of calling the police.
PBIS presents other challenges: Mr. Horner said more research needs to be done on using PBIS in high schools, for example. And because staffs can turn over quickly, districts must build capacity to train new employees. For that reason, the technical-assistance center now prefers to work with whole districts rather than individual schools.
At Haut Gap, where PBIS is going strong, the school鈥檚 new principal, J. Travis Benintendo, set aside the first three days of school for teaching students the skills they need to meet Haut Gap expectations.
鈥淭hat shows how important this is,鈥� he said. 鈥淓verything else follows nicely.鈥�
