Utah's Behavior Initiatives Project

Boosting better behavior: Schools rewarding the good in hopes of staving off the bad

A group of Utah schools thinks it has found a way to change the way students behave and, in turn, improve academics, prevent bullying and possibly stave off the kind of violence seen in too many of our schools.

Sound too good to be true? Read on....

The Utah Behavior Initiatives Project, implemented in over 40 schools and based upon some very good research, attempts to prevent inappropriate behavior by teaching and rewarding positive behaviors. Schools keep track of what works and then builds upon success.

It's simple: Reinforce the good behavior.

Unfortunately, most schools focus on disciplining students who misbehave. Why? Because it's easier that way. Think about drawing up a lesson plan to teach everyone in your class what it means to be respectful. Not an easy task.

"There's a higher percentage of kids who are coming to school that do not have appropriate behavior. Kids come to school and their natural way of . . . getting along with friends on the playground is actually bullying," said Mark Daines, principal of Park Elementary School in Cache County.

"So we find some kids don't want to go to recess because they're being bullied, being hurt emotionally, because other kids are bullying them with insensitive comments . . . not necessarily directed in a mean way, but that's the way society allows them to respond in today's world."

Utah State Superintendent of Public Instruction Patti Harrington ordered a statewide report on bullying, what schools are doing to address it, and recommendations to make things better.

"We're anxious, of course, that we ensure the safety of all children on our campuses," Harrington said.

"I like this program because it teaches you don't have to be browbeat. You can speak up. And it teaches if you're hot and aggressive, you're not solving the problem; you're just creating another problem," said Joan Groves, a counselor at Academy Park Elementary in West Valley City. "I think it's made a big difference."

Schools in the UBI Project, federally funded in Utah since 2002, teach students how to behave and respond appropriately to peers' inappropriate behavior. More information about this program can be found at the UBI Website.

Many educators believe it is a more positive, long-lasting approach to solving behavior problems. "When you negatively respond to a student's behavior, you change the behavior for the immediate," Daines said. "But is it going to change their behavior . . . tomorrow? The answer is no. They'll do it (when) they want to do it, and can see value to it."

How does it work?

Schools begin by setting up UBI teams to examine the school climate, gather data and decide on where they want to improve. Then, they come up with their top three student behavior initiatives, create taglines and goal statements "Smith School Students are safe, kind and responsible," for example and then constantly reinforce the goal with instructions on how to behave. (Examples might include "picking up after yourself in the lunchroom" and "don't running in the halls.")

One middle school has worked to cut in half the number of students sent to the principal's office. Teachers drilled behavior expectations into students and then gave them rewards for living up to them. Of course, it's not perfect. There are some students who continue to get into trouble. But they work with the repeat offenders by giving them "think time," where kids go to another classroom and fill out a behavior log on what they were doing, what they should have been doing, and whether they'll be able to do what they're supposed to when they return to class. An activity very similar to the Behavior Improvement Packets provided by the Advantage Press.

"Most of the referrals we were getting were the one-time-shot things . . . now, we're catching it beforehand before it gets to that escalation," said Vicky Ginsburg, science teacher and one of the UBI facilitators. "A lot of times, it's just getting the student to realize what they're doing, and that's half the battle."

One school reports a 35 percent reduction in behavior referrals between the 2001-02 and the 2002-03 school year. They fell again by 56 percent this past school year.

Preventing student referrals to the office lets administrators focus more of their attention on instructional leadership. For example, one UBI school reported more than 5,100 office discipline referrals in a single year, that's 160 days worth of administrative time, UBI data shows.

School behavior initiatives work on about 80 percent of the students, said Carol Anderson, a member of the UBI state support team and a specialist in emotional disturbance and mental health issues with the State Office of Education.

"What we're wanting to show through our initiative is that . . . social behavior and academics are tied together to get the best student outcomes," Anderson said. "With No Child Left Behind . . . (some schools are) so wrapped up in the data that they forget: Unless you get them in their seats and paying attention, you're not going to get great academic outcomes."