Warsaw Rewards Good Behavior
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
Talking, bullying and tardiness all disrupt classrooms and decrease learning time for students.
The offending students then are disciplined, but the other students in the classroom are left with less classroom time. In an effort to increase classroom time, Warsaw Schools is implementing a corporation-wide program this year that rewards students for good behavior.
Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports started out of the University of Oregon to assist schools with disciplinary problems. The overall goal is to increase classroom time and decrease disruptions, said Tony England, Warsaw director of alternative services.
To implement PBIS at Warsaw, England said a federal grant was written to Homeland Security through a state clearing house. Warsaw was one of 10 sites in Indiana that received the grant. The grant paid for substitute teachers and other expenses.
Leesburg and Edgewood Middle School started PBIS three years ago. Jon Lippe, EMS assistant principal, said the data supports the idea that more positive intervention means less disciplinary problems.
Warsaw School Corp. as a whole first wanted to know what the most frequent discipline problems in its schools were so data was compiled. Amy Sivley, Lakeview Middle School assistant principal, said the teams at each schools looked at what kind of disciplinary referrals were made. Students and teachers were polled on what they believed the big classroom disruptions are.
According to a student survey, the biggest problem in the classroom was talking/disruption (97 percent); outside the classroom, the problem was bullying/harassment (74 percent); and the positives were staff (68 percent) and extra activities (42 percent). The top three issues for teachers were students not being prepared for class, talking in class and tardiness.
England said each school has its own grid system of what it needs to work on to improve student behavior because each school is different. And the expectations are for everyone, not just students. After doing the research, LMS had three areas to work at - responsibility, respect and safety.
The biggest piece of the puzzle is really done by the teachers, he said, because they must recognize the students for positive behavior.
At EMS, Lippe said when a teacher sees a student doing something good, they write the student up recognizing that they were caught being good. EMS has assigned seating at lunch - a write-up may let them eat first at lunch one day. At the end of the week, prizes are drawn from names of students who were written up for positive behavior. At the end of the year, a drawing is held for a big prize. Teachers also are encouraged to give out the slips because there are drawings for teachers who caught students doing good deeds. All prizes are donated from area businesses.
Since teachers identified the discipline issues at their buildings, the reward system is also a way to enforce the behavior they said they want to see happen.
PBIS does not take the place of discipline. England said each school's PBIS teams will meet monthly to see if the intervention is working. The goal is to decrease suspensions and expulsions and increase teaching time. A decrease in referrals, said Sivley, means kids are in the classroom.
"School spirit could be boosted as we have respect all the way around," said Lippe.
Sively said she is excited about comparing the results month to month, year to year. She wants to be able to show teachers the program works.
England said PBIS requires a lot of work from the teams on their own time. Lippe said some team members were encouraged to be a part of the teams, while others volunteered. But all should be commended for their time and dedication, he said.
PBIS is not a canned program, England said. Each team did an immense amount of work to make it fit their own building. The program is being embraced nationally and in Indiana.
For more information on PBIS, visit online at pbis.org [[In-content Ad]]
Talking, bullying and tardiness all disrupt classrooms and decrease learning time for students.
The offending students then are disciplined, but the other students in the classroom are left with less classroom time. In an effort to increase classroom time, Warsaw Schools is implementing a corporation-wide program this year that rewards students for good behavior.
Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports started out of the University of Oregon to assist schools with disciplinary problems. The overall goal is to increase classroom time and decrease disruptions, said Tony England, Warsaw director of alternative services.
To implement PBIS at Warsaw, England said a federal grant was written to Homeland Security through a state clearing house. Warsaw was one of 10 sites in Indiana that received the grant. The grant paid for substitute teachers and other expenses.
Leesburg and Edgewood Middle School started PBIS three years ago. Jon Lippe, EMS assistant principal, said the data supports the idea that more positive intervention means less disciplinary problems.
Warsaw School Corp. as a whole first wanted to know what the most frequent discipline problems in its schools were so data was compiled. Amy Sivley, Lakeview Middle School assistant principal, said the teams at each schools looked at what kind of disciplinary referrals were made. Students and teachers were polled on what they believed the big classroom disruptions are.
According to a student survey, the biggest problem in the classroom was talking/disruption (97 percent); outside the classroom, the problem was bullying/harassment (74 percent); and the positives were staff (68 percent) and extra activities (42 percent). The top three issues for teachers were students not being prepared for class, talking in class and tardiness.
England said each school has its own grid system of what it needs to work on to improve student behavior because each school is different. And the expectations are for everyone, not just students. After doing the research, LMS had three areas to work at - responsibility, respect and safety.
The biggest piece of the puzzle is really done by the teachers, he said, because they must recognize the students for positive behavior.
At EMS, Lippe said when a teacher sees a student doing something good, they write the student up recognizing that they were caught being good. EMS has assigned seating at lunch - a write-up may let them eat first at lunch one day. At the end of the week, prizes are drawn from names of students who were written up for positive behavior. At the end of the year, a drawing is held for a big prize. Teachers also are encouraged to give out the slips because there are drawings for teachers who caught students doing good deeds. All prizes are donated from area businesses.
Since teachers identified the discipline issues at their buildings, the reward system is also a way to enforce the behavior they said they want to see happen.
PBIS does not take the place of discipline. England said each school's PBIS teams will meet monthly to see if the intervention is working. The goal is to decrease suspensions and expulsions and increase teaching time. A decrease in referrals, said Sivley, means kids are in the classroom.
"School spirit could be boosted as we have respect all the way around," said Lippe.
Sively said she is excited about comparing the results month to month, year to year. She wants to be able to show teachers the program works.
England said PBIS requires a lot of work from the teams on their own time. Lippe said some team members were encouraged to be a part of the teams, while others volunteered. But all should be commended for their time and dedication, he said.
PBIS is not a canned program, England said. Each team did an immense amount of work to make it fit their own building. The program is being embraced nationally and in Indiana.
For more information on PBIS, visit online at pbis.org [[In-content Ad]]