Kettering schools add to behavior protocols
Kettering adopts broader use of PBIS program to advantage.
Officials took state-mandated behavioral intervention policies and expanded them to address poor behavior in the classroom.
KETTERING — Five years ago, Ohio’s State Board of Education crafted rules and policy regarding Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports as part of a push against restraint and seclusion of students with behavior issues.
PBIS programs have since grown broader, and Kettering schools are among those using the program to improve their culture and climate.
Dan Von Handorf, student services director for Kettering City Schools, said the program is mandated in the state and every school district has it. But leaders in Kettering, like some other local districts, decided to go the extra step and work on curbing poor classroom behavior.
“We have been complying with the law for PBIS,” Von Handorf said. “We started looking more in-depth at it after we surveyed our teaching staff and asked them to let us know what type of barriers they were experiencing in their classrooms, and one of the barriers they talked to us about was student behavior in the classrooms.”
Von Handorf said two years ago the district developed leadership teams to study how PBIS could be effective in improving classroom behavior and the attitudes of students toward school.
“We looked at literature and did a lot of research on what programs could help in that area, and PBIS is research-based and shown to be highly effective in schools across the nation,” Von Handorf said.
Six key components were set up to implement PBIS: define behavior expecta- tions (We are Safe, We are Responsible, We are Respectful, We are Firebirds), define behaviors you want to see, teach behavior expectations, acknowledge and celebrate desired behaviors, correct problem behaviors and col- lect and review data.
“The results have been a little bit different from building to building, but overall, the feedback from staff and students along with the data have shown the results to be really positive,” Von Handorf said. “We had a matrix of behaviors set up to rein- force that we wanted stu- dents to be safe, responsi- ble and respectful.”
Brian Snyder, principal at Kettering Middle School, said teachers and staff understand the importance of teaching and reinforcing positive student behaviors in order to help promote a climate where appropriate behaviors are the norm.
“We believe it is important to provide behavioral, and social supports to our students in order to help them realize their potential,” Sny- der said. “Our staff believes the teaching, reinforcing, and supporting of behavioral and social expectations will lead to growth in not just those areas, but in academic performance as well.”
Fairmont High School students will be working on tardiness. Von Handorf said more than 1,000 were tardy this past school year and this is not a college-ready trait.
“So they will be working on getting up on time, getting to school on time and then getting to class on time,” he explained.
The effort has spilled over to the city, as the Parks and Recreation Department wants to use the same verbiage when dealing with students, according to Von Handorf.
Some of the students felt the effort to improve behavior should be more than a list or matrix of rules, but a showing of school and city pride.
“We are Firebirds” was added to the PBIS approach by students, Von Handorf said, as a way to show that pride.
Valerie Dupler, principal at J.E. Prass Elementary, said the district’s efforts with PBIS helped build a consistent and positive environment for students to thrive academically and socially.
“We are explicitly teaching expectations to our students, so they know exactly what is expected of them,” Dupler explained. “I think it (PBIS) will ultimately improve the academic growth for students, their academic achievement and their self-esteem because they are being acknowledged for meeting those expectations.”