Week of July 23, 2018: Student Respectful, Responsible and Safe Behavior

Teaching Kindness and Empathy to Students: The Use of Positive Behavior Intervention Support (PBIS) to Increase Student Kind, Respectful and Safe Behavior at School

 (extract from the original)    by Deborah Martel Rogers

California State University, Bakersfield (Research Design and Analysis, Summer 2017)

     Students' lack of social-emotional skills has an impact on their behavior at school. (...)

     Social-Emotional skills are overlooked in today's educational system as a major factor impacting students' behavior at school. Ethnic minorities have added stressors such as low familial and social support, acculturation, and low socioeconomic status. It is in these settings that students feel they lack a connection to school and their peers. Rather than further labeling these students as problem-makers, it is a good opportunity to teach them how to become members of the school community. The Positive Behavior Intervention Support (PBIS) program is a program whose goal is to help students to develop and strengthen their social and emotional learning (SEL). SEL refers to the processes through which students acquire and effectively apply the knowledge, attitudes, and skills necessary to do the following: Understand and manage emotions; set and achieve possible goals; feel and show empathy for others; establish and maintain positive relationships, and make responsible decisions. SEL includes self-awareness, responsible decision-making, social awareness, and self-management. (...)

     Many studies were conducted nationwide which analyzed the impact of the lack of respectful, irresponsible and safe behaviors on students of different genders, socioeconomic status (SES), and ethnicities. (...) Students who were African-American and male were found to be much more likely to be suspended than any other students when they showed lack of such behaviors. 

     In a report published in the peer-review journal Child Development, researchers led by Joseph A. Durlak, a professor emeritus of psychology at the University of Chicago, found that students who took part in social and emotional learning, or SEL, programs improved in grades and standardized test scores by 11 points compared with nonparticipating students. 

     (...) the PBIS program promotes SEL and EI (Emotional Intelligence) so that students feel competent regardless of their gender, their ethnic background, and socioeconomic status. The SEL and EI may carry over to further success such as communication with peers, teachers, other staff members, academic achievement, and college success. (...)

     Providing students with alternative behaviors for conflict resolution can be beneficial for the growth of the child and (...) can lead to a decrease in the number of suspensions or expulsions.

     (...)

1. Emotions affect how and what students learn.

2. Schools are social places.

3. Relationships provide foundations for learning.

4. (...) helps reduce student barriers, such as stress, and increases school connectedness and essential skills.

5. (...) aligns with the academic agenda at school.

6. Students' respectful, responsible and safe behavior is critical to success at school and in life. 

     (...)

     In past years, researchers overlooked the impact that the knowledge of social and emotional learning had on students' academic and social success, both at school and in life. It was assumed, and expected, that students came from home knowing how to be respectful, responsible and safe, and, at the most, the school environment would serve as a reminder in this regard. If students did not know how to conduct themselves, they were automatically labeled as trouble-makers, and an expected punitive consequence would have taken place as a logical result, such as traditionally, a suspension or an expulsion. However, there was little research on the impact that having a fixed instead of a growth mindset had on students' academic success or the influence that restorative practices had on students' behavioral changes. Education professionals and students had not learned yet that behavior, like any other topic, can be learned, and even relearned. 

(...)

     However, to be able to do that, they need to be aware of these options. This is where learning and relearning SE skills play a crucial role in their SE growth at the school. (...) Students are not successful or unsuccessful by design, but by learning and choosing positive behavior. This is where the concept of a fixed and growth mindset plays an important role at the school.