EDL 272 FBLA

I am choosing our school Positive Behavior Intervention System to define, assess,

analyze, and improve. Our school-wide PBIS system is double pronged. The system in place

handles both positive and negative behaviors through extrinsic rewards or consequences. The

customers for this system are the students and the workforce is the staff. The leadership team is

comprised of the principal, assistant principal, and school administration manager. The reason I

am choosing this system is because it uses extrinsic rewards and consequences which are short

term solutions. This approach is shifting the burden away from teaching intrinsic motivation

which creates a symptomatic cycle with side effects.

The PBIS system is defined as a joint effort of staff, students, parents, and community

members through the use of a proactive approach in promoting positive social behavior by

teaching appropriate expectations that in turn will provide a safe environment, reduce problem

behaviors, and promote learning for all students. This system is simplified for students into the

Rams ROCK mnemonic. R = Respect Others. O = Own Your Actions. C = Care About Others.

K = Keep Achieving.

This system is reinforced through the use of “U ROCK” tickets. These are small slips of

paper with the mnemonic mentioned above on it that have been signed by a staff member. For a

student to receive one, they must have done something that stands out from the Rams ROCK

definition or mnemonic. An example would be a student helping another student pick up

dropped items in the hallway. The tickets can be used and traded for candy from a cart that

comes around to the classrooms every month or on prize drawings in the office every couple

months. There is no set timeline on when the cart or prizes will appear.
 The other side of the PBIS system is discipline. If a student exhibits negative behaviors a

system of minors and majors is followed by staff and administration. A minor is given for

negative behaviors that are not stopped quickly by redirection or proximity. An example of a

minor in the classroom would be excessive talking. The first minor is considered a warning, and

the second requires notification about the minor to a parent or guardian by the teacher. If a third

minor is given, the teacher must issue a thirty minute detention and make a phone call home to

the parent or guardian. Any minors given after the third minor are directed to the administration

where they are handled on a case by case basis. A staff member can give a major which has the

same effect as giving a student their fourth minor. For this to happen the student behavior must

be serious enough to warrant it. An example would be physical aggression or swearing at

another person.

Once the staff member has entered a minor or major into the system on infinite campus

the school administration manager is the first to handle it. If the SAM sees a minor #1 or minor

#2 entered into the system they are quickly saved and locked into the database for parents and

staff to view if they want. The SAM doesn’t take time with these minors because they are

viewed as warnings to the student and parent contact should start to be made by the teacher. If

the SAM sees a third minor for a student she ​may​ inquire as to parent contact or pull the student

in for a conference if she deems fit. The fourth minor is when action must begin for the SAM or

the assistant principal who can also respond to minors or majors. They will pull the student in

for a conference, contact parents/guardians, contact teachers if necessary, and hand out

discipline.
 The PBIS system has boundaries for time as well as the people that interact with it that

need to be taken into account. The system is implemented at the beginning of 7th grade when

the students enter the building to the day they leave 8th grade. It should be noted that this is an

extrinsic motivational system which can have far-reaching behavioral implications over time.

These implications and their boundaries are impossible to determine for all students, staff, and

leadership.

For this system to be seen as effective we should see a few factors. Teachers should be

well-trained in the “Rams ROCK” way and the utilization of the discipline system. The number

of minors being entered into the system should be low due to teachers utilizing the “U ROCK”

tickets to reinforce positive behaviors. Over the course of the year the number of minors should

decrease as the positive reinforcers take effect on behavior causing students to adhere to “good”

behaviors. From year to year the total number of students receiving minors should trend down as

the incoming 7th grade students benefit from a positive culture that is formed by previous

classes.

The archetype that illustrates this system is “shifting the burden.” I believe the PBIS

system was well-intentioned and the purpose to improve student behavior. The results are

showing that within the system the burden has been shifted away from intrinsic motivation

teaching and training (fundamental solution) to extrinsic rewards and consequences

(symptomatic solution). This has led to a side effect of behaviors exhibited by a sizable portion

of the student body. During the first quarter, behaviors are low due to the extrinsic rewards and

consequences being utilized by the system. Throughout the course of the year the extrinsic

rewards do not change and the students become less and less interested in them leading to more
and more behaviors. The consequences only hold sway over the population of students who

would normally never receive a consequence in the first place. Those who do receive a

consequence/minor are much more likely to repeat with another later as it is only a consequence

with generally no teaching or reflection.

Shifting The Burden Archetype

There are some learning disabilities in the system that have made an impact in a

paralyzing way. From my observations and discussions amongst the staff and administration
over the last four years there are three learning disabilities at play. Many teachers in the school

want to just teach and if a student has a behavior, follow the discipline system given to them. “I

am my position” is a common problem amongst staff when asked whether they have taken the

time to call a parent and try to learn more about what the cause is of the behavior. The usual

response to the previous question is that they don’t have time or that is the administration’s job

to handle discipline.

