A General Overview
This year the Howard High School is implementing a student centered discipline program. Our “Discipline Ladder” is modeled after the Positive Behavior Intervention and Support program which was developed by Sheppard Pratt. This model has been used by other Howard County Schools and encourages positive social and responsible behaviors in students. The focus of PBIS is to institute a clear, consistent, and progressive approach to unacceptable behaviors while rewarding positive acceptable behaviors. Through PBIS, we will work to create and maintain a productive, safe environment in which ALL school community members have clear expectations and understandings of
their role in the educational process.
Proactive Approach to School-Wide Discipline
Schools that implement school-wide systems of positive behavior support focus on taking a team-based system approach and teaching appropriate behavior to all students in the school. Schools that have been successful in building school-wide systems develop procedures to accomplish the following:
1. Behavioral Expectations are Defined. A small number of clearly defined behavioral expectations are defined in positive, simple, rules.
2. Behavioral Expectations are Taught. The behavioral expectations are taught to all students in the building, and are taught in real contexts. Teaching appropriate behavior involves much more than simply telling students what behaviors they should avoid. Specific behavioral examples are:
* Being respectful means raising your hand when you want to speak or get help. * Being respectful means using a person’s name when you talk to him or her. * Being responsible means knowing and following classroom and school rules on a daily basis. * Being responsible means to be on time. * Being ready means to be prepared with assignments and materials. * Being ready means to follow and respond appropriately to adult direction.
Behavioral expectations are taught using the same teaching formats applied to other curricula. The general rule is presented, the rationale for the rule is discussed, positive examples (“right way”) are described and rehearsed, and negative examples (“wrong way”) are described and modeled. Students are given an opportunity to practice the “right way” until they demonstrate fluent performance.
3. Appropriate Behaviors are Acknowledged. Once appropriate behaviors have been defined and taught, they need to be acknowledged on a regular basis. HHS has designed a formal system that rewards positive behaviors. “I Noticed” are immediate forms used by the individual teacher, at their discretion, as a tool of encouragement and a student motivator. “PAWS” are awarded to encourage and reinforce positive behaviors demonstrated on a consistent basis. Teachers can award “PAWS” to students, whether they teach them or not.
4. Behavioral Errors are Corrected Proactively. When students violate behavioral expectations, clear procedures are needed for providing information to them that their behavior was unacceptable, and preventing that unacceptable behavior from resulting in inadvertent rewards. Students, teachers, and administrators all should be able to predict what will occur when behavioral errors are identified.
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