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The problem is simple to describe. Schools where discipline and behavior
problems are rampant are not good places for students to learn, for teachers to
teach and for parents to send their kids. Solving this problem, however, is
not as easy.
Improvements in discipline do not come about by dealing with one student or
one class at a time but by making widespread and fundamental changes in how
schools function as systems, say Professors Rob Horner and
George Sugai of the
University of Oregon College of Education.
To bring about this change, they devised a schoolwide approach called
Effective Behavior Support, or EBS, which is designed to define, teach and
encourage appropriate student behavior in grades kindergarten through the
eighth grade. More important, EBS creates a school environment in which
teaching, not discipline, is the focus of attention.
"Our program is based on the fact that 85 percent of students have the social
skills to do quite well if placed in a reasonable environment," Horner says.
"If an effective school environment can be established, teachers are freed to
devote special attention to the students who have larger behavioral
problems."
On the first days of the school year, teachers in EBS schools teach their
students school-wide and classroom expectations with fast-paced, interactive
instruction. One school using EBS established five basic expectations of
student behavior: be respectful, be responsible, be there and be ready, follow
directions, and keep your hands and feet to yourself. Teachers work to make
sure that students understand these expectations as they might apply to six
school areas: classroom, hallway, gym, cafeteria, open common areas, and school
bus.
"By treating the whole school as a system, we create a culture with
widespread student support for socially appropriate behaviors," Sugai says. "In
this kind of positive environment, teachers have more resources to spend with
the one to seven percent of students who display the most severe problem
behaviors."
One pillar of the EBS approach is matching the intensity of the intervention
to the intensity of the problem. Research shows that students who have the most
problem behaviors respond well to increased amounts of adult supervision and
contact. To help these students, Horner and Sugai recommend establishing strong
adult-child relationships that take place daily and foster academic and social
success.
One EBS school has the 30 students with the most severe problem behaviors
attend daily morning check-in and afternoon check-out sessions. There the
students interact, either one-on-one or in small groups, with an adult who
helps them stay focused, prepared, caught up, and out of trouble.
Horner and Sugai carefully track the results of EBS programs in 67 schools,
mostly in Oregon--including Tigard and Tualatin, Eugene, Roseburg, and
Bend--but also in Hawaii, Texas, and British Columbia.
The results?
"Astronomically successful," Horner says.
In one school, after using EBS for only a year, office discipline referrals
fell dramatically from 2,628 to 1,525--a 42 percent reduction. More important,
these improvements were maintained over the next two years.
"Education is a key element in creating a livable society," says Sugai. "And
conversely, creating a livable society--in this case, within the school--is a
key element for a good education."