The previous learning disability leads into “the enemy is out there.” Those same staff

members blame anyone but themselves for a child’s behavior in the classroom. They look for

reasons why the administration did not give a student a harsh discipline and complain to their

colleagues which can have a snowball effect amongst the staff. The administration in turn

probably view these teachers as part of the cause for the rise in behaviors. After all these

teachers are kicking out students for small things while others never write up a referral all year.

The last and most glaring learning disability is the “fixation on events.” We as a school

system are guilty of focusing in on things such as tardies, excessive talking, sleeping in class,

and others while not looking at the causes for these events. This year we gave out UROCK

tickets to every student who showed up on time to 7th hour on a Monday the second week of

school. This was done to acknowledge and reinforce positive behavior for being in class on

time. Instead shouldn’t we have been looking for the reason why students weren’t going to their

classes on time in the first place?

To analyze the root cause of my systems problem I delved into the past two years of

disciplinary data for our PBIS system to determine its effectiveness. I found that the total
number of students who received a minor in the year 2015-16 and 2016-17 was largely the same.

See the chart below for the data:

2015-16 2016-17

Number of Students with at

least one Minor 720 735
(Total Number of Students (1162) (1035)
7th and 8th combined)

This data shows that the system was largely ineffective from year to year when

measuring effectiveness as it relates to improving the culture for the incoming 7th graders. Next,

I looked at the year 2016-17 by quarter and how many discipline referrals were made. The chart

below shows the data:

Quarter Number of Referrals/Minors Number of Students

1 870 398

2 1559 473

3 1130 396

4 1658 509

This data shows that the system was ineffective at lowering the total number of

referrals/minors throughout the school year. The number of minors actually came close to

doubling from the first quarter to the fourth quarter. The number of students rose by about one

hundred within that same span as well. I believe the root cause is the extrinsic motivators being

utilized in the PBIS system for things that are valued by students intrinsically such as getting to

class on time. I believe what is happening is called the overjustification effect. We are giving
students extrinsic rewards for things they already do and find value in doing. This can cause a

diminishing of the underlying intrinsic motivation. Over time with enough rewards given, the

system will backfire. Students will rely on the rewards instead of their long gone intrinsic

motivation. Not long after the first quarter the rewards are not “shiny” enough and the behaviors

become worse than ever before because the intrinsic motivations are diminished.

I believe what we need to do is stop utilizing the UROCK tickets first and foremost as

motivators. We need to be training our students how to have a vision for success, growth

mindset, and find the joy in learning. We need to use more time getting to know our students on

an individual basis so that when a behavior does crop up we have more knowledge about what to

do and where to begin. We need to be steering our teachers toward books to read from people

like Simon Sinek, Carol Dweck, and Peter Senge. To sum up, we need to address the

fundamental issue of intrinsic motivations for students each and every day.

The strategy that I would employ to implement the above ideas would be an ongoing

process. The first step and only easy part of the strategy would be to stop using the extrinsic

motivators or “U ROCK” tickets. Then I would get the staff together to discuss the

mission/vision of Rams ROCK and see if that still holds true, because I believe that this mission

statement is rooted in intrinsic values. Then I would give the staff opportunities for training in

brain-based theories such as David Langford’s “24 Elements of the Learning Code for

Education” or “Tool Time for Education.” I would also offer up opportunities for differentiation

amongst the staff in how they would like to learn more about intrinsic motivation. This would be

the time when I would inquire from my staff how they would or already do teach intrinsic

motivations in their classroom. Some staff may prefer to read “Growth Mindset” from Carol
Dweck while another staff member may want to learn from a colleague how they utilize mission

statements as part of their classroom culture through a breakout session. For anyone concerned

about this being a compliance issue, I would reinforce the idea that students and staff have the

right to joy in their work. I should model that by allowing them the freedom to choose how they

learn to best implement intrinsic motivation techniques into their classrooms.

Over the next school year what we will do is to continue to collect referral data on

students to look for patterns. The data will continue to be collected through infinite campus by

the staff and administration. The PBIS system will remain intact with the exception of the

UROCK tickets and any external rewards for behavior which will cease. At the beginning of the

school year staff will start brain-based theory training and their choice of intrinsic motivation

learning as mentioned above. Each quarter one two hour professional development day will be

allotted to staff for their choice of intrinsic motivation learning. A google document will be used

to keep track of progress towards learning and which teachers want to give break-out sessions.

Once a month the administration will collect data on the number of referrals and the number of

students receiving those referrals to present to staff. This time will be used to look for patterns

and improvements in the system. At the end of the year the administration and teacher

leadership team will study the results to prepare for the following year’s goals and look for any

improvements on the system.