Positive behavior + fun activities = less problems

Rewarding positive behavior with fun activities has helped reduce student discipline problems at Viewmont Elementary School.

Under the N.C. Department of Public Instruction's Positive Behavior Support program, Viewmont students are asked to follow the school's four rules: Be respectful, kind, safe and responsible.

"We're doing positive reinforcement," said Jennifer Clark, an exceptional children's teacher who has helped spearhead the effort. "When they're caught in the act, they're rewarded."

Students can be rewarded with "paw tickets" by teachers and staff. Teachers have rolls of the tickets, and are expected to hand out five a day.

Students can earn them for many things, including perfect attendance, good cafeteria behavior, holding the door for someone in the hallway or picking up a dropped book for someone.

They are told why they're getting the tickets, so they get feedback on their behavior, Clark said.

The strategy is paying off, Viewmont Principal Judy Jolly said.

"School suspensions have consistently decreased," she explained. "The playground was a big concern of ours, because it's a big area with a lot of kids in one spot, but we haven't had any office referrals from there this year."

Only a few schools in the area have implemented the program, which Viewmont adopted three years ago.

School officials use the system to help students with minor behavioral problems see the error of their ways.

"If there are two kids sitting together, and one is following the rules and the other isn't, we might give a ticket to the one following the rules," Jolly said. "It might make the other rethink how they're acting."

As a result, the school's bus dismissal is now quieter and safer than it was three years ago.

"We're just trying to teach them to be better citizens," she said.

Students who earn enough tickets get to participate in fun events.

On Friday, students who earned 60 paw tickets in September and October got to participate in a Pumpkin Fun Day, which featured field day events with a pumpkin theme.

"The tickets help to get us motivated to do things, so we can go to the celebrations," said fifth-grader Stephen Allen. "People in my class try very hard to get tickets."

He said he hasn't missed a celebration yet.

Fifth-grader Joran Little said the program teaches him to be safe, and he's rewarded for his behavior. His favorite event last year was getting snow cones.

"I've improved my behavior," he said. "I listen more and am more respectful."

Students who didn't earn 60 tickets received instruction about making good choices, Clark said.

The program has reduced the number of office referrals at Viewmont Elementary.

In September 2007, during the first year of the program, the school had 28 office referrals, a number that dropped to 11 in September 2008.

This September, Viewmont had only two referrals, Clark said.

Office referrals can involve students who fight, use bad language, are defiant or disrespectful, don't comply with class rules, yell or scream, damage school property, make threats or bring a weapon to school.

"When an office referral is made, we get the parents and teachers involved, and try to come up with a solution," Jolly said.

That solution can involve in- or out-of-school suspension, but Jolly prefers not to take those measures.

Viewmont was recognized for its program recently by the state. The Department of Public Instruction gave the school the Exemplar School Award for the 2008-09 school year, based on the school's achievement data and office referrals.

The school has had no out-of-school suspensions so far this year, two in-school suspensions and only seven in-school suspensions last year.

"Students need to come to school where they can learn," Jolly said, adding that there's a correlation between students who miss class and lower test scores.