Rewarding positive behavior

By JEREMY HALL

jeremy.hall@register-news.com

MT. VERNON — On a recent school day, Mt. Vernon Township High School Superintendent Terry Milt and principal Ron Daniels observed students eating their lunch outside.

The students ate, discarded their leftovers into bags and walked across the street to toss the bags into a trash can.

Milt and Daniels approached the students and handed them orange cards.

Through the first full week of the 2008-09 school year, that scene has been repeated by several administrators, faculty members and students. The orange cards are part of a system of positive behavior-boosting rewards aimed toward decreasing the number of office referrals.

The Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS) program was implemented at MVTHS this year, and Milt reported early results are very positive. In fact, he told the District 201 Board of Education at its meeting earlier in the week that only 10 office referrals had taken place through the first three days of school.

“That’s tremendous,” he told the board.

An Illinois State Board of Education initiative, PBIS rewards students for good behavior, even on a small scale. Faculty and administrators who see a student or group of students perform an act of kindness give the students orange “RAM Pride” tickets that can be redeemed for prizes.

“We are still in the process of developing the rewards we will give the students,” Daniels told members of the board.

As it stands now, teachers may reward students with homework passes, extra credit or other small perks.

English teacher Kyley Thomas and art/ceramics instructor Crystal Nowak have spearheaded the faculty’s effort in the new program. Thomas said the school is looking into the possibility of offering larger gifts such as iPods for those who exhibit positive behavior throughout the school year.

“They’re loving it,” she said of the students. “We’re seeing a huge improvement in their behaviors. They’re really conscious of their behaviors and we’re really happy with that.”

The RAM Pride cards outline what is expected of students on campus this year. ‘R’ stands for being respectful, while ‘A’ asks that students be accountable and ‘M’ solicits the modeling of successful behavior.

Daniels said the goal is to grant faculty members ample time in class to properly teach the students. He said part of the first few days of school were spent familiarizing students with PBIS.

“The less time teachers have to spend with behavior, the more time for learning,” he said.

Milt said the result has been, “just all kinds of little acts, people opening the door for people, people saying ‘thank you’ and ‘please.’ Kids have been receptive when we’ve talked to them about their saggy pants, pulling them right up, understanding they’re not going to do that this year.”

According to the ISBE, goals of PBIS are to increase positive teaching and reinforcement while reducing the use of reactive discipline. When an office referral is necessary, the instances are tallied to identify problem areas for the school to address.

Little more than a week into the program, Milt said results already point to the initiative being a good move for the school.

“It’s been a good start,” he said.

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